Beauty of Fasting

Today’s Gospel Text: Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved." Matt 9:14-17

Reflection:  O the beauty of fasting and how wonderful it can be, to fast!

But could the message of Jesus, on the subject of fasting be a warning on indiscriminate fasting?

Shouldn’t fasting have a reason and a motive behind it, if not then it could be like puttimg up a patch of new cloth on a old cloth or it could be like putting new wine in old wine skins?

There are plenty of people in this world who fast for different reasons and for varieties of motives:

Some fast because they want to slim down and some fast on account of health and there are some who fast because they want some of the their wishes to be granted or their intention to be fulfilled, some fast because it is a routine on account of religion or health.

In all this, Jesus’ voice still speaks aloud to all those who have ears to listen: what use is it to fast, even the Pharisees did it diligently, making it a point to keep it to the utmost but they failed to stand before the almighty God as justified creatures.

Even in our days people fast for various reasons and some even on days of obligation and yet their hearts may be like old cloth or old wine skins. We are old in our ways of thinking, ancient in our habits, primitive in the way we keep up to the obligation of fasting.

In the midst of oldness we seek the Lord and the infilling of the promised Holy Spirit and we burst the skin of our souls and invite death and decay.

In this, many start their walk with the Lord in all earnestness but when the trials of life invade and the persecutions and troubles of daily life invade then we are lost in the maze.

Fasting as such, should have as its primary motive to strengthen our resolve to keep at it, in our walk with the Lord. It should help us to solidify our resolve to follow the Lord even in the midst of the daily hunger pangs of temptations.

Then we shall be a strong cloth or durable wineskin to receive what the Lord has in store for those who persevere in his kingdom.

Prayer: Strengthen me to fast O Lord and enable me to walk in the path which you chosen for me, with joy.

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