FASTING IS FEASTING

Monday in the 2nd Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 2:18-22

The Jewish fasting was a sign and a prayer. The Jews were fasting as a sign of their hunger for the Messiah. They were fasting because they were praying that the coming of the Messiah might hasten. But Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus came into their midst. There was no reason to fast anymore. The sign lost its meaning and the prayer already is granted. The time for fasting was over; the time for feasting has begun.

Fasting has taken a new meaning in Jesus Christ. It is no longer a sign of hungering for the Messiah nor a prayer to hasten His coming. Fasting takes on a new significance in Christ, as it has become a way of focusing our selves more on the Messiah in our midst. This, fasting does in three ways.

Fasting is detaching our selves from whatever we are inordinately attached. It liberates us from what enslaves us because we think we cannot live without them. It sets us free so that we may recognize the Christ in our midst.

Fasting is sharing in the sufferings of those from whom fasting is not an option but a daily lot. It brings us closer to those with whom the Christ in our midst identifies Himself so closely: the poor, the least of His brethren. It puts us face-to-face with the Christ in our midst in His distressing disguise.

Fasting is becoming more and more like the Christ in our midst. Jesus “fasted” from His divinity so that we may have a “feast” in His Father’s house. In imitation of the Lord, fasting is dying to our selves so that others may live. It configures us to the Christ in our midst.

When fasting detaches us from our inordinate attachments, brings us into solidarity with those who are suffering, and enhances our communion with Christ Who is already and is always in our midst, then we understand why fasting has actually become feasting since Mark wrote the Gospel for today. Otherwise, we may be fasting but our fasting is not the Christian way.