Mt 9:14 "Then they will fast"

Daffodils on Ash Wednesday

11 March Mt 9:14-15

The Reading of Night Office and the Mass Gospel took up Lent theme. Just two verses in the Gospel, (Mt 9:14-15), and seems to have the Jewish preoccupation about FASTING. Our friend Benedict puts FASTING on its head.  He quoted, “«man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God» (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the «true food,» which is to do the Father's will (cf. Jn 4,34).” He lifts everything to a higher level and to joy. Jesus calls the “true food” and the banquet. One of our Hymns speaks of: ‘Jesus we adore, our victim, our priest, whose precious blood and body become our sacred feast!’ In the community Mass we enter into the banquet of Eucharist. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9:14-15. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’ Pope Benedict XVI  Message for Lent 2009 "Then they will fast" In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting...: «man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God» (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the «true food,» which is to do the Father's will (cf. Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord's command: «of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,» (Gn 2,17) the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy... In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one's body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a «therapy» to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God...   Through fasting and praying, we allow Christ to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God. At the same time, fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live. In his First Letter, Saint John admonishes: «If anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, yet shuts up his bowels of compassion from him – how does the love of God abide in him?» (3,17). Voluntary fasting enables us to grow in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, who bends low and goes to the help of his suffering brother (Lk 10,29f.). By freely embracing an act of self-denial for the sake of another, we make a statement that our brother or sister in need is not a stranger. It is precisely to keep alive this welcoming and attentive attitude towards our brothers and sisters that I encourage … every community to intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community.