Date16/02/2024
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Reading of the day
A reading from the Book of Isaiah
Is 58:1-9a
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”
Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
Gospel of the day
From the Gospel according to Matthew
Mt 9:14-15
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered 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.”
Words of the Holy Father
The hypocrites were “good people, they did what they were supposed to do, they were apparently good”. But “they were ethicists, ethicists without goodness, because they had lost the sense of belonging to a people”. (…) This, is the true meaning of fasting: “to care about the life of your brother, not to be ashamed of the flesh of your brother, as Isaiah says”. In fact, “our perfection, our sanctity advances with our people, the people with whom we were chosen and inserted”. And “our greatest act of holiness is precisely in the flesh of our brother and the flesh of Jesus Christ”. Thus, “today’s act of holiness — for us who stand at the altar — is not a hypocritical fasting. It means not being ashamed of the flesh of Christ who comes here today: for this is the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is going out to share our bread with the hungry, to care for the sick and the elderly, for those who can give us nothing in return: this is what it means not to be ashamed of the flesh”. (…) When I give alms, do I let the coins fall without touching his hand? And if by chance I touch him, do I do this?” (mimicking a gesture of drawing back his hand). “When I give alms, do I look at my brother or sister in the eyes? When I know a person is sick do I visit him? Do I greet him with tenderness?”. “There is a sign that may help us” to complete this examination of conscience, a question: do I know how to caress the sick, the elderly, and children? Or have I forgotten what it means to cherish someone? Hypocrites have forgotten what it means to cherish and caress someone. Hence the recommendation “not be ashamed of the flesh of our brothers: it is our flesh”. “We will be judged by our conduct toward “these brothers and sisters”.(Santa Marta, 7 March 2014)
- Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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