July 6, 2013 Saturday, 13th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Gen 27:1-5, 15-29 Gospel: Mt 9:14–17 The disciples of John came to him with the question, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?” Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast. “No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides you don’t put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved.” D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience) Hypocrites like many of the Pharisees willingly fast for a show. But what a waste of precious merits! If done for its noble purpose fasting procures for a person so many physical and spiritual advantages. The purpose of fasting has evolved through the centuries. In the Old Testament the purpose was threefold. First: as a token of sorrow (see 1 Samuel 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12; 3:35). Second: as a sign of repentance (see 1 Samuel 7:6). Third: as aid to prayer in time of crisis (see 2 Samuel 12:16ff). The Israelite cultic law, however, did not require any fast except on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29ff; 23:17ff; Numbers 29:7). It was Pharisaic Judaism that developed fasting into a highly esteemed pietistic exercise. Under this tradition, fasting promoted a gloomy and melancholy lifestyle enough to impress the public of one’s sorrow for sin. This was the context of the inquiry of the followers of John the Baptist into the frequent eating and drinking of the disciples. Jesus justified his disciples’ minimal observance of fasting without, however, intending to abolish the practice. He simply wanted to dissociate it from the brand of fasting of the Pharisees distinguished by ostentatious display of sorrow and grief. In Jesus fasting assumed the purpose of disposing oneself to live a joyful life in God’s grace. The only way it becomes ritualistic is when it spontaneously dramatizes the self discipline the person has cultivated - one that attunes the body to the higher needs of the spirit. He fasts in order to overcome the power of evil in himself (Mark 9:29), to handle major decisions as did the Apostles when they elected Barnabas and Paul at Antioch (Acts 13:2) and to seek God’s wisdom as when the Apostles did so before appointing the elders of the newly established churches of Asia (Acts 14:23). This is the kind of fasting that procures for a person many physical and spiritual advantages. Definitely it is worth more the sacrifice than fasting for a show! - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail. Website: frdan.org. PRAYER FOR THE DAY: God our Father, grant us sincerity of hearts so that the fasting we do may aim at self discipline for the purpose of attuning the body to the working of the Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Title: The art of fasting Cebu Archdiocese Official Homepage cebuarchdiocese.wordpress
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:51:42 +0000
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