Friday, September 02, 2016 22nd Week in
Ordinary Time
First Reading: 1 Cor 4: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Lk 5:33-39
Some people asked him, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them, “You can’t make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them. But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days.”
Jesus also told them this parable, “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well. But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to get new wine, but says: The old is good.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life Experience)
Fasting in Biblical times was for the following purposes: to expiate for sins (Leviticus 16: 29-31), to accompany the days of mourning (Ester 4:3), to intensify prayers during the time of calamity and to satisfy the mandatory annual fasting on the Day of Atonement. The practice was notably frequent. The people were surprised why the disciples of Jesus rarely did it. So they came to Jesus and asked, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?”This gave Jesus the occasion to put fasting within the perspective of genuine discipleship. Veering away from the frequent fasting of Biblical times, Jesus hinted at a kind that reflected the joy of Christianity. The fasting that the Pharisees practiced for the heck of it laid a heavy load upon the people. Jesus saw this as inconsistent with the joy every follower should radiate.
Both the rich and the poor of the modern world still practice fasting today, but for different reasons. While the miserable fast for lack of resources, the rich who are vane willingly bear the pangs of hunger to look good. A good figure is the closest they can get to the elusive elixir of youth.
The Church invites us to do fasting for the right reasons. The emphasis is no longer on the frequency because the frequent fasting done in Biblical times was contrary to the spirit of joy that should animate Christianity. The mandated days are only Ash Wednesdays and Good Fridays to attune our selves to the spirit of the Lenten season in preparation for the joy of Easter. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: [email protected].
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