Friday after Ash Wednesday
The prophet Isaiah lets us know fairly clearly what kind of fasting God is desiring from us. And it does not involve bowing our heads “like a reed” and lying in sackcloth and ashes. Although, on Wednesday, beginning the season of Lent, the Church called us to bow our heads in prayer, fast and abstain from meat, and receive ashes in the sign of the cross on our foreheads. We also heard then from Matthew’s gospel on how to pray, fast, and give alms in secret, to not make a show of it. And now today’s reading from Isaiah offers us a different kind of “fasting” that God truly desires from us, in many ways more challenging, but also rewarding.
So, what exactly is the “fasting” we are called to? “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.” (Isaiah 58:6-7)
What I hear in these verses is God calling us to acts of compassion, mercy, justice and liberation, especially for the oppressed, marginalized and most vulnerable among us. This is what Isaiah is telling us God desires of us. And this is essentially what we hear from Jesus later in Matthew’s gospel (25:31-46) about the final judgment. We are called to take care of the least of our brothers and sisters.
As I reflect on this, I find myself wondering how I can add this kind of “fasting” into my Lenten observance. I invite you to reflect and pray with me, asking God to increase our desire to act with mercy and compassion, and to direct our efforts and the efforts of the larger Church community to respond to this call. For as we continue with this reading from Isaiah we hear the results of such acts, “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wounds shall quickly be healed….” (Isaiah 58:8a) Amen.
~Eileen Miller