Fast And Furious

I thought I might go a little outside the box in my reflection today since I have recently written on this same gospel (January 20). I wanted to go with a play on the word “fast.” I know it technically refers to giving up stuff, or abstaining from this or that, or sacrificing things that we enjoy to remind us to be penitent, etc. What if I want to change the meaning of fast from abstaining to hasty/speedy/impulsive/quick/sudden? “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Translated with my change in meaning: Why do we and the Pharisees do everything hastily/speedily/impulsively/quickly/suddenly (a lot), but your disciples do everything unhurriedly/slowly/deliberately/gradually? Jesus responds that His followers don’t need to fast as long as He is with them, and if I go with my out of the box interpretation, Jesus reminds us that when we are in His presence, let’s just slow down, relax, and be intentional with our time. There is no need to go fast or be impulsive when we are with Jesus because He is exactly what we would be moving fast toward so when we reach Him…stop and be. 

I’ve decided to do a “stop and be” Lent this year. I’m not really giving up or adding something to my life, but rather I am slowing down, resting, and being in the presence of Jesus. This is not as easy as it sounds. I must choose the peace that transcends human understanding and that kind of peace is really hard to find in a crazy, busy, and fast world. I must think outside the box of what the world tells me and even what “religion” tells me and I must be who I have been called to be. The only way to be that which I am called is to spend time with the one that created me. God speaks in whispers and so we must slow all the way down to hear those whispers. Life is so fast and furious these days, but Jesus reminds us to put the breaks on and cherish time in His presence. It is well with my soul.

Reading 1 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!

Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 18-19

R.    (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R.    A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R.    A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R.    A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Verse Before The GospelAM 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and the Lord will be with you.

Gospel 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.”