Friday after Ash Wednesday
We are confronted with two kinds of fasting in the Book of Deuteronomy today.
The first is fasting to get something. The fasting that demands God’s attention and laments how little he appreciates all the effort we put into letting go. It’s the commercial model. All this fasting is simply the latest currency to get more stuff and to be rewarded.
But the second kind of fasting seeks not to be rewarded, but only to do good by the letting go. Such fasting does not seek a reward for me, but freedom for the oppressed, food for the hungry, clothing for the naked and healing for the sick.
Such fasting is an imitation of the self-emptying love of Christ upon the Cross, who gave all, even unto death, that we might be redeemed and live.
What kind of fasting will we embrace this Lent? The one that gets us a reward, or the one which lightens the load of our brother?
