Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Friday after Ash Wednesday

LECTIONARY
221

FIRST READING

IS 58:1-9

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!

PSALM

PS 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 18-19

Response: 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.

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."

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.

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."

Daily Reflection

Many of us do what is expected not out of genuine desire but because we want to be respected and admired. During the season of Lent, however, God reminds us to be true to ourselves and to Him.

In today's first reading, Isaiah warns against making a great show of observing the rules of fasting and penance while continuing to live sinful lives. He calls us to live the commandment of love by treating others more justly, sharing our bread with the hungry and sheltering the homeless.

The theme of fasting is continued in the Gospel. Jesus’ disciples do not fast and others are quick to point this out. They fail to recognise Jesus in whose presence there can be only rejoicing, just as at a wedding feast when the bridegroom is present.

Today, we fast not so much because the bridegroom is not with us but because we have strayed from His presence. May the penance we make be both authentic and productive so as to gladden the heart of God.