Reflection for March 7 Friday after Ash Wednesday: Matthew 9:14-15

Gospel: Matthew 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.”

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Reflection:

Have you ever tried abstaining from food? 

The question of fasting is most relevant to all of us during this season of Lent because this is when the Church actively reminds us about it. The gospel for today reiterates this reminder. 

It may seem that Jesus is defending His disciples for not fasting. But in hindsight, they were actually fasting—not in the literal sense to appease the discriminating eyes of John's disciples. The disciples of Jesus were fasting from self-righteousness, from doing wrong, and from judging others as good for nothing. 

This is the deeper form of fasting that Jesus wants from all of us, and it should not be practiced only during the season of Lent. Are we capable of permanently fasting from doing wrong, from feeling superior, and from judging others? 

This is the deeper form of fasting that Jesus appreciates. For what good is it if we fast from food but do not change our undesirable attitudes? For example, what if we fast yet continue to be arrogant, judgmental, unforgiving, uncaring, and so forth? What, then, is the use of our fasting? – Marino J. Dasmarinas