Views on fasting

Fasting is considered to be one of the key Lenten practices, so today's readings are important as Isaias and Jesus himself give us their views on fasting. Isaias is particularly severe on those who fast but do not live good lives. ''You oppress all your workmen. You quarrel and squabble when you fast and strike the poor man with your fist.'' He goes on to list the good deeds that are the sort of fasting that pleases God. ''To let the oppressed go free, to share your bread with the hungry and shelter the homeless poor. To clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin. Then will your light shine like the dawn.'' Jesus reminds the people of the wedding customs (Matthew 9: 14-15). Fasting was suspended during the week long wedding feast so that the friends of the couple could share in their happiness and celebrate it with food, drink and dancing. So he is teaching us that the most important thing that we can do during Lent is to to rejoice in the presence of Jesus in our midst and to do all that we can to become closer to him. As we pray for Pope Francis in his illness, we can remember his words in ''Gaudete et Exultate'' (''Rejoice and Exult'') ''Holiness consists in uniting ourselves to the Lord's death and resurrection in a unique and personal way, constantly dying and rising with him. It also means reproducing in our lives various aspects of Jesus' earthly life; his life in community, his closeness to the outcast, his poverty and other ways in which he showed his self-sacrificing love.'' (Paragraph 20)