John fast, but yours do not?” Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the
bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
But the day will come, when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they
will fast.
No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink
and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into
old wine skins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins
would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”
Reflect
Fasting has become a trend in recent years as a way to lose weight and improve physical
health instead of as a way to do penance and improve spiritual health. Regardless of its
potential physical benefits, fasting has definite spiritual purposes. First, the hunger we feel
when we fast reminds us of our hunger for God. Only God can satisfy the deepest hungers
of our soul, no matter how much we might try to fill them with money pleasure, and power.
Second, fasting helps us to learn self-discipline, to recognize our need to root out sinful
behavior from our lives. As the priests of Israel offered sacrifice for their sins and the sins
of the people, we sacrifice our comfort to learn how to avoid sin. Finally, fasting helps to unite
us to the poor. Our hunger is only a shadow of the difficulties they face each day, but it
reminds us of the necessity of sharing what we have with our brothers and sisters in need.
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