February 19, 2021 Friday after Ash Wednesday
2021년 2월 19일 재의 예식 다음 금요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
이사야서. 58,1-9ㄴ
주 하느님께서 이렇게 말씀하신다.
1 “목청껏 소리쳐라, 망설이지 마라. 나팔처럼 네 목소리를 높여라.
내 백성에게 그들의 악행을, 야곱 집안에 그들의 죄악을 알려라.
2 그들은 마치 정의를 실천하고
자기 하느님의 공정을 저버리지 않는 민족인 양
날마다 나를 찾으며 나의 길 알기를 갈망한다.
그들은 나에게 의로운 법규들을 물으며 하느님께 가까이 있기를 갈망한다.
3 ‘저희가 단식하는데 왜 보아 주지 않으십니까?
저희가 고행하는데 왜 알아주지 않으십니까?’
보라, 너희는 너희 단식일에 제 일만 찾고 너희 일꾼들을 다그친다.
4 보라, 너희는 단식한다면서 다투고 싸우며 못된 주먹질이나 하고 있다.
저 높은 곳에 너희 목소리를 들리게 하려거든
지금처럼 단식하여서는 안 된다.
5 이것이 내가 좋아하는 단식이냐? 사람이 고행한다는 날이 이러하냐?
제 머리를 골풀처럼 숙이고 자루옷과 먼지를 깔고 눕는 것이냐?
너는 이것을 단식이라고, 주님이 반기는 날이라고 말하느냐?
6 내가 좋아하는 단식은 이런 것이 아니겠느냐?
불의한 결박을 풀어 주고 멍에 줄을 끌러 주는 것,
억압받는 이들을 자유롭게 내보내고 모든 멍에를 부수어 버리는 것이다.
7 네 양식을 굶주린 이와 함께 나누고
가련하게 떠도는 이들을 네 집에 맞아들이는 것,
헐벗은 사람을 보면 덮어 주고
네 혈육을 피하여 숨지 않는 것이 아니겠느냐?
8 그리하면 너의 빛이 새벽빛처럼 터져 나오고
너의 상처가 곧바로 아물리라.
너의 의로움이 네 앞에 서서 가고 주님의 영광이 네 뒤를 지켜 주리라.
9 그때 네가 부르면 주님께서 대답해 주시고
네가 부르짖으면 ‘나 여기 있다.’ 하고 말씀해 주시리라.”
복음
마태오. 9,14-15
14 그때에 요한의 제자들이 예수님께 와서,
“저희와 바리사이들은 단식을 많이 하는데,
스승님의 제자들은 어찌하여 단식하지 않습니까?” 하고 물었다.
15 예수님께서 그들에게 이르셨다.
“혼인 잔치 손님들이 신랑과 함께 있는 동안에 슬퍼할 수야 없지 않으냐?
그러나 그들이 신랑을 빼앗길 날이 올 것이다.
그러면 그들도 단식할 것이다.”
February 19, 2021
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
Is 58:1-9a
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!
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
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.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
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."
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
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.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Gospel
Mt 9:14-15
"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,
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
I suspect for most of us, fasting is not part of our ongoing spiritual activities. Certainly, when Lent rolls around we engage (some more diligently than others) in fasting. But for the remainder of the year, the practice of fasting is ignored. I recall from my youth in the 50s (pre-Vatican II) that fasting was an integral part of the week – one could receive the Eucharist only if they had fasted since midnight. If someone was a daily communicant, that meant they daily fasted from midnight. But, in reality, that fasting was more ritually than physically demanding. Most people were asleep during most of the time from midnight until the first mass of the day or Sunday. The hunger pangs were not strong if one attended 7 a.m. mass.
We know that in some religions fasting is a respected means to spiritual growth. Indigenous peoples would fast as preparation for spiritual quests – vision quests – to focus the mind on the spiritual instead of the physical. Muslims fast during Ramadan following very rigorous practices. Observant Jews not only practice fasting but also follow kosher dietary restrictions.
Some people fast for physical, rather than spiritual, reasons. Fasting can certainly be part of a regular healthy lifestyle or diet, resulting in periodic decrease in the consumption of sugar, or fats, or carbohydrates. Fasting also can be a practice to increase one’s will power.
We generally think of fasting as reduction in food intake, but I think we could see fasting in a broader plan of self-denial. Food fasting denies the body of caloric intake, but the practice of “giving up” something for Lent also is a fasting, in a manner of speaking, from a practice or pleasure that someone otherwise enjoys. So, foregoing television or drinking or other actions is really a fasting from them.
It is important, I think, for us during a season of preparation to remember to couple fasting with prayer, reflection and contemplation. Most of the biblical references to fasting refer to this duality – fasting AND prayer. If one engages in food fasting as a means to lose weight, there are physical benefits and the coupled activities are food denial and better health.
But if one is motivated to engage in fasting for religious or spiritual purposes, the paired activity must be prayer or reflection. The act of fasting is more deeply appreciated if the context is to de-emphasize physical gratification as a means to increasing awareness of spiritual influences. The fasting then reinforces the observation of Teilhard deChardin – we are not physical beings in search of the spiritual, but spiritual beings in search of a physical experience. And so the self-denial of fasting reinforces the spiritual reality of our existence.
Indigenous peoples use fasting to focus on the vision quest they are undertaking. It seems that fasting during Lent, if coupled with meaningful prayer and reflection, can present the same benefits as a vision quest.
For those of us who choose to engage in serious fasting during Lent, as we fast perhaps we should ask:
- From what are we fasting – i.e., what is it really we are denying ourselves?
- What are the benefits we observe in ourselves as we fast – physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual?
- What is it we seek from God in our process of fasting? What enlightenment, what appreciation for our limitations, what sense of gratitude for Jesus, what sorrow for our inability or insensitivity in seeing the love of God manifested in our lives and in those around us?
- What changes can we make in ourselves as we see how we cope with our diminished consumption of whatever it is we deny ourselves through fasting? Do we really need as much of what we had been consuming? How will our lives be better if we continue to deny ourselves that from which we are fasting?
For thousands of years of human existence, and across multiple religions and spiritual practices, we see people engaging in reflective fasting. There clearly is value in this physical and spiritual practice. And so, my prayer today is for the gift to pair my fasting with prayer and reflection that helps me understand better what God is calling me to do at this moment in my life.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
A HEART BEATING FAST
“When the day comes that the Groom is taken away, then they will fast.” —Matthew 9:15
We are on the third day of forty days of fasting in imitation of Jesus. Fasting is one of the major ways we defeat the devil (Mt 17:21, NAB). It is one of the most important means the Lord has chosen to convert the world to His Gospel.
The international effects of fasting begin with its individual, personal effects. When we change, the world begins to change. Fasting brings to the surface those things in the deep recesses of our hearts. Fasting does not cause irritability or compassion but surfaces what is already deep in our hearts. Sometimes a day of fasting will end in “quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw” (Is 58:4). We will manifest a selfish preoccupation with our “own pursuits” (Is 58:3). We will place unreasonable expectations on others (Is 58:3). At other times, fasting will end in true freedom, deep compassion for the poor, and light from the Holy Spirit (Is 58:6-8).
At the end of a day of fasting, we should thank the Lord for the good that has surfaced and repent of the evil that has come forth. We should ask for forgiveness and healing. If we do this every day for the forty days of Lent, our hearts will be purified, and out of the abundance of our hearts we will win the world for Christ (see Lk 6:45).
Prayer: Father, when I fast, may my stomach growl and my heart wrench in repentance.
Promise: “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and He will say: Here I am!” —Is 58:9
Praise: John’s home-based Community fasts together on Fridays in Lent.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
Are you hungry for God? Hungering for God and fasting for his kingdom go hand in hand. When asked why he and his disciples did not fast Jesus used the vivid picture of a wedding celebration. In Jesus' time the newly wed celebrated their honeymoon at home for a whole week with all the guests! This was a time of great feasting and celebrating. Jesus points to himself as the bridegroom and his disciples as the bridegroom's friends. He alludes to the fact that God takes delight in his people as a groom delights in his bride (Isaiah 62:5).
Humble yourself before the Lord your God
To be in God's presence is pure delight and happiness. But Jesus also reminds his followers that there is a time for fasting and for humbling oneself in preparation for the coming of God's kingdom and for the return of the Messianic King. The Lord's disciples must also bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility, fasting, and mourning for sin. If we hunger for the Lord, he will not disappoint us. His grace draws us to his throne of mercy and favor. Do you seek the Lord with confident trust and allow his Holy Spirit to transform your life with his power and grace?
Fast and hunger for more of God and his righteousness
What kind of fasting is pleasing to God? Fasting can be done for a variety of reasons - to gain freedom from some bad habit, addiction, or vice, to share in the suffering of those who go without, or to grow in our hunger for God and for the things of heaven. Basil the Great wrote: "Take heed that you do not make fasting to consists only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice. Shred to pieces all your unjust contracts. Pardon your neighbors. Forgive them their trespasses." Do you hunger to know God more, to grow in his holiness, and to live the abundant life of grace he offers you?
Come Lord, work upon us, set us on fire and clasp us close, be fragrant to us, draw us to your loveliness, let us love, let us run to you." (Prayer of St. Augustine)
Psalm 51:3-6,18-19
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: True fasting, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD
"All the endeavors for fasting are concerned not about the rejection of various foods as unclean, but about the subjugation of inordinate desire and the maintenance of neighborly love. Charity especially is guarded - food is subservient to charity, speech to charity, customs to charity, and facial expressions to charity. Everything works together for charity alone." (excerpt from Letter 243, 11)
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