From: Luke 5:33-39

A Discussion on Fasting

[33] And they (the scribes and the Pharisees) said to Him (Jesus), “The disciples
of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but
yours eat and drink.” [34] And Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding
guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? [35] The days will come, when
the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
[36] He told them a parable also: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and
puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from
the new will not match the old. [37] And no one puts new wine into old wineskins;
if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins
will be destroyed. [38] But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. [39] And
no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

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Commentary:

33-35. In the Old Testament God established certain days as days of fasting —
the main one being the “day of atonement” (Numbers 29:7; Acts 27:9). Fasting
implied total or partial abstinence from food or drink. Moses and Elijah fasted
(Exodus 34:28; 1 Kings 19:8) and our Lord Himself fasted in the desert for forty
days before beginning His public ministry. In the present passage Jesus gives
a deeper meaning to the word “fasting”—the deprivation of His physical presence
which His Apostles would experience after His death. All through His public life
Jesus is trying to prepare His disciples for the final parting. At first the Apostles
were not very robust and Christ’s physical presence did them more good than
the practice of fasting.

Christians should sometimes abstain from food. “Fast and abstain from flesh
meat when Holy Mother Church so ordains” (”St. Pius X Catechism”, 495). That
is the purpose of the fourth commandment of the Church, but it has a deeper
meaning, as St. Leo the Great tells us: “The merit of our fasts does not consist
only in abstinence from food; there is no use depriving the body of nourishment
if the soul does not cut itself off from iniquity and if the tongue does not cease
to speak evil” (”Sermo IV in Quadragesima”).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading	1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ©

People must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge. There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God.

Psalm	Psalm 36:3-6,27-28,39-40 ©