FRIDAY, FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
Is 58: 1-9 Ps 51: 3-6, 18-19 Mt 9: 14-15
LENT: NOT A PERFORMANCE, BUT A CONVERSION
The season of Lent is a time set apart to rediscover what truly matters, to realign our lives with God, and to reawaken our hearts to the needs of others. We often begin this journey with enthusiasm, choosing to give up a favourite food, a habit, a distraction. Lent can easily become a spiritual performance while overlooking the deeper call to conversion. But today’s reading from Isaiah reminds us that it is not about what we let go of externally, but how we allow God to transform internally. Prophet Isaiah exposes the emptiness of ritual practices of the people. Despite their commitment to prayer and fasting, the people’s hearts remained hard. They remained in their self-centred behaviour, mistreated others. In this situation God reveals that fasting without love, without mercy, without change has no place in true worship.
In the Gospel when Jesus is asked about fasting, He shifts the focus from the act, to the relationship behind it. He reminds us that fasting is not merely about deprivation, but about preparing place within us for God. It is not an obligation but an invitation to make room for grace and holiness. Isaiah reminds us that true fasting must go beyond self-discipline. It should change how we see and how we live. It should open our eyes to the wounds of the world and awaken in us a desire to respond not just with words, but with compassion, justice, and mercy. This is the fast that pleases the Lord, not just the absence of food, but the presence of love. It’s not merely about self-denial, but about self-giving.
This Lenten season, perhaps the more difficult question is not ‘What will I give up?’ but ‘What will I give away?’ Will I give my time to someone who feels forgotten? Will I give forgiveness where I have held resentment? Will I give peace in place of conflict, or silence in place of gossip? True fasting is not performative rather it is transformative. It may begin in quiet prayer and sacrifice, but it must lead us to action. It should change not only what we do, but who we are becoming.
Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn.
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