3 March 2017 - heard on high

[ Today's Readings ]

Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Fasting isn't about beating ourselves up. Honestly that is the easy part. Sackcloth and ashes and bowing the head are all external. They make no real demands on us and can even actually make us smug as if we are fulfilling all of our commitments, "pleased to gain access to God."

Fasting that makes our voice heard on high is about transformation. It is about recognizing the places where Jesus, the bridegroom, is absent in the world and focusing our efforts there rather than on ourselves. There is a sense in which Jesus is absent wherever his healing power and his love are not transforming the world. Wherever there is hunger, oppression, and homelessness Jesus wants to enter more deeply. He does so using us as his hands and feet. When we fail to be his hands and feet he is not a present as he wants to be. So when we see situations which we know touch the heart of the bridegroom let us allow ourselves to be used to enter into them and set them right.

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.

For times when we fail at this we bring God the recognition that we can do better. We bring him a contrite heart that knows that it has exulted itself and ignored God. We allow him to forgive, cleanse, and heal us.

This is fasting that matters. It isn't about us. It isn't about feeling bad about our flaws or suffering for them. It's about increasing the love that can flow through us by getting out of the way of the bridegroom who wants to work through us.

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!