Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
There is a new paradigm. Before Jesus came we were on our own. We tended to go to one extreme or another. We would fast too much or, more likely, too little. We were vaguely away that we were doing it for God, but we weren't quite sure why. We still risk this outcome today unless we keep in mind what Jesus tells us.
Jesus himself is the source of our joy and our feasting. He himself is the bridegroom whose wedding feast is the only true only lasting joy we can know. It is precisely because of this great good that we sometimes fast.
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.
It is like how the disciples who saw Jesus transfigured where strengthened to follow him to the cross. It is like the strength the angel gives Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. No longer is fasting merely something we do on our own for the sake of God. It itself is a gift which we can live to purify ourselves and the world. It is only possible be the strength of God which allows us to see beyond Good Friday to Easter Sunday.
If we try to compute the mysteries of God through reason apart from faith we do not succeed. At first it seems fearful to give up control in this way. But it is actually freedom.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Does Jesus feel distant right now? Then perhaps he is inviting us to enter more fully into his Paschal mystery, fasting for the sake of the Church and the world. And this, of course, can be done in smaller or larger ways depending on what Jesus is specifically asking of each individual. But from the smallest sacrifice to the greatest they are possible because we see beyond them to the hope of the resurrection by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Already our minds are thinking, 'only large sacrifices are enough!' We find ourselves trying to figure out what is 'enough' based on "human tribunals". In our fasting and feasting the one who judges is the Lord. It is easy to say, but a challenge to live. But it is a worthwhile challenge, because when we are willing to attempt it we find a greater peace than any we can concoct for ourselves.
Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
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