(Optional Memorial for Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs)
Alternate Proper for the Memorial of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
Alternate Proper for the Memorial of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
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| “Christ in the Wilderness” by Ivan Kramskoy- 1872 |
Reading I: Isaiah 58:1-9a
Thus says the Lord GOD:
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!
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Commentary on
Is 58:1-9a
This passage is from what is known as Deutero-Isaiah. It was written in the latter part of the
Babylonian exile (700 BC). The prophet begins this passage with a recounting of
God’s call to him and his mission statement; “Tell my
people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Better is
the Jerusalem Bible translation; “Proclaim their faults to my people, their sins to the House
of Jacob.” or the Revised Standard
Version [Navarre
Isaiah’s lament continues as he chastises the people for missing
the point of their fasts of atonement.
They perform the rituals and follow the law but then violate the spirit
of God’s Law by being uncaring and cruel to each other.
Finally the prophet explains what that spirit is and how it is to
impact their actions and closes with the reward for following the spirit of
God’s Law – “Your integrity will go before you and the glory of the Lord
behind you. Cry, and the Lord will answer; call, and he will say, ‘I am here’.”
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you
will not spurn.
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.
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Commentary on
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19
The
psalm, 51, the most famous of the seven penitential psalms, repeats the
sentiment expressed in Isaiah regarding first the need for heartfelt repentance
on the part of the faithful. It goes on
to emphasize the need for forgiveness.
The final strophe is parallel to Isaiah’s description of the acceptable fast
in Isaiah 58:6-7 (above).
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Gospel: Matthew 9:14-15
The disciples of John
approached Jesus and said,
“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,
and then they will fast.”
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Commentary on
Mt 9:14-15
Jesus is challenged by the disciples of John the Baptist and asked
why his disciples do not keep the ritual fasts of Pharisaic Law (According to
the apostolic response in their early teaching documents, the early Christians
were to fast on different days than the Jews. “But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; Matthew 6:16 for they
fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but do ye fast on the fourth day
and the Preparation (Friday).” Didache (8.1)[4])
The Lord responds with the analogy of a marriage banquet were
there can be no mourning as long as the bridegroom is present. He refers, of course, to his own presence and
the need for fasting only after he is gone.
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Reflection:
One of the characteristics of
our Lenten celebration is that we feel the requirements of our faith press more
firmly upon us. In scripture today we first hear the Prophet Isaiah exhort us
to adopt an interior fast as opposed to a simple exterior expression of
repentance by abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent as we are required to
do. The Lord expects us to undergo a spiritual fast that expresses itself in
actions pleasing to God.
To make certain that we
recognize the need to adopt this discipline the Gospel reminds us that while
the Apostles were not required to keep the Pharisaic fasting regulations, the
rationale the Lord uses to explain this is his own presence. While he is there,
mourning his loss is inappropriate. It is the same logic we apply during Lent on
the Lord’s Day – Sunday. We do not fast nor are we required to follow the
discipline of self-denial we have established for the other days of the week
during the Lenten Season. Sundays we are with the Lord in the Eucharist and how
can we mourn when we rejoice at his solemn presence.
We return to Isaiah’s
exhortation on this first Friday of the Lenten Season. God commands us through
his prophetic words to adopt the attitude of Christ (although the author would
not have known it was Christ’s attitude he was describing).
He asks for actions that are
very specific:
“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.”
How, one might ask, can we
“…release those bound unjustly”? Or “set free the oppressed”? Have we not bound
others in our anger, have we not oppressed others with our ambition or greed?
We are called to look at our motives and see there the results of our own
actions. And this is not limited to those with whom we work or go to school;
rather the first place we look to release those bound unjustly and free the
oppressed is within our own families. It is there that the yoke rests more
heavily and the bonds cut most deeply. It is also there that forgiveness is
most difficult and reconciliation most painful.
As for “sheltering the
oppressed”, “Clothing the naked”, and “not turning your back on your own”,
these gifts of time and charity are easily associated with what we are called
to be as Christians living in an unforgiving community in difficult economic
times. Our special attention is directed there during this season of our fast.
Today, indeed, we feel the
weight of the discipline of our faith pressing upon us. We pray that our
strength is equal to the task and ask the Holy Spirit to add its strength to
our own.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture is “Christ in the Wilderness” by Ivan Kramskoy- 1872
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[4] The Didache was written in the first or
second century A.D. and was recommended by
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 265-c. 340)
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