Gospel
Mark 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
"Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them,
"Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
Reflection
What stood out to me in this Gospel was Jesus' response to the Pharisees’ question: “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus replied, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day”. This reminded me of the Lenten season, a time of fasting and reflection. It reminded me how Jesus went into the desert to fast for 40 days, leaving His disciples behind, and how He was eventually taken from them, tortured, and crucified.
Reflecting on this also made me wonder how fasting or making sacrifices helps us grow closer to God. I believe fasting helps us develop discipline and strengthens our will, allowing us to build better habits. It allows us to grow in gratitude, reminding us of the blessings we often take for granted...by giving something up, we become more aware of what we have. I think fasting also forces us to be contemplative and self reflective which creates the opportunity for us to identify bad habits or attitudes that may be distancing us from God in order to replace them with virtues and practices that draw us closer to Him.
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