On Wednesday of this week, together with the universal Church, we received ashes and thus began the season of Lent. Just as Pope Leo XIV taught us about the significance of fasting in his Lenten Message for 2026. The Pope said: Abstaining from food is an ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion. Precisely because it involves the body, fasting makes it easier to recognize what we “hunger” for and what we deem necessary for our sustenance. Moreover, it helps us to identify and order our “appetites” keeping our hunger and thirst for justice alive and freeing us from complacency. Thus, it teaches us to pray and act responsibly towards our neighbour.
Today’s passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew also speaks of fasting. The disciples of John came to Jesus and said, “We and the Pharisees fast often, but why do Your disciples not fast?” (See Mt 9:14). They believed that only through fasting and prayer could one obtain true salvation from God. In their view, those who were with Jesus could not obtain the true salvation that God bestowed. So, when they saw that Jesus’ disciples did not fast, they came to Jesus and accused His disciples of not fasting and praying.
Often, we are like John and his disciples, as well as the Jews of that time, competing with others in our faith life. For example, we may compare who can recite more scriptures, thinking that the more scriptures we can recite, the more proficient we are in prayer. Or we may compare who observes more fasts, believing that our fasts will earn us God’s rewards. In fact, it is not these scriptures, or these fasts that bring us true salvation, but the merciful God.
Therefore, during this Lenten season, let us return to the original purpose of fasting and prayer, so that fasting, which is beneficial for us to rediscover God and re-establish a connection with Jesus Christ, can truly help us become worthy Christians. May we, under the illumination and guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, live this Lenten season well.
Show gracious Favor, O Lord, we pray, to the works of penance we have begun, that we may have strength to accomplish with sincerity the bodily observances we undertake. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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