Breakfast With the Word Friday After Ash Wednesday Shorter Version
The readings from Isaiah 58:1–9 and Matthew 9:14–15 remind us that fasting is a spiritual discipline meant to draw us closer to God. However, true fasting is not merely abstaining from food, following tradition, or trying to pressure God into answering our prayers. God rejects fasting that is only external while the heart remains far from Him.
Through Isaiah, God teaches that the fast He desires is one rooted in repentance and love—freeing ourselves from injustice, wickedness, hatred, immorality, and oppression. It is about caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping those in need. When fasting is joined with genuine conversion, our light shines and the Lord hears our prayers.
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In the Gospel, Jesus explains that fasting must lead to closeness with Him. The Messiah had already come, so what God desires most is not ceremonial observance but a sincere relationship with Him. Fasting should strengthen our spiritual life, deepen our repentance, and increase our intimacy with God—not serve as a ritual or a way to manipulate Him.
True fasting, therefore, is turning away from sin and anything that distances us from God. It is fasting from wickedness, jealousy, immorality, prayerlessness, hypocrisy, and every form of evil. It is a broken and contrite heart that pleases the Lord.
I pray that God in His infinite mercy forgives us today, and help us fast from those things that keep us far from Him. Amen. God bless you.
