Homily for Friday after Ash Wednesday (1)

Homily for Friday after Ash Wednesday

Theme: When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast.

By: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA

Homily for Friday March 4 2022

*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Isaiah 58:1-9
Psalm 50:3-6,18-19
Matthew 9:14-15

*INTRODUCTION*
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the Friday after the Ash Wednesday, and today in a special way we are reminded that all that we have done, we did them not for ourselves or for our own satisfaction and convenience, but its because we desire to seek the Lord and to be forgiven from our many sins and faults. And to be reconciled fully with our most loving and compassionate God.

*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
In our first reading today, we heard from the prophet Isaiah, the words of the Lord chastising His people in the kingdom of Judah, where Isaiah was ministering in. The Lord chastised His people because they had not truly been faithful to Him, and those who professed to be faithful, did not truly follow Him in the way that they should have, as they merely paid lip service through their actions. It was mentioned how they fasted and yet at the same time, they oppressed the weak and the poor, bringing sorrow and hardships to others, all for their own personal benefits and glory.

*FROM THE GOSPEL READING*
In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to the disciples of St. John the Baptist who came to Him asking why His disciples did not fast the same way that they and the Pharisees had fasted. Contextually, we have to understand that the disciples of St. John and especially the Pharisees had followed a very strict interpretation of the Jewish laws and customs, and which particularly for the Pharisees, they took great emphasis and care in enforcing that fast and how the fast were to be done, and criticised all others who did not fast the way that they had done it.

*WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THE READINGS OF TODAY?*
Today all of us are yet again reminded that in our Lenten practices and observances, we must not do them blindly and without understanding their true significance and importance. It means that we should not just fast and abstain from meat like for example on this day, being a Friday, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and any other Fridays, but we have to have an interior conversion and change of heart and mind. For fasting and abstinence must not just be an end on themselves, but they must lead to a genuine conversion and change of heart.

*CONCLUSION*
Let us all make great use of this blessed time of Lent for us to reorientate our lives back towards the Lord, to return to Him and to embrace Him with genuine love once again.
The Lord be with You!

Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA