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Friday after Ash Wednesday - The Transforming Power of Fasting

Friday after Ash Wednesday - The Transforming Power of Fasting

Catholic Daily Reflections vor 2 Jahren

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Catholic Daily Reflections

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Short reflections on the Gospel of the day, from My Catholic Life!

Religion & Spiritualität

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“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.” Matthew 9:15

Our appetites and fleshly desires can easily cloud our thinking and
keep us from desiring only God and His holy will. Therefore, in
order to curb one’s disordered appetites, it is useful to mortify
them by acts of self-denial, such as fasting. But during Jesus’
public ministry, when He was daily with His disciples, it appears
that self-denial was unnecessary for His disciples. One can only
speculate that this was because Jesus was so intimately present to
them every day that His divine presence sufficed to curb any and
every disordered affection.

But the day did come when Jesus was taken away from them—first by
His death, and then shortly after by His Ascension into Heaven.
After the Ascension and Pentecost, Jesus’ relationship with His
disciples changed. It was no longer a tangible and physical
presence. It was no longer a daily dose of authoritative teaching
and inspiring miracles that they saw. Instead, their relationship
with our Lord began to take on a new dimension of conformity to
Jesus’ Passion. The disciples were now being called to imitate our
Lord by turning their eyes of faith to Him interiorly, and
exteriorly acting as His instrument of sacrificial love. And for
that reason, the disciples needed their passions and fleshly
appetites under control. Hence, after Jesus’ Ascension and with the
beginning of the disciples’ public ministry, they greatly
benefitted from fasting and all other forms of mortification.

Each one of us is called to be not only a follower of Christ (a
disciple) but also an instrument of Christ (an apostle). And if we
are to fulfill these roles well, our disordered fleshly appetites
cannot get in the way. We need to allow the Spirit of God to
consume us and lead us in all that we do. Fasting and all other
forms of mortification help us to stay focused upon the Spirit
rather than upon our weaknesses and fleshly temptations.

Reflect, today, upon the importance of fasting and mortification of
the flesh. These penitential acts are not usually desirable at
first. But that’s the key. By doing that which our flesh does not
“desire,” we strengthen our spirit to take greater control, which
enables our Lord to use us and direct our actions more effectively.
Commit yourself to this holy practice and you will be amazed at how
transforming it will be.

My dear Lord, I thank You for choosing to use me as Your
instrument. I thank You that I may be sent by You to share Your
love with the world. Give me the grace to conform myself more fully
to You by mortifying my disordered appetites and desires so that
You and You alone can take complete control of my life. May I be
open to the gift of fasting and may this penitential act help to
transform my life. Jesus, I trust in You.

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