Friday after Ash Wednesday 2025
A priest of my acquaintance many years ago was in conversation with a Lutheran minister. He asked the minister if he believed that Martin Luther had made any big mistakes setting up a parallel Christian church. The minister candidly admitted that he thought Luther erred by “getting rid of reconciliation,” the Catholic rite commonly called “confession” or “penance.” I recall that G.K. Chesterton said something like that, when asked why he became a Catholic. He briefly answered that he needed to rid himself of his sins. King David, author of today’s psalm, freely admitted his monstrous sin against Bathsheba, Uriah, his family and nation. He, too, prayed to God: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.” One way or another, we need to do something about our sins.
Lent is a time in which we engage our interior self with its brokenness, weakness and intentional wrongdoing. We are all sinners, but we are sinners endeavoring to become saints, by our faith and practice. Isaiah sees fasting as being part of that process. We can easily see that Isaiah is not letting us off easy. Fasting means a lot more than just skimping on or eliminating meals. We must even before changing our diet change our moral behavior. He is very specific.
First, we should look to reducing, not enhancing our pleasure. Suppose we are eliminating meat from our meals. OK, fish is nourishing and isn’t what most consider meat. If we “fast” by going to a fancy seafood restaurant and order a fancy swordfish or salmon steak with all the trimmings, we may enjoy that even more than a beefsteak. So we should fast from pleasures that are otherwise licit.
If at the same time as we fast from meals, we lay off half our workforce, or play games with payroll taxes, or anything else that cheats our employees, our fasting is just a way to feel better without becoming better. Watch out that you don’t pay for your fast with other people’s money.
For some folks, the Lenten fast is injurious to themselves and others. Isaiah knows this. On fasting we may make ourselves so miserable that we lash out at family, friends or coworkers. If you tend when in a bad mood to emotionally or even physically abuse your spouse, get help, and give them the chance to get help. The purpose of Lent is to make us better down deep in our soul, our psyche.
You can find all kinds of ways to “loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.” If you can’t think of ways to do that, ask your spouse or employees.
That should lead us to almsgiving. Isaiah says, “share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” Give to charities. Carry around in your car sandwich bags filled with water bottles, nutritious snacks and instructions on how to contact those charities.
Why do all this? To be a better person, a more valid Christian. You’ll feel better, and live better. In the words of Isaiah and Christ, “Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.”
