February 15, 2013 Friday after Ash Wednesday

[이안드레아]

2013년 2월 15일 재의 예식 다음 금요일

제1독서

이사야서. 58,1-9ㄴ
주 하느님께서 이렇게 말씀하신다.
1 “목청껏 소리쳐라, 망설이지 마라. 나팔처럼 네 목소리를 높여라. 내 백성에게 그들의 악행을, 야곱 집안에 그들의 죄악을 알려라. 2 그들은 마치 정의를 실천하고 자기 하느님의 공정을 저버리지 않는 민족인 양, 날마다 나를 찾으며 나의 길 알기를 갈망한다. 그들은 나에게 의로운 법규들을 물으며 하느님께 가까이 있기를 갈망한다.
3 ‘저희가 단식하는데 왜 보아 주지 않으십니까? 저희가 고행하는데 왜 알아주지 않으십니까?’
보라, 너희는 너희 단식일에 제 일만 찾고 너희 일꾼들을 다그친다. 4 보라, 너희는 단식한다면서 다투고 싸우며 못된 주먹질이나 하고 있다. 저 높은 곳에 너희 목소리를 들리게 하려거든, 지금처럼 단식하여서는 안 된다.
5 이것이 내가 좋아하는 단식이냐? 사람이 고행한다는 날이 이러하냐? 제 머리를 골풀처럼 숙이고 자루옷과 먼지를 깔고 눕는 것이냐? 너는 이것을 단식이라고, 주님이 반기는 날이라고 말하느냐?
6 내가 좋아하는 단식은 이런 것이 아니겠느냐? 불의한 결박을 풀어 주고 멍에 줄을 끌러 주는 것, 억압받는 이들을 자유롭게 내보내고, 모든 멍에를 부수어 버리는 것이다. 7 네 양식을 굶주린 이와 함께 나누고, 가련하게 떠도는 이들을 네 집에 맞아들이는 것, 헐벗은 사람을 보면 덮어 주고, 네 혈육을 피하여 숨지 않는 것이 아니겠느냐?
8 그리하면 너의 빛이 새벽빛처럼 터져 나오고, 너의 상처가 곧바로 아물리라. 너의 의로움이 네 앞에 서서 가고, 주님의 영광이 네 뒤를 지켜 주리라. 9 그때 네가 부르면 주님께서 대답해 주시고, 네가 부르짖으면 ‘나 여기 있다.’ 하고 말씀해 주시리라.”

복음

마태오. 9,14-15
14 그때에 요한의 제자들이 예수님께 와서, “저희와 바리사이들은 단식을 많이 하는데, 스승님의 제자들은 어찌하여 단식하지 않습니까?” 하고 물었다.
15 예수님께서 그들에게 이르셨다. “혼인 잔치 손님들이 신랑과 함께 있는 동안에 슬퍼할 수야 없지 않으냐? 그러나 그들이 신랑을 빼앗길 날이 올 것이다. 그러면 그들도 단식할 것이다.”

Friday, February 15, 2013 Daily Mass Reading

February 15, 2013

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Reading 1

Is 58:1-9a

Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
"Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?"

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19

R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Gospel

Mt 9:14-15

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast."

http://www.staygreat.com/

it touched him deeply

The kind of fasting I want ...
share your bread with the hungry.
Isaiah 58:6-7

Greg Kanda bought a bag of warm
bagels at the bakery. After buying
his token for the train, he headed
for the platform. Seeing a home-
less man, he gave him one of his
bagels. The man thanked him pro-
fusely. After boarding the train,
Greg looked back to catch a
glimpse of the homeless man en-
joying his bagel. What he saw
touched him deeply. There was
the homeless man breaking his
warm bagel in half and sharing
it with another homeless man
sitting in the corner of the terminal.

He had so little, but he shared it
with someone who had even less.

How inclined am I to share with
someone daily during Lent, rather
than fast daily, as Isaiah urged?

"Jesus said, 'There is more hap-
piness in giving than receiving.'
Acts 20:35

http://www.franciscanretreats.net/

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food or drink or both for a certain period of time. Why and how this is done varies greatly and we certainly are not going to be able to cover all of it here in a few moments. For me, Lent is a time to focus on what needs changing in my life to produce a better relationship with my God and my neighbor; to focus on removing the blocks to these relationships. Fasting can help create an atmosphere of focus.

Also, it is probably that this idea of fasting is where the idea of “giving up” something during Lent came from. One may give up candy, desserts, booze, cursing or whatever during Lent. Per se this all seems an OK thing to do. But the trouble with this “giving up” is that all too often it turns into an end in itself. One “gives up” something and that’s all there is to Lent, that’s all she wrote. My Lent is going to be successful or not depending on whether or not I succumb to taking or using what I have given up. This, to me, is not what Lent is all about. If there is any “giving up” of things during Lent, it should be a means to an end, the end of focusing on various blocks we were just speaking of. If fasting is a means to an end, go for it. If it is an end in itself, forget it.

Lord, help me to focus on my spiritual life during Lent and not on the many other things that make no difference to it at all.

http://www.evangeli.net/gospel/gospel.html

Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast

Today the first Friday of Lent, having experienced the fasting and abstinence of Ash Wednesday, we have attempted to offer our fasting and the prayer of the Holy Rosary, for the Peace, that our World needs so badly. We are willing to take care of this Lenten exercise, our Church, Mother and Teacher, is asking us to abide by, and to remember it was the same Lord who said: «Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast» (Mt 9:15). We have the desire to experience it, not just as the fulfillment of an obligation which is mandatory for us, but —most of all— as the possibility to find the spirit which will let us live this Lenten practice while helping us in our spiritual improvement.

By seeking this deep feeling, we can ask ourselves: which is the true fasting? Already, prophet Isaiah, in today's first reading, tells us which is the fasting God appreciates: «Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter —when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear, then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard» (Is 58:7-8). God likes and expects from us whatever is taking us towards a true love for all our brothers.

Every year, the Holy Father John Paul II wrote us a message for Lent. One of these messages, under the motto «There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving» (Acts 20:35); helped us to discover the very same charitable dimension of our fasting, which, from the bottom of our heart, allows us to prepare for Easter Time, in an effort to identify ourselves, more and more, with Christ's love which took him to die in the Cross for us. In short, «what every Christian ought to do all the time, he ought to do it now more carefully and more devotedly» (Saint Leo the Great, pope).

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

This is the first of the Friday's of Lent. We are in the first four days of Lent. Today we reflect upon the powerful Lenten theme of fasting. During this first part of Lent, the first reading is the key reading and the gospel is chosen to match that reading. Isaiah, chapter 58 is our guide for this weekend - today, and in the moving second half of the chapter tomorrow. Reading this chapter, slowly, carefully, can be a wonderful help to begin Lent.

In Isaiah's preaching to the people, we have a contemporary message for our hearts. God wants the prophet to deliver this message to the people, to point out some powerful issues for their conversion.

It begins with tough irony. God says that the people ask God "to declare what is due them,"
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

The contemporary version of this is that we, too, often blame God for the troubles we get ourselves in. And, we want to make a request of God to make our lives happier, or to relieve some distress, and expect God to jump to our desires.

Isaiah really challenges the people for their lack of sincerity and integrity. The answer to their question is simple: the reason they don't have access to their God is that their supposed "days of fasting" are actually days of injustice - pseudo-religious activity which covers over the way they treat others.
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

Then Isaiah sets them - and us - straight about true fasting:
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.

In one of the most beautiful lines in scripture, Isaiah delivers God's message:
When we act justly - when these are the sacrifices we make in love for those in need -
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

This reading - and its second half tommorrow - are a great reflection on how we might decide to fast during these six weeks of Lent. Of course, we will also want to fast from food on the Fridays of Lent. In addition to that, we can ask ourselves, Are there concrete acts of compassion and justice which can become a part of my Lenten journey? After all, aren't these the changes in our hearts which will lead us to deeper conversion? The fasting from food can become the preparation - our experience of surrender of "our own pursuits" and can heighten our awareness and prepare for our change of heart regarding those in need around us.

Sometimes, the change in our attitude, in our compassion and love, begins close to home - loving our family members better. Today and every Friday of Lent could be special days of practicing special care for those we need to love with more appreciation and sensitive, thoughtful care. That love and compassion can then spread out, allowing us to examine our consciences about how we can act more justly in our hearts, in our choices, in our generosity.

This Lent can become a time in which our hearts are drawn closer to our Lord's own heart - and the blessing he promises us: if we die to ourselves we will find ourselves.

http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/

Fasting for the kingdom of God

Are you hungry for God? Hungering for God and fasting for his kingdom go hand in hand. When asked why he and his disciples did not fast Jesus used the vivid picture of a wedding celebration. In Jesus' time the newly wed celebrated their honeymoon at home for a whole week with all the guests! This was a time of great feasting and celebrating. Jesus points to himself as the bridegroom and his disciples as the bridegroom's friends. He alludes to the fact that God takes delight in his people as a groom delights in his bride (Isaiah 62:5). To be in God's presence is pure delight and happiness. But Jesus also reminds his followers that there is a time for fasting and for humbling oneself in preparation for the coming of God's kingdom and for the return of the Messianic King. The Lord's disciples must also bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility, fasting, and mourning for sin. If we hunger for the Lord, he will not disappoint us. His grace draws us to his throne of mercy and favor. Do you seek the Lord with confident trust and allow his Holy Spirit to transform your life with his power and grace?

What kind of fasting is pleasing to God? Fasting can be done for a variety of reasons – to gain freedom from some bad habit, addiction, or vice, to share in the suffering of those who go without, or to grow in our hunger for God and for the things of heaven. Basil the Great wrote: “Take heed that you do not make fasting to consists only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice. Shred to pieces all your unjust contracts. Pardon your neighbors. Forgive them their trespasses.” Do you hunger to know God more, to grow in his holiness, and to live the abundant life of grace he offers you?

"Come Lord, work upon us, set us on fire and clasp us close, be fragrant to us, draw us to your loveliness, let us love, let us run to you." (Prayer of St. Augustine)

Psalm 51:3-6,18-19

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

http://www.contemplative.com/weekday_readings.htm

“Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.” Yes, we mourn because the beautiful image of Christ is too often and too much absent from the daily occurrences of our world. We mourn because someone loved is gone forever in death. The death and dying of Christ is constantly going on throughout our world. Poverty, illness, injustice, violence, war, oppression, mental disorders, emotional pain and natural disasters witness to the absence of the Christ's resurrected power manifested and palpable. Our own inner personal conflicts and sinfulness bespeak the absence. At the center is the reality of the Bridegroom—Christ's victory, but it is real only in faith and hope, grasped in love hidden with Christ in God. Meanwhile, we fast—we enter into spiritual discipline—and we mourn until the Bridegroom returns amid the light of our trimmed torches kept kindled with the oil of hope and desire for God like the bridesmaids at the wedding ready to greet the Bridegroom when he returns from his absence.

http://goodnews.ie/calendar.php

It seems there was a certain amount of rivalry between the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of Jesus. The fourth gospel plays this down by ending John’s career before Jesus’ began, and by having John say: “He [Jesus] must increase and I must decrease” (3:30). What is interesting is that the gospel writer felt the need to do that. In today’s reading we catch a glimpse of that rivalry. So did John Chrysostom, who wrote: “It was likely that the disciples of John the Baptist were thinking highly of themselves as a result of John’s suffering.... So Jesus put down their inflated conceit through what he said.”

Rivalry is a very human thing, and many people see it even where it isn't. If Chrysostom is right, John’s followers were rather proud of the fact that their hero was a martyr. I can't imagine Jesus being party to the rivalry, but I can well imagine his followers. Instead of joining in the potlatch, Jesus spoke about joy.

He did not make a religion of hardship, yet he never avoided pain or sorrow. Joy does not come from avoiding; on the contrary it is possible only when we have gone into the heart of our pain and sorrow. If we avoid the process nothing happens; we will have to continue all our lives to avoid it. That way there is no joy, only endless desperate flight.

Happiness can be manufactured to some extent, just for short periods; but joy is a stroke from beyond. Joyless religion may be the profoundest denial of God. If there is no joy in it, it is all your own work, so what need have you of God? If the Resurrection is not visible in you, you are preaching death without resurrection. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy, and it is mentioned next after love in St Paul’s list, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22). If you had no love in you, you could hardly claim to be a Christian; likewise joy (and all the others).

http://www.presentationministries.com/

FAST IMPRESSIONS

"Your disciples do not" fast. 뾏atthew 9:14

Jesus said that when we fast, we should freshen up so no one can see we are fasting (Mt 6:17-18). He meant that we should fast so as to please God, not man.

In one sense, however, people should be able to tell we are fasting no matter how nice our complexion is. Fasting causes drastic changes which are visible to those around us.

• Fasting, along with prayer, is the most effective weapon to bring down the strongholds of the evil one (Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II, 100).
• Fasting sets free the oppressed, the captive, the depressed, the addicted, and the homeless (Is 58:6-7).
• Our fasting from food causes more of our money to be available to feed and clothe the hungry and poor (Is 58:7).
• Immovable, mountainous problems are overcome by fasting and prayer (Mt 17:21, NAB).
• Fasting is accompanied by humility, selflessness, and a lack of strife with those around us (Is 58:3-4).

In summary, true fasting pierces the clouds and causes our prayers to be heard and answered by God (Is 58:4). True fasting brings undeniable results.

Judge your own fasting by the above Scriptural results of true fasting. Are you fasting in such a way that your world is changing? Could others tell you are fasting simply by observing the life-changing and world-changing power emanating from your life?

Prayer: Father, pour out Your love in our hearts (Rm 5:5) so that we will desire to fast as You wish (Is 58:6) and so change the world.

Promise: "Your vindication shall go before you." 뾋s 58:8

Praise: Marcia found a new freedom when giving up TV for Lent.