Homily for February 16th, 2018: Isaiah 58:1-9a;
Matt. 9:14-15.
Lent is an
opportunity for what is called in sports ‘spring training.’ It encourages us to
take up three practices which are as essential for spiritual health as regular
physical exercise and a healthy diet are for an athlete: prayer, fasting, and
almsgiving. Both of today’s reading focus on the second practice: fasting.
Voluntarily giving up things we may
legitimately enjoy, as an expression of our love for God, strengthens our wills
and spiritual muscles. This helps us to resist the lures and lies of Satan,
when he tempts us to make choices that we know to be sinful. Fasting may be of
many kinds: refraining from food or drink, reducing the time we spend in front
of the TV, computer, or movie screen, or engaging in hobbies and other
legitimate leisure activities.
Our first reading is a searing
indictment of a wrong kind of fasting. The prophet Isaiah represents people who
fast asking God: “Why do we fast, and you do not see it?” Speaking for God,
which is what prophets do, Isaiah gives the answer. “You fast, but while you do
so, you continue to act unjustly: fighting, quarrelling, abusing those who work
for you.” If you want God to heed your prayers, work for justice, and for changing
structures of society that cause injustice. Practice acts of charity for the
poor, free those oppressed by unjust laws.
There is a tragic division in the
American Catholic family today: between the so-called social justice Catholics
and those who concentrate, sometimes exclusively, on the so-called life issues:
abortion, gay-marriage, and the family. These life issues are crucial. But so
is social justice. There should be no opposition between them. Isaiah’s words
show that both are essential. The Lord calls us, Isaiah says, to release those
bound unjustly; to set free the oppressed; to share our bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and homeless, to clothe the naked when we see them. There
are people in our parish who are doing all those things. When we join them,
Isaiah promises, our light will break forth like the dawn, our wounds will be
quickly healed. “Then you shall call,” Isaiah says, “and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!”
That, friends, is the gospel. That is
the Good News!
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