Psalms 51:19
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit…
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Fasting and abstinence – spiritual disciplines that we observe especially during the Lenten Seasons. We should have started doing them last Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent, everyone is enjoined to do the same.
However, remembering that fasting is a form of penance and self-denial, and though we are urged to do this during the entire season of Lent, it does not have to be a fast from food or eating meat on all those forty days.
There are many other ways in which we can show God how sorry we are for our sins. Among them are the following: being generous with others, studying the Scripture, praying the rosary, practicing self-control, and more.
The prophet Isaiah was clear on this when he exclaimed (Isaiah 58:6-8):
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;
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
You shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
“I fast not because I want others to see
Rather, because I want to be what the Lord wants me to be.”
Let us pray +
Almighty Father, we observe fasting out of love for You and not because we have to, and also to give us an opportunity to deny ourselves in other ways.
A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
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