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March 4, 2022“Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed”
Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth, for mercy is the water that nourishes fasting so that it may bear fruit. The prophet Isaiah lifts his voice like a trumpet blast against a fasting that is deprived of mercy. He cries out against an empty show that is not rooted in freeing those hungry for compassion. Why? Because indifference to the one in need wounds, for we are one body, and if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.
As we enter further into the desert of this Lenten simplicity and self-denial, could it be most of all for us a time of healing? Acts of mercy are healing waters to cleanse the wounds of indifference because they lead us to true repentance, to recognize Christ. As we embark on this campaign of Christian service, may we discover that our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are one, and give life to each other. The words preached by the bishop St. Peter Chrysologus in the fifth century still ring true today: “if you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry.” Recognizing Christ in need allows our fasting to be an avenue of healing. Indeed, he exhorts his flock, “do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself.”