Friday after Ash Wednesday
Matthew 9:14-15
“But the days will arrive when the groom will be taken away from them. And then they shall fast. “
in Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery ex Wikimedia Commons
Then the disciples of John drew near to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast frequently, but your disciples do not fast?”
And Jesus said to them: “How can the sons of the groom mourn, while the groom is still with them? But the days will arrive when the groom will be taken away from them. And then they shall fast.
What do the Fathers Say?
St JEROME. Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church the Bride. Of this spiritual union the Apostles were born; they cannot mourn so long as they see the Bridegroom in the chamber with the Bride. But when the nuptials are past, and the time of passion and resurrection is come, then shall the children of the Bridegroom fast. The days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
When He has departed from us for our sins, then is a fast to be proclaimed, then is mourning to be put on.
It is the custom of the Church to come to the Lord’s passion and resurrection through humiliation of the flesh, so that by carnal abstinence we may better be prepared for spiritual fulness.
St HILARY. Figuratively; This His answer, that while the Bridegroom was present with them, His disciples needed not to fast, teaches us the joy of His presence, and the sacrament of the holy food, which none shall lack, while He is present, that is, while one keeps Christ in the eye of the mind. He says, they shall fast when He is taken away from them, because all who do not believe that Christ is risen, shall not have the food of life.
Pope Benedict XVI :- Homily on Ash Wednesday 01March 2006
St Augustine remarks that those who want to walk in the love of God and in his mercy cannot be content with ridding themselves of grave and mortal sins, but “should do the truth, also recognizing sins that are considered less grave…, and come to the light by doing worthy actions. Even less grave sins, if they are ignored, proliferate and produce death”
Lent reminds us, therefore, that Christian life is a never-ending combat in which the “weapons” of prayer, fasting and penance are used. Fighting against evil, against every form of selfishness and hate, and dying to oneself to live in God is the ascetic journey that every disciple of Jesus is called to make with humility and patience, with generosity and perseverance.