When Jesus in today’s Gospel was asked by the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees why he and his disciples did not fast. Jesus took the occasion of a wedding feast where the bride and bridegroom were treated as King and Queen and the closest friends shared all the joy of the festivities with them; so Jesus comparing himself to the bridegroom and his disciples to the bridegroom’s closest friends, told them that now is not the time for fasting while he-the bridegroom- is with his disciples- the closest friends of the bridegroom; when he will be taken away visibly from them, that is the time to fast.
So the Church has from earliest times, after Jesus ascended into heaven, evolved and practiced a rule of fasting and abstinence, which at present however has been greatly reduced and alternated and at times commuted by other forms of penance.
So Christ and the Church have not done away with fasting, fasting is still important for a Christian; but there can be a wrong way of fasting, that it does not have any religious value if fasting is undertaken for its own sake, or as an ostentatious demonstration of superior piety as the Pharisees practice it.
Jesus considers fasting or any penance as a means for attaining a greater purpose. The disciples of john the Baptist fasted frequently in order to follow the requirements of the law and also for their spiritual growth. Jesus condemns the wrong kind of fasting, but never means that fasting should be completely eliminated from our life. Jesus recommended for choose the proper time for fasting and he himself spent time in the desert pray and fasting as a preparation for his public life.
Although it is difficult to fast under the conditions of modern life, the Church still recommends us to undergo fasting and to do penance as an effective means of purifying our souls and making progress in our spiritual live.
Lent is a good opportunity for us to unite our penances and sacrifices with those of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fr. Dionisio Cabezon.