Morning Prayer with the Oblate Family: Saturday July 2nd

With Lorraine Lorenzo

Good morning friends, today we join Lorraine of Our Lady of the Wayside parish, Dublin.

Fasting, along with prayer and almsgiving, is among the main spiritual practices we undertake in order to get closer to God. It is an ancient custom, observed especially by the prophets like Moses and the Israelites.

Knowing this, we can imagine why John’s disciples dared to ask Jesus: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” It is remarkable that Jesus referred to Himself as a bridegroom and of His disciples as wedding guests.

The bridegroom is the master of the wedding feast. His arrival and ongoing presence signals that the people should rejoice, not mourn. Similarly, Jesus is our Master. He is the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Son of God.

It is worth noting that the question on fasting comes from John’s disciples. Let us remember that in another instance, John had sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if He is The One who is to come.

By calling Himself the bridegroom, Jesus is revealing to us who He is. He is the One, and He has the authority to teach us about spiritual matters and how best we can please God, Our Father.

Perhaps we can ponder upon this: if the bridegroom is central to a feast, how do we keep Jesus at the centre of our faith? Our fasting and all our spiritual practices will have no meaning if our relationship with Jesus is not equally nourished.

We need to trust in Jesus. We have to rely on His mercy and His love, not just on the merits of our good deeds. Of course, Jesus is not saying that his disciples, his “wedding guests”, are exempt from any form of self-sacrifice.

In coming as the Messiah, Jesus awakened the eyes of many and disrupted the comfortable but unjust order of His society.

If we are to be true followers of Christ, our faith will cost us many things. We have to be willing to accept that we have to let go of past sins, past hurts and even past comforts.

We cannot say we are true followers of Christ if we only choose to take on what is convenient and ignore the harder teachings of the Church, simply because it is going against our own desires and current way of life.

As Jesus said, we cannot patch up an old cloak with a piece of unshrunk cloth and we cannot pour new wine into old wineskins. This means we have to be willing to be transformed into new individuals, totally letting go of what is holding us back from being the person God made us to be.

The lives that we lead and the faith that we profess should be in harmony with each other. Indeed, my friends, the love of Jesus is transformative.

We should ask ourselves, do we trust in Him enough to follow His will even when it is difficult for us to do so? What are we holding back from and what do we need to let go of?

Thank you for joining us, and have a blessed day!

Tags: morning prayer