Why Do Catholics Fast During Lent?
Gospel Reflection for March 7th, 2025 The First Friday after Ash Wednesday
Then the disciples of John approached him and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast [much], but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. - Mt. 9:14-15, NAB-RE.
The narrative for today’s short gospel text (only two verses) is an interesting selection for the first Friday after Ash Wednesday. We Catholics are in the beginning days of what we call Lent, a penitential season where we are called to pray, give alms, and fast. In today’s gospel, John the Baptist’s disciples approach our Lord asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast [much], but your disciples do not fast?”[1] The reader discovers as Theologian Daniel J. Harrington explains, “It seems that Jesus did not instruct his disciples to observe a regimen that included religious fasting at specific times.”[2]
So, what is Jesus’ answer for this fact? One of the main themes of Jesus’ teaching is the imagery of the wedding feast—the best earthly expression of the joy of heaven from God. An interesting point I have come across regarding the creation narratives found in Genesis is that nearly all things made by God are found to be good in the first narrative—there is one exception found in the second narrative. The author of Genesis writes, “ The Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.”[3]
The joining of man and woman (a primordial wedding feast) is a familial relationship of intention of God’s purpose in our creation—relationship; or to live in common social life. In fact, it is why John the Baptist through the Prophetic Literature is called to turn the heart of sons to their fathers. The preparation to make straight the path for our Lord is the restoration of right relationships within our families. 17th Century Catholic theologian Cornelius Lapide explains further the wedding imagery regarding the faithful “This marriage Christ hath begun by grace on earth (Matt. 22:2), but He will consummate it in glory with His elect in heaven, where there shall be celebrated the endless marriage-feast of the Lamb.”[4]
Humanity living in a rightly ordered familial relationship is a sign for the world as we are created for the purpose of living in divine friendship with God. Our disobedience, what is called Original Sin, has brought about the disorder of breaking that friendship with God. So, keeping all of this in mind, Jesus in today’s gospel uses the notion of the bridegroom within the imagery of the wedding feast. The Catechism of the Catholic Church further teaches, “The Lord referred to himself as the “bridegroom.” The Apostle speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride “betrothed” to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him.”[5]
God desires to be in relationship with each one of us personally because it is good. Jesus teaches us today, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”[6] Why do Catholics fast during Lent? The question may seem simple, Jesus is not with us, so that is why we are fasting and practicing abstinence from meat. The context of the passage though is in the shadow of Christ’s looming Passion. By the grace God, many of us are already baptized and raised with Christ. Jesus has told us, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”[7]
So, then why are we called by the Church to fast? In some sense, with our human nature, we do need to be reminded of our disobedience and to feel the effect of it. We need to feel the bondage of the Hebrews under Egyptian oppression. We need to feel the Babylonian Exile. We need to feel the longing of Israel for their Messiah.
The purpose of Lent with its asceticism is preparing our hearts for the celebration of Easter Sunday. We are an Easter people! It is at mass where we see heaven and earth for a moment touch. It is the mass—before the Eucharist—we prepare our body and souls for the wedding feast of heaven where “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain.”[8]
[1] Mt 9:14, NAB-RE.
[2] Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, ed. Daniel J. Harrington, vol. 1, Sacra Pagina Series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007), 128.
[3] Ge 2:18, NAB-RE.
[4] Cornelius à Lapide, The Great Commentary of Cornelius À Lapide: S. Matthew’s Gospel—Chaps. 1 to 9, trans. Thomas W. Mossman, Third Edition., vol. 1 (London: John Hodges, 1887), 364.
[5] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 210.
[6] Mt 9:15, NAB-RE.
[7] Mt 28:20, NAB-RE.
[8] Re 21:4, NAB-RE.