Given the beginning of this season of Lent, today’s Gospel helps us truly reflect on the meaning behind the fasting that we are called to do throughout this time. The Gospel starts by posing a very important question: Why did strict Jewish groups like the Pharisees fast, but the disciples of Christ do not? Jesus answers this question by pointing out that a wedding is a very joyful time, and thus it would actually be inappropriate to fast during that time. Similarly, as Jesus is with us and proclaiming his Kingdom, we are also in the presence of extreme joy, so given this joy, we should not fast. This is precisely where we can discover the reason why we do fast throughout Lent and especially from meat on Fridays.
When we are in a season of joy (such as the disciples were in today’s Gospel, being in the presence of Christ), we do not fast. However, when we are in a season of mourning, we do fast. Christ was crucified on Good Friday, so to mourn that moment, we fast from meat on Fridays. We abstain from flesh meat to honor Christ; the reason we can eat fish on Fridays is because they do not fit in that flesh meat category. We fast because we are mourning; since Christ died on a Friday, it is not a day of joy.
If we look back at Matthew 4:1-11, we can see that Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil; he fasted for forty days and forty nights in preparation for when he would begin ministering publicly. This is why Lent is forty days long, and this is why we are called to fast from something of our choosing for those forty days. We are uniting ourselves to Christ, and we are preparing ourselves for the Resurrection of Christ that is to come. We are preparing ourselves for the ministry of Christ. Fasting commemorates this time He spent being tempted by the devil; when we unite ourselves to Him, we also can resist being tempted by the devil.