Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011612.cfm
"Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?" This is a question posed by Jesus in today's Gospel. The answer is obviously no, for while Jesus (the bridegroom) is with the disciples (the wedding guests), it is a time of joy and celebration, not fasting. However, once Jesus removes his physical presence from them, it will be a time of fasting.
We who follow Jesus today are wedding guests waiting for the bridegroom to return and take us to the wedding feast of heaven. Since Jesus is not physically with us now, we fast. Once we are in glory, we will cease to fast because we will eternally experience joy and celebration.
Fasting can take several forms. The primary form is the giving up of food. The secondary form is the giving up of something we enjoy. For example, we might give up our morning coffee for a day. In either case, we are making a sacrifice that brings us a little bit of pain. When, by the grace of God, we keep our fasts to ourselves and do them with patience, that is, we do not complain about the suffering we experience from giving up things we love, then we can make reparations for the temporal punishment that is due for our sins.
The temporal punishment that is due for our sins is the suffering we have to endure to repair the damage our sins have caused others. We may not always realize how our sins affect the people in our life, but they do. When God forgives the guilt of our sins, so that we do not have to answer for them either in this life or in the life to come, he does not wipe out the pain our sins have caused others. This pain still remains, and we have to make up for it; and we can do this by fasting.
May God, through Christ, give us the grace to fast worthily, that is, with silence and patience.
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