Friday after Ash Wednesday

Wow, such an auspicious name for today, Friday after Ash Wednesday. It's not Friday of first week of Lent, or anything, just plain ol' Friday after Ash Wednesday. Does this mean lent hasn't started yet? hahahahahaha. No. Lent has begun. The first Sunday of Lent is just that, first Sunday.

Today's gospel, linked to the actual site lest the Bishops decide to sue me for lifting off their website

The disciples of John approached Jesus 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."

I had not really thought about it, but it must have been a very confusing thing for the disciples of John to see Jesus, the man their master John had called the lamb of God, not doing anything like John had done things. It must have felt like adding insult to injury when Jesus started talking about bridegrooms and wedding guests. And this being taken away business, what is that all about, they must have wondered.

To be honest this passage has always confused me a little bit, too. I don't have any developed doctrine to offer on it, but over the years I've come to understand that Jesus did not come preaching repentance. Jesus came preaching the immediate presence of the Kingdom of God. People who preach repentance fast. The Son of God preaches, urges on us, the immediacy of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God among us right now is not a reason for fasting. It is a reason for rejoicing. With the word made flesh with them, how could the apostles do anything but be wedding guests? So then why do we fast?

Jesus said "when the bridegroom is taken away." That has happened, but only in the sense that his physical body does not live on earth anymore. This is the important part, his physical body is in heaven! Before God at this very moment. That's why I love the Sacred Heart so much. It's not a doctrine, or a fantasy by some overwrought nun, it's a reality of the Ascension of Christ!

We fast now because the church has a year that tries to follow the life of Christ. Forty days Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. For those forty days he fasted. The church then attached that forty day fast to three days of the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Then the miracle of Resurrection -- Easter!

The important thing in today's gospel is that even though Jesus body is not on earth, we live in the Kingdom of God. Because we do, and because we are followers of the church year and the liturgy, we celebrate the fast of lent so that when the horrors of Holy Week come, we may be mortified in our hearts, and then be raised again to joyous life in Easter.