Daily Gospel Reflection

The Power of Fasting

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we're exploring the genius of Jesus in the Gospels, looking for ways to apply His teaching to our life daily. Remember each day as we're reading, as we're listening, we're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea to anchor our day, to allow us to delve deeper into the reading however long or however short. And today's is a very short one from Matthew's Gospel chapter 9 verses 14 and 15. "Then the disciples of John came to him saying, 'Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?' And Jesus said to 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.'"

So the word, obviously, the theme here today is fasting. How do you fast? It's part of the Christian life. It has deep roots in our Christian spirituality. But my question for you today is, how much do you know about fasting? How much do you know about fasting? Have you ever really learnt about fasting? Every year during Lent, we talk about fasting, we talk about giving up things. We talk about fasting at different times throughout the church's year. But have you ever really learnt about fasting? I think sometimes these things are around us our whole lives in the church, but we never really delve into them and understand them.

And so I encourage you, challenge you today, think about fasting, think about the role fasting plays in your life, and go online, read a couple of articles. Work out why do we fast? Why does it matter? What does it mean to you here and now in modern times? God bless you. Have an amazing day. Don't just be yourself today. Be the very best version of yourself all that God created you to be. And remember, be bold and be Catholic.