“Then came to him the disciples of John, saying: ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast. And nobody putteth a piece of raw cloth unto an old garment. For it taketh away the fulness thereof from the garment, and there is made a greater rent. Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. But new wine they put into new bottes: and both are preserved.’”
The disciples of St. John the Baptist then come, not following the teachings of their rabbi: “He must increase, but I must decrease…. He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:30, 36), but interrogating the Lamb of God. Jesus then uses words used by the same John the Baptist to describe Him: “He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled” (John 3:29). Jesus’ followers, then, were in the wedding feast, celebrating the nuptials of Jesus with humanity, rejoicing in His presence. It can be asked if John’s followers did not understand the nature of fasting, for food is a good given by God : “For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 3:13); “And God said: ‘Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat” (Genesis 1:29). However, when you are weighed down with much, it is much more difficult to contemplate divine love, which is the greater food: “Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead… I am the living bread which came down from heaven” (John 6:49-51), and without this love fasting is grievous and horrible, which is what is shown by the rent garment and burst bottles. Penance and the cross are horrors to human nature: “And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (Exodus 16:2), but when you know how loved you are: “As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9) and you realize that in suffering, you are united in love to your Crucified Beloved: “With Christ I am nailed to the cross” (Galatians 2:19), they become sweet expressions of love: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you” (Colossians 1:24). It can ruin one’s image of God, however, to focus on this element of the spiritual life, for God does not turn His ear to you because of your penances, which is pagan thought: “So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood” (3 Kings 18:28), and it can easily turn your eyes from merciful love: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts” (Osee 6:6). It is rather in turning to your Abba as a little child that He hears you: “Unless you be converted, and becomes as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Furthermore, when you stake your heavenly place on your fasting instead of your love, you have gone the way of the Pharisees: “I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:12). Instead, “trust not thyself to a rugged way, lest thou set a stumblingblock to thy soul” (Ecclesiasticus 32:25) and realize that love does not focus on food: “Meat for the belly, and the belly for the meats; but God shall destroy both it and them” (1 Corinthians 6:13), but on the Beloved: “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who, having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). When the Apostles received the Spirit of Love, they became new wineskins, and could receive the new wine of the suffering that love inevitably requires: “These men are full of new wine” (Acts 2:13); “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). The joy of the Lord blots out other joys, like the sun rising in the dawn and overshadowing the light of the stars: “And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4), and by being in this light, your desires fundamentally change, no longer hungering for food but for Divine Love: “As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God” (Psalm 41:2); “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3); “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill” (Matthew 5:6). Finally, there is a point to be mentioned concerning the presence of the Bridegroom: Though St. Paul says, “But I am straitened between two: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the better” (Philippians 1:23), this is not to take away from the joy that should be in your soul, for Jesus is present there by your state of grace, and should be amplified in receiving the Eucharist: “And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him” (Luke 24:30-31). Therefore, to miss a single Mass should fill you with mourning, for your Bridegroom is, even for a day, less present in and to you: “The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast” (Lamentations 1:4). Feast, Theophila, on love, the sacraments, truth, and joy, for “With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer” (Luke 22:15) and fast on all that inhibits your love of God and neighbor: “Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24).