In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.

Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. ~Mother Teresa

Scripture Text: (IS 58:1-9A)
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

As we begin our Lenten season and are urged to fast, pray and do penance in preparation for the great feast of Easter, we are invited to think about how we go about our fast over these next 40 days. If we take the Lenten fast seriously, our first impulse might be to cut down on food and drink. Then we might think about cutting down on entertainment. Then, if we get really serious, we might begin to think about curbing our temper, our quick judgment of others, or even our sharp criticisms. All ways of fasting from behaviors that we know are not of God.

All these efforts are admirable but, as our reading from Isaiah noted above insists so clearly, they only scratch the surface and are just a beginning!! Isaiah reminds us that the purpose of fasting, indeed all acts of penance, is to open our hearts to the needs of others.

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:

releasing those bound unjustly,

untying the thongs of the yoke;

Setting free the oppressed,

breaking every yoke;

Sharing your bread with the hungry,

sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;

Clothing the naked when you see them,

and not turning your back on your own.