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Gospel Reading for September 04, 2026 – Luke 5: 33-39
TIME TO FILL
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
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Fasting is made an obligation by the Catholic Church only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as an act of penance, self-discipline, and spiritual preparation to honor Jesus Christ’s suffering and death. It is a form of spiritual discipline of the body that can also be practiced anytime.
For the Pharisees, fasting was done every Monday and Thursday, even though there was only one mandatory fast day commanded by the Law of Moses for the entire year—the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Mondays and Thursdays also worked well for them because they were the primary market days in the towns, where they could show off their piety.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6: 16–18:
“When you fast, don’t make yourselves look sad like the hypocrites. They put a look of suffering on their faces so that people will see they are fasting. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. So when you fast, wash your face and make yourself look nice. Then no one will know you are fasting, except your Father, who is with you even in private. He can see what is done in private, and He will reward you.”
Unless our fasting is a sincere act of penance and spiritual discipline, it becomes just another ritual that has become habitual.
There was no need for the disciples to fast while Jesus was with them. It was a TIME TO FILL themselves with all the teachings and all the love of Jesus. When Jesus was taken away from them, then it became the time to fast in atonement for the sins that brought him to the Cross.
Lord Jesus, may our acts of sacrifice bring us closer to you and make us more aware of our Christian duty to help the needy. Amen.
