“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.”
In today's Gospel Jesus describes himself as bridegroom. As Church, as community, as individual souls we are Christ's bride, called to union with him. All of our Lenten observances are reminders that he whom we love, he who desires to give himself to us, has been pushed aside, far away from our world in many ways because of our violence, hatred and unkindness. Our Lenten fast is our resolve to fill our minds and hearts with desire that his kingdom come.
