Daily Reflection Friday After Ash Wednesday

Today’s first reading from Isaiah 58, and its conclusion in tomorrow’s liturgy, is one of the greatest passages of that greatest of all prophetic books. It begins with God telling the prophet to shout the message that follows at the top of his lungs. The message is that Israel has failed to truly follow the law of God, that they are steeped in sin. He tells them that although they delight to draw near to God, it is a vain delight, “As if they were a nation that practiced righteousness.” Because although they practice certain religious observances (their fasts), “Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” And God assures them through Isaiah that such fasting, such religious observances, will not make their voices heard on high. What God is really telling them is that they have failed to show love. Then, through the prophet, God tells them what true religion actually is. It is of such striking importance that it bears hearing again. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” This is followed by the final admonition, “Remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil.”
 
Of course, this is not merely a prophecy meant for the ancient Israelites alone. It is very much meant for all of us everywhere and at all times. So often we too can fall into the trap of just “doing” without anchoring all we do in love, even when the doing is right and honorable and “religious.” For as Paul told the Corinthians so powerfully, if we can speak in the tongues of angels, or have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if we have all faith so as to move mountains and give away all our possessions and hand our bodies over to be burned, but do not have love, we have nothing.
 
The prophet finally tells us, find this love that God has put within you and, “Then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday sun and the LORD will guide you continually… you shall be like a watered garden… you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” “Then your healing will spring up at once… you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.”
 
Such great promises could not be more beautifully, more eloquently expressed than they are here in Isaiah 58. How do we find that love that God makes available to us all, not just in part but fully given? As Jesus told his disciples who were unable to cast out the demon in Mark 9:29, “This one can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.” This Lent, let us decide to pray every day, spending some time pouring out our hearts to God and seeking to become aware of and receive God’s grace that can totally change our weak, selfish, fearful hearts into hearts that can love and forgive, can serve and cherish everyone. If we persevere in daily prayerful meditation, asking God to remove (drive out) from us all that keeps us from embracing God’s love, seeking God in faith and hope, then those beautiful promises of Isaiah will dawn for us also as we begin to experience the power of God working in the lives of those who seek him with all their hearts. The power to forget our self, to forgive all including ourselves, the power to trust God fully in great faith and hope, and most of all, the power to love one another as Jesus loved us.