The question put forth to Jesus doesn’t regard so much the value of fasting in as much as the authority assumed by Him. Why does He want to change customs? Pious persons use to fast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, even though such fasting was not compulsory according to the Law. Jesus doesn’t make His disciples fast. Why? How could He make the disciples be accepted by God and hence obtain His love and goodness?

The answer of Jesus is not only an answer back, but a revelation: He "takes advantage" of the provocation of the Pharisees to make Himself known, or better, accepted.

Fasting expresses suffering, pain, repentance, self control: the disciples of Jesus, instead, are living a moment of great joy, for they know that they are the ones who are invited to the wedding! What wedding feasts? To those of the Kingdom of God, for the King himself came and is celebrating his wedding with his people! Jesus applies for Himself a title by which God Himself revealed Himself. He, as the prophet Hosea says (1^st. Reading), describes His love for His people as the love of a groom who does everything to have a love answer from his bride: "I am going to lure her and lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart!". Jesus takes upon Himself the title of "groom" hence revealing His proper identity: He is the one sent by God, the one who represents Him in truth!

How could one be sad when the groom is around? If we are living a wedding feast, the messianic banquet, it’s not possible to fast: it would be a offense to the one who chose us and love us as his bride! Jesus announces, in a concealed way, as well His death: "The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them…". Those will be day of suffering and mourning: only then shall be a reason to fast.

With such expressions Jesus teaches a new way of living the faith and the love for God: they are in reference not to a law, but the His person, to the One who comes from the Father! Fasting will not be controlled by a law but in relation with Him. He will be the new attention of the life of the believer. The faith of the disciples of Jesus is a new relationship and not an improvement of the Jewish faith.

Their faith is not like a patch sown on a used dress! Their faith in Jesus is neither a new wine in old containers: the faith in Jesus would not survive in plans of customs and practices of the Jewish faith. The faith in Jesus is expressed in new ways, look for new forms, creates new practices, all founded on Him, on His presence, on His example and on His teaching.

The Christians everywhere and of all times look always to show their love for their Lord, the obedience to His Word, the spirit of communion received as a gift, the joy of knowing that they are loved by the Father, the pain for the sufferings of their brothers and sisters and of all the world! They profess their belonging to the One whom the Father has sent, in various ways, always new, different according to the cultures in which they live. They are not afraid to change the forms of piety and of how to answer to the love of the Father: in this they are faithful to Jesus who is always the "groom" of all those who accept Him. They express the relationship with Him serving others and the world in their many spiritual and material needs! Their lives will be a newness and a gift for all: "a letter of Christ", would say st. Paul!

The image used by the apostle is a nice one (2^nd. Reading). It well expresses the fact that all of us, with our lives, before the proclamation of the word, we are to make known to all the world the joy of the love of God! To this world, so dark, we make present the true life that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ! To this word, so distracted, we make present the price of the true joy: fasting the day in which "the groom" is taken away" we announce His saving power. We are to control ourselves and our inclinations and at the same time express in fullness the glory of the risen Lord! On Fridays and other days during Lent we are to express our love for the Lord by fasting, and so we somehow share in the pain of His agony and His death. On the day of resurrection great, motivated and seren shall be our joy!