the fasting of expectation - 2nd week monday

Why do Jews fast? Fasting was primarily done because of penance.  Jews fast because of penance, because of the discipline that it imposes on the body and its desires.  But there is another reason for fasting and this is what Jesus is pointing out in our gospel today.   Fasting came also to signify their longing, their hunger for the messiah.  It was a fasting of expectation, a fasting of waiting.  This is also the meaning of why we have a Eucharistic fast - we refrain from eating an hour before holy communion - it is a fasting of waiting, it is a fasting of expectation to express our longing to receive the Lord as the Jews then expressed their longing for the coming of the messiah.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Agnes.  Agnes is a virgin and a martyr.  She died in the year 305 and as the Fathers of the Church say – "she received a double crown, that of virginity and that of martyrdom."

She was twelve years old when she was called to endure all kinds of torture and finally martyrdom through beheading.  Why?  Because she won’t let go of her virginity, she had already offered her virginity to Christ and she won’t give herself in marriage even to a very high ranking suitor because she had already given herself to Christ.

Here again virginity is an act of waiting, an act of longing for Christ, to receive him not just as bread and as nourishment but in the intimacy of one’s life - to become one with him, to be so in love with him and thus to live life only for him.

Jews fast to express their longing for the messiah, we fast to express our longing for Jesus.  People offer their virginity to signify their single-hearted love and dedication for Christ.

In this mass may we recover the meaning of what we are doing for Jesus.