Few people truly enjoy the act of fasting. Consequently, some of us may be looking ahead to Ash Wednesday with a touch of dread. In our first reading, Isaiah paints a portrait of a people who fasts regularly, bowing their heads and “[lying] in sackcloth and ashes” (58:5). On the surface, this seems admirable, the actions of those who seek God “day after day” and “desire to know [his] ways” (v.2). Yet the prophet has been sent to deliver words of condemnation, not praise. Israel’s fasts are not sincere, but showy and performative. Worse, they are an attempt to manipulate God—“why do we fast, and you do not see it?” (v. 3). The Israelites believe that by fasting they can force God’s hand for the benefit of their own selfish interests. If they were sincere, God tells them, then they would be fasting and working for the hungry, the oppressed, the homeless, the naked, and the unjustly imprisoned. If they will stop the performance and do this, “then [their] light shall break forth like the dawn” (v.8).

In today’s gospel, Jesus declares that his disciples are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor does someone “light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket” (Matt. 5:15). While Isaiah criticized the Israelites for their showy deeds, Jesus tells his followers that their light must “shine before others.” Far from being a private, personal matter, faith is something that cannot be hidden, a light that must shine so as to be seen. The difference lies in motive. Whereas Isaiah’s people did their good works out of selfish motives, the result of our good deeds should not be self-glorification but to “glorify [our] heavenly Father” (v.16). As true followers of Jesus, our “light” is not intended to bring glory to ourselves, our power, or our wisdom (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5). Rather, let those who see us working for the good of the world in turn glorify God, our heavenly Father, from whom comes all good things. 

 Reflection by parishioner Kathryn Wilmotte