Dear Friend, 

Friday, February 16, 2024

Reflection by Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D.

Both readings for Mass today invite us to focus upon one of those three disciplines of the Lenten Season, namely, fasting.  For most of us, I would imagine, the thought of fasting can be off-putting and simply an exercise to be endured.  We’re glad when it’s over and that we survived, however scathed we may be!

But there is a deeper purpose to fasting, beyond what many see as a means merely to lose weight.  The spiritual discipline of fasting creates in us a sensitivity, an awareness of the needs of others and an attentiveness to the presence of God.  These are some of the words that the prophet Isaiah in the first reading employs to describe the fasting the Lord wishes: “releasing…, untying…, setting free…, breaking…, sharing…, shattering…, clothing…, not turning your back on your own.”  (58:1-9a) 

Not turning your back. 

It’s pretty difficult to see someone’s face when we have turned our back on that person.  It’s actually not hard … it’s impossible.  “It is your face, O Lord, that we seek.”  ( Psalm 27:8) That’s our focus for this Lent and we’re only a couple of days into it.  I believe I’ve come up against one of my biggest challenges: my tendency to turn my back on Him.  Not literally, of course.  I still do what I’ve been doing all along.  Talking the talk, as they say.  But when it comes to walking the walk, sometimes I feel like the Lord is looking at my back because I’ve wandered ahead yet again, another disciple taking the lead instead of following.  It never works out.  We have one Master, and that is Jesus Christ. 

Embracing fasting is a way to express our openness and willingness to let Christ take the lead in our lives again, to be our Master and Lord.  Fasting helps us to move away from our need to control and move out of our comfort zone that we may see His face.  Like St. Gregory the Great invites us in his 6th Century hymn, The Glory of these Forty Days, may we take heart and be encouraged:

Then grant, O Lord, that we may, too,

 return in fast and prayer to you.

Our spirits strengthen with your grace,

and give us joy to see your face.

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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., Vice Provost for Academics and Catholic Identity Seton Hall University and Rector/Dean Emeritus, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology . He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.