Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 16, 2024
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”
Reflection
John’s disciples ask Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” What a loaded question! Jesus responds that fasting doesn’t occur when the bridegroom is among them. What exactly does that mean?
For context, in the Jewish culture, when a person fasted, they were considered righteous, and when they didn’t fast, they were considered not righteous. The intent was to give up a good for a greater good, such as giving up food or comfort to be closer to God.
The Pharisees fasted because they wanted to appear righteous. John and his disciples fasted as a form of asceticism whereby they lived a strict life of self-denial as a practice of repentance. So the quick assumption was if Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast, then apparently they weren’t righteous or in need of repentance.
So, when John’s disciples asked the question, Jesus replied that the wedding guests don’t mourn while the bridegroom is with them. Thus, Jesus’ disciples (the wedding guests) didn’t fast because they were already with Jesus (the bridegroom, God). Fasting, though, would undoubtedly be in their future and ours.
In my own faith journey, I’ve come to appreciate the various forms of fasting I call “giving to gain.” Giving up screen and TV time to gain more time with Jesus in prayer. Giving my prayers of intercession for others in hopes that they may gain a closer relationship with Jesus. In giving up unnecessary spending, I gain more resources for my parish or favorite charities. It’s the first Friday of Lent. What are we giving up this year to gain a closer relationship with God and with our neighbors?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, in Christ’s presence, is endless joy. He is the bridegroom, and the Church is his bride. Though the risen Christ is with us always, we live in that age before his final manifestation and coming in glory. Give us faith and hope as our hearts yearn with spousal love for the bridegroom, for when he will come in glory, and we will partake of the heavenly wedding feast. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Today we honor a group of martyrs in the early Church who demonstrate the power of fearless witness of faith to inspire courage in others.
In the year 309, when the Roman empire was persecuting Christians, a group of faithful Egyptians traveled to Cilicia (in modern-day Turkey) to visit Christians who had been condemned to work in mines there because of their faith. On their return journey, they were stopped by guards in Caesarea. They willingly declared their status as Christians and the purpose of their trip.
They were immediately arrested, hung on the rack, and examined. The judge asked for their names and they offered names they had taken at their baptism: Elias, Jeremy, Isaiah, Samuel, Daniel, and Pamphilus. When they asked about their homeland, Elias answered that they were from the heavenly Jerusalem. The judge ordered them tortured and beheaded.
A young servant of Pamphilus named Porphyry requested that the new martyrs be buried, but the governor arrested him and, discovering that he was a Christian, had him tortured as well. Porphyry was martyred by being burned in a bonfire.
A man named Seleucus witnessed the burning of Porphyry and lauded the courage of the young man, who did not cry out during his beating or martyrdom. Soldiers nearby heard his comments and arrested him, and he, too, was beheaded.
It is easy to see the ripples of courage that spread through the community of faithful from the faithfulness of a few Christians imprisoned in a far-off mine. Their constancy and hope in suffering inspired others who faced death—it gave Elias and his friends the courage to cling to their faith no matter what. May it be so with us today.
Relics of Sts. Pamphilus, Jeremy, Samuel, Daniel, and Porphyry all rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus.
St. Elias and his friends, you adopted the courage you saw in other martyrs who preferred death to renouncing faith, pray for us!