Fasting – from lack to fullness
THE WORD IN LENT 2026 – THURSDAY THIRD WEEK
March 12 – Jeremiah 7: 23-28; Luke 11: 14-23
From lack to fullness – that is the journey defined for us which we are discussing. The past few days have been inviting us to think about humility, about contrite heart and lowly spirit in front of the Almighty Absolute Mercy that God is. But if we look at the human tendency of the day (I know I am generalising it too much), we see an arrogance, a pride, a hardheartedness that denies God and anything to do with God…at times because of this tendency, instead of it being from lack to fullness, we seem to be moving from fullness to lack, a tragic retro march!
Reflecting on this Jeremiah speaks to us of “turning the backs”, of stubbornness, failing to listen, and so on… he says about the people of his time, which holds so good for our times – sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths. We find this prominent in very many settings today! There is the retro-march tendency that can be noticed in many facets of human society: from families to individuals, from faith to ruthlessness, from integrity to arbitrariness… it is indeed a growingly tragic phenomenon!
The world does not stop with this… it continues to spread that tendency by maligning even the good, the gentle, the simple, the God-fearing ones… this is what happened to Jesus. He was accused of being under the influence of the evil one, because he was not falling in line with the schemes of the arrogant world.
Let us look at the tendencies of the world – the rising number of divorces, the cases of infidelities justified, the lack of respect for persons, hyper dependence on things and pleasures, investing on fleeting joys and false grounds – aren’t these really retro marches, considering the fact of how the Lord has created us in God’s own image, in the image of fullness, in the image of glory, in the image of all-encompassing love?
The message is a simple and clear warning – beware of your steps! Are you really moving from lack to fullness or retro marching from fullness to lack and incompleteness? Fasting is a choice for God…and not being with God is being against God!
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Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.