Isaiah 58:6-7
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless.
Today is the first Friday of Lent, a day in which we as Christians, especially Catholics, make a sacrifice for lent. Typically it's meat. Many will substitute fish, or grilled cheese or soup for the pot roast or Friday pizza supreme. Others will take it a step further and fast from food for the day. Some people will keep it quiet, others will share their suffering. Not what we're supposed to do but it happens. In today's first reading from Isaiah, the prophet exhorts the people to not make a sacrifice that is pleasing to us, but that it is pleasing to God. He points out that God does not want us to wallow around in sack cloth and ashes and cry out to everyone who will listen to our pain. No he says, "Share your bread, shelter the oppressed and homeless," and don't turn our back on them. I find it interesting that we are called as Christians and as a nation to share with one another and shelter the homeless and oppressed. Yet in our world today, there are so many refugees and immigrants seeking rest and refuge from oppression in their own home land. Think about how much you have to endure before you finally say, "enough!" and pack up your family, leave everything behind and seek help in another country only to have countries say, "we don't want you, we can't help you." This is not just an U.S. issue, this is all over the world, and even personally in our own neighborhoods.
Share your bread and shelter with someone today and don't turn your back on them. This is what Isaiah is challenging us to do. Are you up to the challenge?
