Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. Matthew 9:15
“Christ is the Bridegroom, the Church is the bride. From this holy and spiritual marriage, the apostles were created, who cannot mourn as long as they see the bride in the chamber and know that the Bridegroom is with the bride. But when the wedding is past and the time of the Passion and Resurrection comes, then the sons of the Bridegroom will fast. On account of this statement, some think that fasts should be commenced after the forty days of the Passion.
Yet the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit invite us at once to festivity. Based on this pretext, Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla even make a forty-day fast after Pentecost, because [they say] when the bridegroom is taken away, the sons of the bridegroom ought to fast. But the custom of the Church comes to the Passion of the Lord and the Resurrection by means of the humbling of the flesh. Thus by the fasting of the body we are prepared for spiritual feasting.”
Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420) in Commentary on Matthew, translated by Thomas P. Scheck (The Fathers of the Church; Washington DC: CUAP, 2008) 108.
As I stated yesterday, I am starting Lent with the four doctors in the Western Church. We heard from Augustine, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great, so Jerome is last. Tomorrow we will turn to the four doctors of the Eastern Church.
This excerpt from Jerome’s Commentary on Matthew gives us another early church testimony for Lent. Jesus has ascended to the Father so we fast for forty days in order to have a time set apart for “spiritual feasting.”
What are you feasting on this Lent? I am feasting on gratitude for the grace of God, the peace that comes with the faithfulness of God, the forgiveness of sins, and the privilege of participating with God in doing good works which He prepared for me to do.
Please pause to give something today to GTP to help us finish this matching grant. We are only about $4,736 away with a day to go. And pray for me as I make preparations to serve in West Africa next week for 15 days. More on that later.
For now, make sure you answer this question: What are you feasting on this Lent? If you don’t fill the margin in your appetite and heart, in your budget and schedule with constructive study, giving, and service, the evil one will fill it with something else.
Lent is about making space for spiritual feasting.