Sunday, February 22, 2026

Dear brothers and sisters

The gospel reading this weekend is a brief but pivotal passage about Jesus fasting for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness to prepare himself spiritually for the ministry that lay ahead and to confront the temp-tations presented by Satan. This trial underscores His humanity, His reliance on God, and His victory over evil temptation. His fasting demonstrates His solidarity with humanity, experiencing human weakness and tempta-tion while remaining faithful to God's purpose.

Therefore, fasting is one of three important pillars of Lent. This, particular practice, helps us to experience what Jesus did at the beginning of His ministry. It also prepares us to share more fully and to celebrate His Resurrection more readily.

From age 14 onwards, we observe Fridays during Lent as obligatory days of abstinence from meat; and when we are from age 18 until age 59, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are our obligatory days of fasting and ab-stinence. When fasting, we are permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals (that together are not equal to a full meal). In addition, we may give up our favorite foods or drinks, our hobbies or interests to practice self-discipline and remember the sacrifices Jesus made. We give up what may destroy our bodies as the temple of God; we give up what may prevent us to remain in peace, surrender in faith, and to live in joy; and we give up what may prevent us to follow God in our daily lives, obey His teachings and practice our be-lief.

However, fasting is more than just “giving something up” and abstaining from meat on Fridays. In fact, Pope Francis challenged us to think about fasting as something more powerful than we normally would consider it, describing it as “learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to ‘devour’ everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts.” Therefore, fasting is not only about giving up what pulls us away from loving God, loving others, and loving ourselves, but also about developing what helps us to incorporate acts of sacrifice, acts of giving, and acts of prayer. According to St. Augustine, "Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, sub-jects one's flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the true light of chastity." By keeping this in mind, we may not only fast cor-rectly but also apply different ways and different practices into our Lenten fasting progress.

Sincerely yours in Jesus Christ and Our Lady of La Vang!

Reverend Kiet Anh Ta.