"Why do the Pharisees and we fast much, but your disciples do not fast? “Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?(Mt 9:15)
God is good, all the time.
Friends, the readings for today's Mass implies that we should not cage our faith in religious formalities and so doing cover God with injustice. If our external religious observances have no internal correspondence, then what we are doing is caging our faith. What that means is that God becomes the unintended object of our actions.
Remember that in the gospel for Ash Wednesday, Jesus addressed how his disciples should perform their religious obligations and intend them to please God. So, the question from the disciples of John demanding Jesus to explain the reason his disciples never fasted struck as misplaced judgment about the manner of fasting, something Isaiah also mentioned in the first reading.
The obligation of fasting and other religious practices should result in transformative relationships that lead to caring, supporting, and looking out for others. When our religious obligations take rhythmic form without benefiting others, it breaks from God's justice, which is kindness, forgiveness, love, and care towards all.
Because we all face the temptation of thinking that our good treatment others is not as critical as how we need to treat God, Isaiah points out, share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
Whether we fast, pray, or give to others, if we perform them with a sense of obligation that is not deeply rooted in love, then we are caging the faith behind the acts. Only by ordering our religious actions towards loving God and others that they achieve their ends. They please God, and they benefit us. When God is pleased, he answers our prayers and blesses us so that we do not have to complain about unanswered prayers.
May God grant us the courage see that in serving others we serve God. Amen.