1st Reading: Heb 5:1-10
Gospel: Mk 2:18-22

One day, when the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting, some people asked Jesus, "Why is it that both the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?" Jesus answered, "How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them and on that day they will fast.
"No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the wine would burst the skins and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!"

While the law of Moses commanded that one need fast only during the Day of Atonement, the Pharisees had made regulations that fasting should be practiced twice a week. Jesus showed that there was no need to fast unless there was a good reason to do so. What purpose would his disciples have had in fasting when he was with them, like a bridegroom at a wedding, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom to come? Would you fast during a wedding? No, for it is a time of joy and celebration.
At one time or another, we all have observed how strict adherents to a particular law are apt to blame everyone else, who does not fully come up to their own view. We should be willing to bear slander, as long as we are sure that we have done nothing to cause it. It is good in the sight of God that we attend to every reasonable part of our duty, as long as it is in its proper order and season. Any restrictions, put upon us about fasting or abstaining from meat, should be seen exactly for what they are: invitations to exercise moderation in all things!