NOTES for Isa 58:1-14

This chapter can be reread again and again during any fast, and it is unlikely ever to lose its relevance. Indeed, how convenient it is to give the Lord just a little—to limit our food preferences for a while, say, and leave it at that. Yet the Lord asks us to give Him our hearts, asks that we belong to Him completely. He asks not because He wants to take everything from us and claim it for Himself, but because one who loves desires complete union with the beloved.

If we are not ready to open ourselves to His love, we will manage to drain even our care for the needy, the hungry and the oppressed of all vitality, or turn it into a charitable formality, something done just to tick a box. But if we are ready, the desire to help our neighbour will become an expression of love that seeks an outlet and longs to give of itself, and will take shape in real deeds. And who knows? Might even the little we can give Him then prove significant, like the poor widow's mite?