In today’s Gospel we hear John the Baptist foretelling of the sacrifice Jesus will make for all when he proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” We can only imagine the confusion of those around who hear these words. What might John mean? How can this man take away the sin of the world? They had no understanding of what was to come, however John, having been guided by God’s Word, did. Despite their understanding, many began to follow Jesus in large part on account of all that John the Baptist had said and done in preparing the way of the Lord.

   Over two-thousand years later, we have the benefit of an account of all that Jesus did for us. Despite our being able to look back on the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, many of us still struggle to follow Him. For most, it is not due to a lack of understanding of the faith but a lack of obedience to God’s will and an attachment to all that we have grown so comfortable with in our worldly lives. This situation highlights the need and benefit for fasting in our lives. Not only fasting of the foods we may eat but a fasting of the things in our lives that either do nothing to benefit us physically or spiritually or even worse, cause us to become slaves to their procurement resulting in us becoming separated from God. You might say, but that is what we do during Lent. Yes we do but can you say that our efforts to grow closer to Our Lord shall be reserved for a handful of weeks a year? Our best efforts at building the Kingdom of God lie in our efforts to bring ourselves closer to Him but the effects of these efforts are far-reaching. Let us not wait any longer. Let us set our focus on Him and through prayer, may we keep it there.