Is This a Day Acceptable to the Lord?

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord (Isaiah 58:4-5). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Imagine a world that is cold and silent toward pain and human suffering. Try to envision a place where everything is driven by self-indulgence and life is all about financial profit, business transactions, and the bottom line. A society where politics and government are more about attaining and maintaining power than serving and protecting the nation and citizens. Countless people are being dehumanized. The sanctity of human life is determined by usefulness, cost-benefit analysis, convenience, and the god of choice. In this world there are no prayers, liturgies, hymns, sermons, or Sacraments. And so, love and compassion are rare commodities. This i