{"id":80,"date":"2025-03-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/?p=80"},"modified":"2025-04-01T19:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T19:19:32","slug":"the-cross-and-mercy-fasting-with-purpose-daily-readings-march-7-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/?p=80","title":{"rendered":"The Cross and Mercy: Fasting with Purpose | Daily Readings | March 7, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Lent\u2019s heating up, and March 7, 2025\u2014Friday after Ash Wednesday\u2014is no joke. Today\u2019s readings don\u2019t mess around; they\u2019re a gut-punch call to fast with guts and heart. Ready to feel it? Here\u2019s what\u2019s on fire: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First Reading (Isaiah 58:1-9a): God\u2019s not here for empty stomachs\u2014He demands mercy that shatters chains and feeds the hungry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Psalm (Psalm 51): \u201cA heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn\u201d\u2014it\u2019s your brokenness He craves, not your burnout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gospel (Matthew 9:14-15): Jesus says fasting\u2019s coming, and it\u2019s about longing for Him when the cross looms large. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our 3-5 minute reflection cuts deep\u2014think raw repentance, real mercy, and carrying your cross like it matters. Whether you\u2019re fasting today or just curious, this hits you where you live. Watch now, and let\u2019s burn away the fluff together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"The Cross and Mercy: Fasting with Purpose | Daily Readings | March 7, 2025\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/baeEfD69N-8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lent\u2019s heating up, and March 7, 2025\u2014Friday after Ash Wednesday\u2014is no joke. Today\u2019s readings don\u2019t mess around; they\u2019re a gut-punch call to fast with guts and heart. Ready to feel it? Here\u2019s what\u2019s on fire: First Reading (Isaiah 58:1-9a): God\u2019s not here for empty stomachs\u2014He demands mercy that shatters chains and feeds the hungry. Psalm [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christus-dominus-bread-of-life","category-daily-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christusdominus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}