GENESIS 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7
PSALM 50: 3-6, 12-14, 17
ROMANS 5: 12-19
MATTHEW 4: 1-11
The key to our understanding of Lent is found in our opening prayer: ‘That this Lent will help us reproduce in our lives the self-sacrificing love of Christ.’
Today, it seems that we could be losing sight of the values of our Lenten practices of fasting and penance, prayer and charity. This, I feel is the result of the ‘Me’ and ‘I’ culture.
Today too, ‘Sin’ is one thing people do not like to speak or hear about for it seems negative. Yet the reality is that we cannot escape from sin. Each of us have sinned and all of us are affected by sin, our own and that of others.
Lent is a time when we prepare for the celebration of Easter. It is a time then to help us to focus on why Jesus came: to save us from our sins. It is a time too to help us open us to his saving grace.
Lent a gift to us, not a burden.
Lent is a time for renewal;
a time to see where we stand before God;
a time to look at our relationship with others;
a time to deepen our love for God and neighbour.
Fasting and penance, prayer and charity are ways in which we enter into a spirit of renewal.
Lent recalls the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. Jesus prepares for his mission to bring the Good News to the people by going into the desert to fast, pray, and reflect. At the end of this, he is tempted, just as in the story of Adam and Eve and just as the Israelites were tempted in the desert during the journey to the Promised Land. The temptations might be seen as examples of how we are tempted.
The humanness of Jesus is revealed in his struggle with evil. He had to struggle against evil in every way that we too have to struggle, but he did not succumb. The devil’s temptation is subtle. After all what is wrong with having bread in the face of hunger or to show God’s power or to have wealth so that we can do good?
Our first reading gives us a different story of the human struggle with evil. It tells us that from its beginning the human race has turned away from God, its Creator. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin. Jesus obeyed to God and he brings salvation.
In Adam’s sin, we see that all sin has its roots in ‘ME’ and ‘I’ mentality.
The human struggle against evil continues in our lives. Whilst the root of all sin is Me, the source of redemption is Jesus. Lent is a time for us to choose the redemption offered by Jesus not the temptation offered by the serpent.
Fasting helps us to be open to God and to realise our total dependence on God.
Prayer helps us to grow in trust of God, and to recognise the message of the cross.
Charity helps us to be open to the needs of others and to grow in our love for neighbour and so doing to know God’s love for us.
The Sacrament of Penance is a vital aspect of our preparation for Easter. Lent is a time to recognise our own sinfulness, that we may confess them, and seek God’s mercy, grace and love. Easter can only be a celebration for those who know their need of God.
Fasting, prayer, charity and reconciliation are the ways in which during this Lent, we reproduce in our lives the self-sacrificing love of Christ.’
Merredin Catholic Parish 