🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT 🙏

First Reading - Genesis 9:8-15 

Second Reading - 1 Peter 3:18-22 

Gospel - Mark 1:12-15

William H. Hinson tells about an amusing article that appeared in his local paper. Over the past several years in Houston, Texas, there has been a rash of incidents in which dogs have attacked small children. As a result, the newspapers have run several stories about the attacks, some of which have been gruesome. There was one, however, involving a little boy called D.J. that was not so tragic. A reporter asked D.J. how he managed to come away from a recent dog attack unharmed. You can almost picture the serious expression on the little guy’s face as he said, “Well, right in the middle of the attack, the Lord spoke to me.” “Oh, really,” asked the reporter, “And what did God say?” “He said, ‘Run, D.J., run!'” the young man reported. There may have been times in your life in which God has whispered, “Run, Jim, run!” Or “Run, Sally, Run!” Particularly is this a valuable message when we are tempted by the devil.

The primary purpose of Lent that is to prepare us for the celebration of Jesus’ death and Resurrection. The second purpose is to bring us to renew our Baptismal promises of rejecting Satan and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, allowing him to rule our lives. The readings exhort us to withstand alluring snares of devil.

The first reading tells us that, although man irrevocably broke the original covenant God had made with Adam and Eve, the merciful God selected Noah and his family to renew that covenant. Noah’s rescue from the flood waters symbolizes our being saved through the water of Baptism which cleanses us of sin and makes us one with Christ. 

Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 25) is an exquisite penitential prayer, humbly acknowledging our human insufficiency and radical dependence upon God, His mercy, and His forgiveness. The psalmist lists some of God’s Own characteristics that will shape the life of the forgiven penitent: Truth, Compassion, Love, Kindness, Goodness, Uprightness, Humility, and Justice. 

In the second reading, St. Peter shows us how Noah’s episode prefigured Baptism. He reminds us that, as Noah and his family were saved from the waters of the deluge, so we are saved through the waters of Baptism. Baptism is an outward sign of the New Covenant that God has made with His people. It makes us adopted children of God, heirs of Heaven, and temples of the Holy Spirit. 

In the Gospel, we are told that Jesus faced and defeated the tempter at the end of his forty days of prayer, penance, and communion with the Father in the desert immediately following his baptism. It also tells us how Jesus started preaching his Messianic mission: “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent. Believe in the Gospel.”

Dear friends, let us conquer our temptations as Jesus did, using the methods Jesus employed: prayer, self-denial, and timely use of the word of God. During this Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies by talking to God, by listening to Him speaking to us though the Holy Bible, and by practicing self-control to subdue our evil tendencies. 

Let us convert Lent into a time for spiritual growth and Christian maturity by: a) participating in the Mass each day, or at least a few days in the week; b) setting aside some part of our day for personal prayer; c) reading some Scripture, alone or, better still, with others. d) setting aside some money we might spend on ourselves for meals, entertainment, or clothes and giving it to an organization which takes care of the less fortunate in our society; e) abstaining from smoking, alcohol, and other evil addictions; f) receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Lent and participating in the “Stations of the Cross” on Fridays; g) visiting the sick and those in nursing homes, and h) doing some acts of charity, kindness, and mercy every day in the Lent. 

Let us use Lent to fight daily against the evil within us and around us by practicing self-control, relying on the power of prayer, and seeking the assistance and the daily anointing of the Holy Spirit.