First Sunday of Lent

Reflection

The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.

What a strange way to speak to people!  When I read this sentence at the beginning of today’s first reading, I asked myself, “What basket is Moses talking about?  Is it like the basket I receive from the persons who bring up the offertory collection with the gifts of bread and wine at Mass?  What basket?”  Soon I realized he was talking about the basket of “the firstfruits of the products of the soil” the Jewish worshiper would bring for offering in the temple.

In a second reading of the same passage, I noted how Moses instructs the people about what they’re to “declare before the Lord” when they bring their offering to the altar.  Curiously, they are to retell the story of how the Lord listened to the cry of their ancestors suffering oppression in Egypt and how the Lord had granted them the freedom to start anew in a land of “milk and honey.” 

The retelling of the story of where the worshipper “has been” becomes a prayer of acknowledgment of his or her religious identity with God.  This becomes evident in the last sentence, “And having set them (the firstfruits) before the Lord, your God, you shall bow down in His presence.”

In the Gospel, the devil endeavors to drive a wedge between the Father and Jesus, the Son.  Whether it’s in the desire for life in the bread temptation after so many days in the desert, or the lure for power and dominance in the other temptations, Jesus’ basket-offering remains one of true faithfulness to God.  Thus, Jesus becomes the one who fulfills Moses’ command to bow down in [the Lord’s] presence.

Prayer

Gracious God, send us Your Holy Spirit of faithfulness, so that the offering of our heart, mind, and person this Lent, may become a “a bowing down in Your presence” to Your commandment to love You above all else and our neighbor as ourselves. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus, Your Son, our risen Lord.  Amen.

Fr. Marcel Rainville, S.S.E. ’67, Edmundite Campus Ministry

Scripture

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:4-10

Psalm 91:1-2, 10-15

Second Reading:  Romans 10:8-13

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website