First Sunday of Lent
Life is at times a wilderness experience, a desert experience. Try as we may to always be ordered, always in control, things get away from us; stress and anxiety can build within us, and we can feel as if we are lost, wandering, alone. This is a root of the Lenten experience as it is of Judeo-Christian religious tradition: as the people of Israel wandered the desert after the Exodus, Jesus takes to the desert as His ministry begins. God however, remains present to us even in our moments of wandering: Moses tells how the Lord brought people through 40 years of desert, distress, and temptation to a Promised Land, proverbially flowing with milk and honey.
Christ in His wilderness experience faces the same hardship, deprivation and temptation during His 40 desert days. Jesus goes without food: He is able to do so because He trusts in the fullness of the Spirit, His human nature aware of His humility before the all-powerful God who generously gives and sustains life. Imbued by the Spirit, Jesus in His human nature is not led into temptation, but is sustained with true food: trust in the sovereign and gracious God who sustains us all. Entering into our own period of wilderness reflection during the Lenten season, we may use this time to reflect on the things of this world that tempt us and cause anxiety, and how, in the words of Paul, all who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.
Prayer
Grant almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects. Through Christ our Lord.
Fr. Michael R. Carter, S.S.E. ’12, Lecturer of Religious Studies
First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Psalm 91:1-2, 10-15
Second Reading: Romans 10:8-13
Gospel: Luke 4:1-13
No comments:
Post a Comment