First Sunday of Lent
Gn 9:8-15, Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 1 Pt 3:18-22, Mk 1:12-15
The Spirit Drove Christ into the Desert
St. Mark tells us that the Spirit drove Christ into the Desert to be tempted by the Devil? Why would God do that to himself?
The Desert is a place of Death
We have in our parish this beautiful poster of the Desert - it is at either Sunrise or Sunset - it seems to be a place of quiet, solitude, and beauty. Looking at this poster - you might be thinking to yourself - “I get it. Jesus is about to begin His public ministry, so he is going to catch some rays and relax before getting busy saving the world.” Nothing could be further from reality.
The Source of Death is our decision to Sin
St. Mark also tells us that Christ was driven into the desert to be tempted by Satan. That tells us a bit about the reality of the Desert - it is the place of death. There is no water, no shelter, no protection, everything is exposed, dries out and dies.
The Israelites went into the Desert to Die to Slavery
When the Israelites went into the Desert it was so that they could die to the life of slavery in Egypt and so begin to live life as the chosen people of God.
The Desert is a dangerous place
The Desert is where we are alone, unprotected from the wild-beasts who are all scrambling to find their next meal - which if we are unprotected could be us. The desert is populated with poisonous things - Snakes, Scorpions and the like - not a place where we could lie down and rest…
Why then does the Church send us into the Desert of Lent?
As I said - the desert is the place of lifelessness. It is the place of Death. For each of us, the desert is the place in our hearts where we choose sin, we choose to kill our relationship with God - that is the desert that we are called to enter into so that we can have a holy Lent.
The Desert of Lent is where we die to the Slavery of Sin
The Church sends us out into the Desert of Lent each year so that we can die to the slavery of Sin in our lives. She does not send us into the desert unprepared, but sends us into the desert armed with the season of grace (God’s Love), and the weapons against the enemy - Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.
On Ash Wednesday this past week the parish was packed with people, wall to wall. The parking-lot was packed - and everyone was excited to be here. In my experience of Lent, I know that this is early days, everyone is still enthusiastic about this journey - we have yet to stumble, fall or fail at our lenten disciplines - but that too is coming.
What is Sin? What is Temptation?
All of us are sinners, we all commit sin. There is nothing more embarrassing than to be a committed Christian and to recognize in your life that you are addicted to sin. Even though you make a firm resolution in confession to avoid temptation to sin and the sin itself I still find myself committing sin in my life.
Sin is when I freely take an action that is of grave matter that is directly opposed to the will of God. Scripture tells us that the wages of Sin is death. It also tells us the topics that make up grave matter. The first 3 relate to God
God Alone
God’s name is Holy
Take time to worship God on the Sabbath.
The last 7 are how we relate to one another.
Honor your Parents
Do not kill
Do not commit adultery
Do not steal
Do not lie
Do not covet your neighbor's wife
Do not covet your neighbor's goods.
That recognition leads me to the realization that I cannot escape Sin under my own power - that I am weak and that I need help.
Sin kills our friendship with God - Sin is the Desert
God gave us the commandments (in the desert) to help us to live a good and holy life. Yet all of us, find ourselves from time to time where we choose to break one or more of these commandments. In that moment we choose to make ourselves God, and say to the Lord - you don’t know what is good for me - and instead to break the commandment - which kills off our ability to recognize the love of God.
When we do that we find ourselves in the midst of a spiritual desert - a place devoid of life and without the presence of God. We truly are exposed to the wild beasts and vulnerable to death. What can we do?
Psalm 107 - The Desert will become a place of springs
In Psalm 107 the Lord says that he will turn the “desert into streams, thirsty ground into springs of water…”. The desert that the psalm refers to is the place of death that we find ourselves in this Lent. It is the desert into which Christ preceded us to do battle with temptation by the Devil.
Christ goes into our Deserts to help us win over sin
Christ goes into the desert - into the place in my life, your life where we choose to sin, where we exclude God from our life and where we begin to die to rescue us from the wages of Sin and Death. That is what this Lenten season is about. The Church equips us with Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving to give us the tools of conversion - so that we can die to the slavery to Sin and rise into the newness of life.
Prayer expresses our need for help
Prayer helps us to verbalize our need for God’s help. Prayer in which we can begin to understand the depths of God’s love for us - that we can drive out temptation to make ourselves God and instead remember that God loves us completely, deeply, profoundly, totally.
Fasting helps us subdue impulsiveness
Fasting - where we do battle with the impulsive nature of our will. Satan often tries to get us not through our logical nature - “Hey wouldn’t it be a great idea if you forgo eternity in communion with God for an Icecream cone? No rather it is through our impulsive nature - I want, I am compelled, I desire… Fasting helps to strengthen ourselves against our more impulsive desires - because at its heart most habitual sin is just that - we have become so comfortable in our sin that it is a habit and we are not even thinking about it any more…
Almsgiving is an imitation of Christ
Almsgiving - reminds us that everything we have been given is a gift from God, and so therefore we should share the gifts that God has given us with those in need. Almsgiving is a powerful weapon in Lent because not only does it help us to recognize God’s gifts, but it teaches us to imitate God by imitating His generosity - in sharing the gifts that God has given us..
Christ waits to be invited into your desert
Christ wants us to know that the desert is not a place that is foreign to Him, that is devoid of Him - that he is too embarrassed to go to. No, rather God is compelled by His love for us to enter into the Desert for our conversion.
To bring about a flood of grace
And what of these Springs of Water that God desires to release into the Desert? The springs of Water are best symbolized by the water of Baptism - in which God’s grace gives life and light to the world - in which we are reborn from Sinners into children of God - vessels of God’s grace welling up in us and through us into the world.
See that God saves you this Lent
When we allow Christ into our Desert he brings his grace to cure the barrenness of Sin, and to bring about a new life of grace in our midst. With all of the saints who were great sinners, the desert becomes a place of springs because it is the place where they can clearly see God’s love for them conquering sin and death in their lives.
St. Peter says in the second reading today…
Beloved: Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit…
In which a few persons… were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience,
Repent (Change your mind) and believe in the Gospel
A clear conscience through which God’s love can permeate our lives and through our lives transform the world. That is why the Gospel today ends in this way - Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Christ has gone before us - it is up to us to follow Him…
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