For those who couldn’t receive the blessed ashes on Wednesday and for those who did, the First Sunday of Lent gives us a chance to reflect why the Church gives us this sacred season.
Lent is an invitation to reflect on our relationship with God and with each other. It invites us, by using the traditional Lenten ways of prayer, penance and helping our neighbour, to draw closer to God and to each other. It is a time for renewal of our relationship with God and those around us, even those suffering overseas. It is a time to see the sin shadows in our lives and bring them into the light of Christ’s grace. Knowing that our fellow parishioners are doing this too, helps to build a sense of unity in our communities.
This First Sunday, the beginning of Lent, also takes us, through the Scripture readings, to beginnings - Creation and the preparation of Jesus for his mission. The first reading from Genesis tells not just the story of Adam and Eve, but a part of our own story too. God planned that we would live in harmony and peace, want for nothing and live in beautiful surroundings. That quickly came to an end as humankind turned away from God as told in the story of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. That breaking with God meant sin and death entered our lives.
The Gospel reading from Matthew too takes us to a beginning. Jesus, on the cusp of His public life and mission, “then was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil”; as if this was a part of His preparation whereby, he could always trust the Father even when faced with rejection and death. The Holy Spirit from our Baptism leads us to love God and those around us. A daily prayer for this week could be “Holy Spirit guide me today”.
Like Adam and Eve, like us, Jesus had to cope with temptations: to power (turning stones into bread to feed His hunger), to adulation (jumping off the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem without injury) and to importance (ruling all the kingdoms in the world). Each response of Jesus shows his trust in the Father. As our lives unfold, we are asked to show the same trust. If when we fail, we try again. Praying to trust leads us closer to our God and to each other and is always is a real prayer.
St Paul’s letter to the Romans adds to the Gospel and first reading. With sin and death in our world, how are we to reach God? Our “bridge over the chasm” is Jesus.
Jesus reverses the disobedience of Adam and Eve through his supreme obedience and trust in the Father. Paul tells us: “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5,19).
God is never far from us. He is present to us in nature, in our families, in our workplace, in the street, in the poor, lonely and suffering around us. Let us invite the light of the Holy Spirit into our hearts as we pray: “Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise”.
Fr Reg Howard lives at St Columban’s, Essendon
