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with Frank Doyle SJ FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15
WE ARE NOW into the great season of Lent, when we spend six weeks preparing to celebrate the high point of our faith: the Paschal Mystery, the suffering, death and resurrection of the Incarnate God. Formerly it was a time of severe penance as a way of purifying ourselves from our sinful habits and preparing ready to celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with a renewed commitment to follow him.
Move On Time for reflection Even though we are no longer asked by the Church to observe the severe penances of former times, it is surely fitting that we make some of form of preparation. It should be a time for personal reflection on where we stand as Christians. Only a little reflection will convince us that, on the one hand, there are many ways in which we fail through word and action, through our thoughts and through our failure to be the kind of people that the Gospel challenges us to be. But our reflections should not only focus on the negative. What are the positive things which should be part and parcel of my daily life? What kind of a person am I in relation to my family, friends, working colleagues and other people I come in contact with? How active am I as a member of my Christian community e.g. my parish? What difference do I make to other people's lives? What do I do, within my limitations, to help eradicate the abuses which are part of our society? Move On Never too late These are just some of the questions I can ask myself during these six weeks. And it is never to late to get started. Or, if I let things slide, to start again. Let us not rigidly think that, because Ash Wednesday has already come and gone, that I cannot start today. Remember that even those who came to the vineyard at the eleventh hour were paid the same amount. But the earlier I start the better. Some of the things I might do include:
Move On Jesus' Lent After his baptism, Jesus goes to the desert for forty days. And, during that time, he is tested by the Evil One. Mark does not say how - but Matthew and Luke do. These tests are really examples of the kind of tests that Jesus was to face in the course of his public life. The meaning and symbolism of the passage is to be focused on rather than its historical accuracy. Its purpose is to help us to understand the conflicts that were in Jesus' own life and which will also be found in ours too. Move On Jesus, too, was tempted Some examples, based on the accounts of Matthew and Luke, are:
Move On Handing over Jesus then begins his public life. He takes over from John the Baptist who has been arrested, literally "handed over". In time, Jesus too will be "handed over", as will his disciples, and thousands of other followers down to our own day. And, in every Eucharist, we are reminded of that "handing over" when the celebrant says, at the consecration, "This is my body which will be given up [literally, "handed over", tradetur] for you." I, too, am being called to hand myself over totally and unconditionally into the hands of my God. Move On The Kingdom is near At once, Jesus begins to proclaim the message he brings from God. A new era is beginning. A new relationship is being established between God and the people of the world. For "the time has come." What time? It is the kairos, the moment of fulfilment. The long-expected "Kingdom of God" is near. That Kingdom is not a place, still less 'heaven', but the loving power of God, to which we are all invited to submit ourselves. It has arrived in the person of Jesus, our King and Lord. Move On Signs of the Kingdom The presence of this loving power of God is evident in:
Move On How to enter that Kingdom? But how we are to access all that love? Jesus' call to us is to "Repent!" This call is not just to feel sorry about our past, it is not just to stop the bad things we are doing now. Jesus is calling for a radical change in our whole way of seeing life and the world. The Christian in Paul's words is a "new person"; in Christ, we undergo a personality change. And how are we to do that? By "believing in the Gospel". Not just believing that the Gospel is true; but believing IN the Gospel. There is a world of difference between believing something and believing in something, or, even more significantly, believing in a person. Where the Kingdom is concerned, this involves a total commitment of ourselves to the way of life presented in the Gospel and a sharing of its vision of life. This will mean a turning upside down of many of the values we take for granted and which prevail in our world. Move On Lent - time for renewal We have now entered the season of Lent. It is a time when many catechumens are making the final preparations to be baptised at Easter. They have been in the RCIA programme since last year and maybe even longer. But it is a time too for those already baptised to undergo a renewal of their Christian faith. At the Easter Vigil we will renew our own baptismal vows. And Lent is a time for us to prepare ourselves for that re-commitment. So we are reminded in today's readings of how Noah and his family were saved through the flood waters which brought destruction to so many. It was the beginning of a special covenant relationship between God and his people. A covenant to be renewed with Abraham and later with Moses. The story of Noah's being saved through the waters is for a us also a symbol of Baptism. Move On Salvation through Baptism How does the water of Baptism save us? The mere pouring of some water does not automatically or by some magic "make us Catholics". Through Baptism we become in-corp-orated into the Church, the Body of Christ (corpus Christi), the living Christian community. Through our living in and with that community we learn the way of Jesus, we learn how to live in commitment to him. We learn to live a life based on truth, love, compassion, sharing, justice and freedom. We get support in living that life from the community of which we are a part. We learn to grow into a people who are whole and complete in union and harmony with our God, with others and with ourselves. And that is salvation. And it begins here and now. Lent is the time for us to strengthen and renew that process. Let us use it well and not come out at the other end asking, "Whatever did I do for Lent?" |