1 Lent B

MDP of God

In our gospel today we see how Jesus is our model for lent—He goes to the dessert for 40 days of fasting and prayer

And Jesus took it very seriously—in some of the other gospels we’re told that Jesus didn’t eat at all for those 40 days

Personally—if I miss lunch within a few hours I start to feel wobbly—obviously I haven’t missed too many meals

All of our readings today speak of sin and its consequences

In our 1st reading we hear of the covenant God established with Noah after the Great Flood- a flood brought about by human sin

In our responsorial psalm we heard how God shows sinners the way—it says He teaches the humble His way---what does that mean?

Well God in His love has given His laws—if we’re humble we’ll try to learn His laws and live by them—if we’re not humble we’ll just ignore His laws

In our 2nd reading St Peter tells us, “Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.”

You see my friends, throughout the bible we see God reaching out to help the human race overcome sin—to overcome our fallen human nature

Unfortunately—a lot of times people have rejected God’s love—have refused to seek to overcome the sin that harms--- and can even destroy our relationship with God

Lent is a season when we are called in a particular way to focus on overcoming sin

And I want to offer you a few suggestions

First if you look at our decorations today—you see all these knots—that is meant to point us to a particular devotion that Pope Francis has been promoting—“Our Lady undoer—or untier of knots”

Going back to the earliest times of the Church saints have pointed out that the knot Eve tied by her disobedience—Mary by her obedience unties—or undoes

We have a little pamphlet in the bulleting today that explains the devotion—there is a website in the pamphlet (that I had trouble getting to—so I put another website in my reflection in the bulletin—so hopefully you’ll be able to get the novena on-line ---if you don’t have access to a computer—we can run a copy off for you)

I just started praying this novena this week---but I can tell you in my life Mary has had a huge role in helping me to overcome areas of sin that had really held me bound

I do want to encourage you to turn to Our Lady Undoer of Knots to help you overcome theknots--sins of your life

We also have in the Gathering Space today a little devotional booklet for lent—it’s called “five minutes with the Word” that can maybe help you put some structure to your daily prayer during this holy season

And we have a book to help you intellectually in your faith—it’s called the case for Jesus by Brandt Pitre—I just started reading the book—so I haven’t read the whole book yet—but I’ve read other books by DrPitre—and he’s a wonderful author

Now we didn’t get a book for everyone {explain why}---but if that something you might be interested in –please take one

We also have rice bowls---traditionally when people have made sacrifices for lent—it means they spend less money on food-alcohol- candy—whatever

The idea of the rice bowl is that you put any money you’ve saved and help the poor with that—I’d encourage you to take a rice bowl and consciouslyallow your sacrifices to directly help the poor

My friends—when we look at the life of Jesus—we see He had a plan to accomplish what He wanted to accomplish—a part of that plan was fasting and praying for 40 days before He began His public ministry

When you look at the life of St Peter—who our 2nd reading today is from—we see that after Jesus ascended into heaven—that Peter developed a plan for him and the other Apostles to carry on the work of the Lord

Throughout the ages—the great saints had a plan to grow in holiness and to bring Jesus’ love to the world—to become the men and women God made them to be

I want to ask you in the next few days to contemplate a plan for yourself—so that this lent will be truly beneficial for you

Please please please—don’t just go through the motions of lent

Let this lent be a time of real spiritual renewal—a time of grace for you personally

Jesus after His 40 days of fasting and prayer went and changed the world

Let’s allow our 40 daysto truly bring us closer to Jesus so we can change the world

I know that sounds pretty lofty—but you know if your fasting and prayer leads you to treat your family with greater love and care—that changes the world

If your prayer and fasting helps you to treat people you work with or go to school with --with greater dignity and love—well that changes the world

If your prayer and fasting leads you to give to the poor so their basic needs can be met—that changes the world

If everyone makes little changes in the world—we will be doing our part to build the Kingdom of God in our midst—the Kingdom Jesus speaks of in today’s gospel

We like the Apostles will be carrying on the saving work of Jesus---Let’s do that folks—God bless you!-have a great lent

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