FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
March 5th, 2017
Contributed by Brother John Cline, C.R.
Bro. John has been with the Congregation of the Resurrection since 1969 and has previously served in high school and parish ministries, and most recently hospital, from which he retired after twenty-six years in Spiritual Care. He currently resides at Resurrection Manor, in Waterloo. He serves on provincial council and keeps active volunteering with St. John’s Kitchen and maintaining our community cottage.
GATHERING TIME (10-15 minutes)
Introduction to the Word:
I confess to mixed feelings as I begin this reflection, a reaction that goes back to childhood. Ash Wednesday began this Lenten penitential season of the church’s calendar with the smudging of ashes and the reminder of our bodies’ earthly beginning and end, and the call to be faithful to the gospel. And my reaction is related to the practices of that earlier time, requiring meatless Fridays, fasting on Good Friday, and my voluntarily giving up candy and Saturday matinee movies. The injunctions to turn away from, and emphasis on, sin, I know, were so internalized as to affect my self-concept and esteem. The notion of my sinfulness was pervasive and while I attended frequent daily Mass and Confession, the feeling of guilt and shame stayed with me. Over the course of time my spiritual journey was slowly enlightened by a deepening appreciation of Jesus’ Passion and ultimate sacrifice that was based on love. Slowly, over the years, old layers have been peeled away, and still need to be peeled away, for me to appreciate the full message of the Paschal Mystery. My better appreciation for Lent has been aided by scriptural images related to formation and growth—a potter’s wheel, precious metals being refined by fire, and a tender, although uncomfortable pruning.
When Jesus emerged from the Jordan, Scripture reports God’s words…“this is my beloved child in whom I take delight”. These are God’s words to you and me, blessing the inner child. God taking delight in you and me at baptism and even prior, at our conception.
Lent is an intentional time, a special invitational time, a mini retreat time if you like. A time to slow down, pause and reflect; to examine, reframe, and deepen our relationship with God, others and self. May we enter this Lenten journey aware of God’s loving embrace…“my beloved forgiven sinner in whom I take delight”.
Warm Up Activity:
1) Reflect briefly with your group on some of your memories of Lent as you recall them from your childhood. In your small group you may find the customs from different families and different cultures very interesting.
2) What meaning, if any, do the Scriptural images (above) have for you? Share your views.
THE TABLE OF THE WORD
Lent: “Jesus: the Compassion of God.”
We are aware of the changing issues surrounding global warming, international tensions, the threat of terrorism, and political wrangling in our nation. We know our personal experiences of being drained emotionally, stressed out, of physical suffering, and spiritual dryness. At the same time, the readings of Lent remind us that we are not people without hope. Somewhere deep within ourselves we know that we are not prisoners of our circumstances and limitations. We have been told that Jesus cannot abandon us any more than a mother can abandon the child of her womb [Isaiah 49:15]. In fact, Jesus has been called “the Compassion of God” (theologian Monika Hellwig used this as the title of one of her books) because compassion is so similar to the “womb-like” love and attachment between the mother and the child she carries in her womb. Lent is a good time, therefore, to remind ourselves of this womb-like posture God has for us. The word compassion in the texts of the Bible is meant to describe an attitude of mercy that God has for all of us struggling and limited human beings. As a response to today’s first reading, which states that we are created from the lifeless dust of the earth, today’s psalm reminds us that we come before God to beg mercy for our sins. And because we are God’s and we experience in grace God’s womb-like posture for us, we boldly lay claim to God’s compassion. This is a gift to be prized as Scripture commentator Sister Elizabeth Johnson writes in Consider Jesus, “Suffering people are the privileged place where the God of Compassion is to be found.”
Leader: Be merciful to us, O Lord, for we have sinned, and open us to your Word.
Lord Jesus, you value us as your prized creation, Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, fully present to us in our hearing of your Word, Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you come to us to bring us to where you are, Lord, have mercy.
Let us pray (together):
Lord Jesus, it is so much easier to believe in our own fallen state,
than in your saving redemption.
Your influence on our world is not always in evidence,
if we are to judge by continuing conflicts, and inequality, and poverty.
Yet many thousands boldly strike out in the darkness, and still believe in peace and justice,
as they rush to rescue and redeem, to nurture and to heal.
This power we recognize as your own Spirit. This same Spirit is present with us this very day,
to remind us, that only by the Word of God, do we have fullness of life.
AMEN.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION TIME (45 minutes)
(As Christians we believe that the WORD of God we hear proclaimed each Sunday is an empowering Word, and that God is present in the Word proclaimed. This is the Word that God wants us to hear today. The dynamic of the Small Christian Community, namely, reflecting on our life-story within the context of this Word, and sharing the insights of these reflections, is such that God’s Spirit becomes present, and the gifts of the Spirit are experienced as empowering and life-giving. Because it is a privileged time it is incumbent on us in the small group to proclaim God’s Word with due reverence, to be attentive to this proclamation, and respectful of the communal interaction. The facilitator has arranged for group members to proclaim the three readings.)
FIRST READING (Genesis 2:7–9, 16–18, 25; 3:1–7)
The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.”
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
Now the serpent was craftier than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING (Romans 5:12–19) [for the shorter version omit [….]
Brothers and sisters: Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, so death spread to all, because all have sinned.
[Sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of that one person’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.]
If, because of the trespass of one, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
Therefore just as the trespass of one led to condemnation for all, so the act of righteousness of one leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one person the many will be made righteous.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
GOSPEL (Matthew 4:1–11)
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly Angels came and waited on him.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
(Allow five to seven minutes for quiet reflection and a brief response
to the readings—highlighting a word or phrase that had some special meaning for you.)
COMMENTARY:
The Genesis authors (first reading) did not name the man or woman in the story of creation (the word “Adam,” related to the Hebrew word for the soil, is probably meant to suggest “everyone.”). Without a name, blame for the evils of the world cannot be assigned to a long-ago and far-away Adam or Eve. Rather each one of us, on reading this account, has to answer for himself/herself. Adam’s story is our story. Nor should we press the role of Eve too much by making her more responsible than man for the entry of sin into the world: “Man and woman are jointly responsible for sin” insists Scripture commentator Patricia Sánchez (Celebration). Happily, we are not left alone in our loss and alienation. The God who creates and cares for humankind’s every need is also a God who forgives and redeems; the God who created humankind good and pure and in the divine image, is also a God who loves sinners, seeks them out and desires reconciliation.
Paul, in our second reading, describes how sin entered the world through one act: the lie of self-sufficiency (pride). That was the offence. And it would be righted by one act as well—a life of utter truth. That was the gift. Temptation is essentially an enticement to put our own desires and needs first. Resisting temptation, then, is really resisting self-centeredness. Like Jesus, we must choose instead to surrender ourselves to God who alone should be the center of our lives. To make any other choice is to choose a false god. This First Sunday of Lent poses this question: Do we serve god or God? The temptations the devil fed to Jesus were nothing other than delusions that we all dream of, in our longing for total independence. “Become your own food,” the devil says. Be self-sufficient. Display your power. But Jesus refuses. God alone will be his food. Our temptations are much the same as Jesus’ own. Hopefully so will be our responses.
Referring to the Gospel message, C. S. Lewis, literary historian, critic and novelist, suggests that good people know a great deal about temptation whereas bad people know very little. Only the good who try to resist temptation know its strength. “After all,” said Lewis, in his classic work Mere Christianity, “you find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down!” In yielding too quickly to temptation we never get the strength to deal with it because we don’t fight it. And because Jesus is the only one who never yielded to temptation, He is the only one who fully knows its meaning—the temptation to take care of His own needs … the temptation to test God’s love and care … and finally, the temptation to worldly power. We all face similar temptations in our lives, certainly not to the extent and intensity that Jesus did. Jesus has shown us, though, that God’s grace is sufficient to resist these temptations. The scene of the temptation, which opens the public life of Jesus, declares in the Gospels in a very forceful manner the great change in our lives that He introduces into the world by His work of redemption. Where the first man and woman fell, Christ, the new Head of humanity, triumphs over the power of Satan. The Gospel of the temptation heralds Christ's victory in advance.