• First Sunday of Lent (C), February 25, 2007
• Theme: Cling to the Lord

• Tonight all Hollywood will celebrate the presentation of the Academy Awards.
• We celebrate the men and women that entertain us
• We applaud the celebrities whom we admire
• Everybody loves a good party.

• Tomorrow, however, we will have to gather up the pieces and go on with our lives – asking ourselves what it all means.
• It is interesting that Lent began early this year, and that the Oscars are being awarded during the first week of this Reflective Season.
• At the end of the day – what really is important in our lives?
• To what do we cling in time of distress?

• Lent is a Time of Retreat and a Time of Renewal
• During Lent we hear some of the most powerful Scripture Readings of the Liturgical Year.
• Today’s Readings tell us of the central Confessions of Faith of Both the Old and New Testaments.

• Readings:
• First: (Deuteronomy 26), recounts the saving act of God of the Exodus:
• The escape from Egypt and the settling in the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the desert
• Note: “My Father was a wandering Aramean …” their beginnings were humble.
• God chose these people, not because of their greatness, but because of their need.
• They were slaves in Egypt, and they, “cried out to the Lord…”, and He brought them out of their misery into a land of milk and honey.
• The setting for this reading is worship
• As the Jews bring their gifts to the Altar,
• They confess this central saving act of God.

• Second: (Paul’s Letter to the Romans)
• Paul says that in Jesus there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; “The same Lord is Lord of all.”
• “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
• Paul confesses the central act of our Christian Faith:
• God has raised Jesus from the dead and has made him Lord of all

• Gospel: (Luke 4) the Temptations in the desert
• Context in Luke:
• After the Baptism by John in the Jordan,
• Jesus is led by the Spirit to wander 40 days in the desert
• (Note 40 days - 40 years, a time of preparation)
• In the desert Jesus is tempted by the devil,
• Two things stand out for me:
• First: The devil misquotes Scripture: Throw yourself down from the temple, “for it is written, He will command his angels …to guard you…lest you dash your foot against a stone”
• The temptation was to do something spectacular so that all would believe instantly.
• The devil misquoted from today’s Responsorial Psalm in which the psalmist says that the Just One should fear no evil — “Because he clings to me, I will deliver him.”
• The temptation is to despair - to give up on God;
• Not believe that God cares about us
• Jesus overcomes these temptations and
• The devil departed from Jesus, “FOR A TIME”
• “FOR A TIME” is the second thing that stands out in this story.
• For Luke, the temptations to despair are like bookends in the Gospel:
• First there are the temptations in the desert
• Then the devil comes again at the time of Jesus’ suffering,
• In the Agony in the Garden
• On the Cross, “Come down from there if you are really the Son of God”
• In his Passion, Jesus beats off the devil once and for all by again clinging to the God:
• Jesus prays, “Not my will, but your be done.”
• Out of these events comes our great Confession of Faith:
• In the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, God has shown how much he loves us.
• Even though we are fragile and needy,
• In clinging to the Lord, we will be saved.

• On Ash Wednesday lots of people came from all over - thousands
• We marked ourselves with ashes.
• Perhaps we appreciate this act as recognition of our humanity
• Our connection with the earth
• Our frailty
• We recognize that like the earth we too can become contaminated with the poisons of unbridled Power and Passion
• But it is not the contaminated earth with which we mark ourselves
• Rather we mark ourselves with earth that has been purified in fire and become the ash that represents our HOPE.
• We mark ourselves with the Ash that reminds us that Jesus died and rose for us and sent the Spirit to continue to guide us.
• As Christian we live in gratitude - the central tenant of our faith

• Lent is a time to renew our commitment, to refocus our lives
• Cling to the Lord - and he will deliver you
• As we continue with our Mass and our Lenten retreat
• Let us ask the Lord to help us focus our lives
• Let us confess our Faith in God’s love for us
• Let us strive to live our lives in response to this love.

• Amen

Comments