Each temptation is a crisis
Feb. 18—First Sunday of Lent
Readings: 1 Pt 3:18-22; Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm, R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Gospel—Mark 1:12-15
Today’s Gospel gives us three key elements to reflect on in the ministry and mission of Jesus. First is the 40 days of prayer and fasting. Second is the temptation by Satan. Third is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
The 40 days of prayer and fasting give us the prototype of our Lenten observance. It includes the two of the three disciplines of Lent, prayer and fasting.
The number 40 represents an important period of preparation and purification in scripture, most prominent of which are the 40 years of the chosen people’s wandering in the desert and the 40 days of the Risen Lord’s time with His disciples before His Ascension.
It brings tremendous transformation and results in a renewed spirit of mission. After a period of 40 days, Jesus began His ministry, the chosen people entered the promised land and the disciples started the mission of the early Church.
Lent is a 40-day journey of prayer and fasting to prepare ourselves for the great Easter Triduum, where we remember, celebrate and renew the central mystery of our faith, the Cross and the Resurrection.It is a renewal of mission, as all Christian mission is a sharing in the mission of Jesus fulfilled on the Cross and in His Resurrection.
As we journey this Lent, we take to heart the wise counsel of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who pointed out that when we come close to fulfilling God’s will or mission, the evil spirit will do everything and anything to prevent us.
Such was the experience of Jesus at the end of His prayer and fasting in preparation for the beginning of His ministry. Though the version of Mark does not tell us the details, we see this in the version of Luke.
The evil spirit uses our weakness, our vulnerable spots. It stokes our ego and pride. It will lure and attract us. It will also make us doubt and even despair. It will do anything and everything to prevent us from doing God’s will and mission.
The truth of God
Jesus shows us how to repudiate temptation and vanquish the evil spirit. At every point, He counters the lies of the devil with the truth of God. He embraces His relationship with and love for His Father.
Each temptation is a crisis. As Pope Francis constantly reminded us at the outset of the pandemic, we never come out of a crisis the same. We come out better or worse, but never the same.
Jesus not only overcame temptation. He defined Himself as one who was obedient to his Father, strong in and clear with His faith.
From this prayer and fasting, this crisis of temptation, He emerged as the beginning of the Kingdom of God.
As He proclaimed in today’s Gospel, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”
This too is our proclamation as followers of Jesus. Lent is a season of grace to remember this. In all that we do and say, we are to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is in our midst.
We pray this every day, at every Mass: “… Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.”This is the invitation for each one of us this Lent, to be a sign and the presence of the Kingdom of God. How are we to live this out not just concretely, but in a very personal way?
Many spiritual writers point out that each one of us are sent into this world to witness to an aspect or element of God’s mercy, compassion and love, our personal way of being messengers of and laborers in God’s Kingdom here on Earth.
May this be part of our prayer and reflection this Lent, the grace we pray for—to fervently renew our prayer life, to joyfully develop an authentic discipline of fasting and penance and in all this to generously work for the Kingdom of God. —CONTRIBUTED INQ
