First Sunday of Lent-Year A
Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Psalm 51
Rom. 5:12-19
Mt. 4:1-11
Lent is not so much about what you can give up.
Rather, it is about your openness to receive the graces that God is bringing you.
The day before Ash Wednesday, I was chatting with one of my friends from New York. She is not a Christian, but she is very interested in what we do as Christians so I told her about Lent and how we are called to pray, give alms, and fast. She asked: “Oh, can I join you?” and I responded “Sure! Why not?” Then she said, “Oh okay, I guess I can join you to fast because I have to lose weight anyways:). So she and I had a nice conversation about the fact that the purpose of Lent is not to go on diet and lose weight or to even pray and give alms in order to show God how holy we can become.
Beloved, even as Christians, we can misunderstand what Lent is about. We may be tempted to tell God: “Okay God, I am going to do 1, 2, 3, 4 and you have to do 5,6,7,8,9,10” Or “God I am going to do this and that; and you have to fix this and that”. However, Lent is not so much about what you can give up. That is just part of it. Rather, Lent is about your openness and readiness to receive the graces that God is bringing you. It’s a time where God gives us special graces to return to Him. It’s a time where He tells us: It does not matter where you have been or what you have done. You are my child and I love you. I miss you and I want you back in my arms. So, Lent is a time to reflect on what it means to be a child of God, what it means to have God’s spirit dwell in you. It is a time to reflect on what it means to be a disciple and re-examine the choices we make and the routes we have taken in life, and where we have fallen short, ask God for the grace to start anew. In that sense, Lent is a time for “re-calculating; a time for re-routing”
Yes, Beloved in Christ, our readings today remind us that life is not always easy. There are many problems and temptations in life. However, the the good news in the readings is that we can overcome; it is possible to overcome these temptations and live our Christian calling. God did not call us to fail. He called us to succeed. That is why He continues to give us the grace to overcome temptations in life. The gospel shows that Jesus overcame his temptations because of his openness to the graces that his Father sent him for the moment. The gospel highlights two forms of openness that helped Jesus to overcome his temptation:
1. Openness to Scripture: Jesus used scripture to overcome his temptations. Even as the Messiah, Jesus spent time to read the Word of His Father. He spent time to read and reflect on Scripture and that is what helped him to overcome temptations. I don’t know why, but many Christians, at times, find it so difficult to make time to read the Bible. There are times we prefer to read all the book about the Bible except the bible itself. However, it is only through the power of the Word of God that we can overcome temptations. Reading the Bible before and have the words of Scripture dwell in one’s heart is what makes it possible for one to reference it in times of temptation. Trust me, if you have not developed the habit of reading the bible for yourself, you will not be able to do so when temptations come. This lent, pray for a deeper love for the word of God and let’s begin to make time to read the Bible with our family and with our friends. Try to add Bible reading, at least one hour a day, to your to do list!
2. Openness to the small group that God provided: The gospel tells us that God sent Angels to minister to Jesus in the desert. Jesus had won the victory by overcoming his temptations; but he needed help to sustain that victory. The Angels were Jesus’s small group and church community in the desert, who helped him to maintain his victory. Beloved, you cannot overcome temptations all by your own strength. Even Jesus needed help and allowed the angels to minister to Him. We need the church community. That is why here at St. Thomas we have adopted the model of small groups to provide that support for each one of us. So if you do not have a small group, please join one so that you can have the best of this Lent. If you are already in a small group, be open to the members of the group; don’t be afraid to share your struggles with them. Build a circle of trust so that they can truly minister to you. Jesus had to trust those angels, open up to them, and allow them to help Him so that He could live his calling as the Messiah.
My prayer for you and me, this Lent, is that God will give us the grace to recalculate, the grace to re-route, the grace to read and reflect on scriptures, and the grace to allow others to help us on our Christian journey so that we can find the strength to return into the arms of our God.
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