Sunday Reflections - An aid to Sunday Liturgy
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27-Feb-2006
Dear Friend,
It is a fact that millions of people love to watch football hockey, baseball and cricket test matches. It is fun to watch teams pit their strength against each other. While we enjoy watching others being tested we ourselves do not enjoy being tested and tried. Students, by and large hate tests and workers shun evaluations. Yet the only way of knowing that we are up to the mark is self-evaluation and being put to
the test. Our faith matures only through trials and temptations; even Jesus was tempted. Have an empowering weekend! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: First Sunday of Lent Repent, change and believe..... 05-Mar-2006
The first reading from the book of Genesis speaks of the first of the 'friendship-agreements', covenants that God established with Noah and his descendants after the flood. Each covenant that God made with his people was necessitated by the situation the people found themselves in. Before the covenant with Noah, evil was on the increase since Adam's sin and Cain's murder of Abel.
God had sent the flood to destroy that evil age and permit a new beginning with a new creation. The symbol of that covenant was 'the bow in the clouds'-the rainbow- which was originally a sign of peace; it embraced the entire human race, and all of creation. This would be a sign of God's constant desire to embrace all peoples; a sign of hope and new life.
In the second reading St. Peter reminds his readers that an outward sign of the Covenant that God made with his people is baptism. Baptism not only removes Original Sin but is also our birth into Christ -the way we become adopted children of God, heirs of heaven, and temples of the Holy Spirit. Peter points out that the waters of baptism are an antitype of the waters of the flood. The
floodwaters destroyed almost all the people except Noah's family. The waters of Baptism on the other hand are the cleansing agent that saves all.
Today's gospel reminds us that after his baptism Jesus led by the Spirit spent forty days and forty nights in the desert, during which time he was tempted by Satan. The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert to confront the enemy, Satan head on. There is a sense of urgency here as the Spirit had filled Jesus with zeal and power to commence his mission, to recall mankind from the ways of sin and to restore the rule of God. Eager to begin his mission, empowered by the Spirit, Jesus declares war against Satan by venturing into the desert, which people traditionally believed was the abode of the evil one. By entering this territory Jesus was taking
the battle into enemy territory. By remaining there for forty days and forty nights, a period of fullness, he wanted to symbolize that this was no passing battle but a declaration of total war against evil.
An Officer and a Gentleman
In the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, we are taken inside a boot camp where candidates are trained to be flight officers. In the film Richard Gere intent on being a flight officer endures every test and challenge his tough drill sergeant throws at him. In the end Richard emerges from the training grounds a changed man. Upon entering the boot camp he was very selfish, but in camp he learned how to reach out and help his
classmates, he felt real pain when his friend committed suicide, and he proved himself to be a true gentleman by marrying his girlfriend. -Today we begin the season of Lent, a spiritual boot camp in a sense.
Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds'
Some would question how the Holy Spirit could lead Jesus to be tempted. Firstly one should note that to be tempted is not the same as to sin. Temptations, are not there to make us fail, but -as with an athlete or a student - to make us better and stronger. In Jesus' case this test was to be a dramatic conflict between him and Satan. The result of this first bout with Satan was victory for Jesus but the war
would continue till the final victory of goodness over evil. The call of Jesus to join him in this battle, "Repent and believe the Good News," echo's during this season of Lent. To repent is to break our ties with evil in our thoughts, words and deeds. And to believe means to move more and more towards the mind of Jesus.
"No temptation is too great to be overcome. "My grace is sufficient for you." Jesus assures us. The final responsibility for evil in the world rests with us mature human beings. Evil can only exist if we accept those seductive invitations to flaunt divine wisdom, especially the invitations to greed and self-aggrandizement." -Eugene F. Lauer. To repent, to fight against temptation and evil is a lifetime's task. Jesus did not overcome Satan in the wilderness; he
achieved that only in his death. Lent reminds us that we have to take up the fight each day with evil within us and around us, and never give up. We are assured that His spirit is with us empowering us with the hope that final victory will be ours through Jesus Christ.
Reform and Believe
Piri Thomas wrote a book called Down These Mean Streets. It describes his conversion from being a convict, a drug addict, and an attempted killer, to becoming an exemplary Christian. One night Piri was lying on his cell bunk in prison. Suddenly it occurred to him what a mess he had made of his life. He felt an overwhelming desire to pray. But he was sharing his cell with another prisoner called 'the thin kid.' So he
waited. After he thought 'the thin kid' was asleep, he climbed out of his bunk, knelt down on the cold concrete, and prayed. He said: "I told God what was in my heart... I talked to him plain...I talked to him of all my wants and lacks, of my hopes and disappointments... I felt like I could even cry...." After Piri finished his prayer, a small voice said "Amen." It was 'the thin kid. The two young men talked a long time. Then Piri climbed back into his bunk. "Good night, Chico," he said. "I'm thinking that God is always with us -it's just that we aren't with him." -This story is a beautiful illustration of what Jesus means when he says, "Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel!"
Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'
May we respond to Jesus' invitation: Repent and Believe!
Fr. Jude Botelho
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I
would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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