I Sunday of Lent

LED BY THE SPIRIT TO RENEWAL

Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Readings for the I Sunday of Lent

From Dante’s View in the United States, one can journey down to the lowest spot in the US, Bad Water, or one can move to the highest peak, Mount Whitney. From Dante’s View, any movement must be in one or the other direction: downwards or upwards.

Dante’s View is symbolic of where we stand at the beginning of Lent: a time for choice, for deepening our understanding of our faith, for reflection and renewal. 

Lent – and today’s liturgy – challenges us to take the uphill path. The liturgy talks about a new beginning for Israel, for Jesus and for us.

For Israel: In the first reading, Moses speaks to the Israelites at the end of their desert sojourn. He asks them to offer the first fruits of the land as a thanksgiving to God and prepares them for their new life in the promised land.

For Jesus: Led by the spirit, Jesus spent forty days in the desert, a preparation for his mission, and then was tempted. The temptation was a test before his new life; it was very real because the messiah was expected 

- to bring bread down from heaven (the first temptation); 

- to subject other kingdoms to Israel (second); and 

- to perform dazzling signs to prove his credentials (third)! 

These were areas where Jesus faced temptation all through his public life. Jesus resisted the easy way to prove he was the Messiah and chose the uphill way.

For us: Lent is a time of renewal. When we think of temptation, we think of sexual sins, lying, anger. But the dangerous temptations are to want, for their own sake, 

- wealth: the desire to turn anything into “bread”, and the attitude of relying not on God but on one’s resources;

- status: the desire to make everyone look up to me;

- power: the ability to manipulate people and things for my own ends.

Wealth, status and power, for their own sake, reduce other people to things that can be used for my gain. These foster the prevalent materialistic creed of our society… and not the biblical creed: you shall worship the Lord your God and him alone shall you serve!

On this first Sunday of Lent, we stand at “Dante’s View”. Which way will I go? May the Spirit lead us towards the Lord!