First Sunday of Lent

…forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

There was a sign posted: “No Trespassing, Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The Sisters of Mercy.” Lent begins in the garden of Eden. We are with Adam and Eve in their friendship with God. Here also is the most cunning of all the animals tempting them to eat the fruit of the tree. Paul interprets this action saying, “…just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” (Romans 5:18).

Lent encapsulates a spiritual journey from the baptism of Jesus to his death on the cross and risen new life. We accompany the catechumens with Jesus into the desert to confront the tempter. As at every Eucharist we acknowledge our sins, so too, as Lent begins, we join as the body of Christ to confront the sins present in the world and our personal lives. It is time to reorder our lives to every word that comes from the mouth of God.

This Lent do not give something up as a sacrifice. Rather think of something to take on. Be proactive in expressing your love for God. Saint Peter Julian raised the question of what we can do to reach greater union with God. What is required is to nurture and fortify the person of Jesus Christ living in me; “to bring him forth and make him grow by all my actions, readings, prayers, and adorations, and in all the relationships of my life. But to do that, I must constantly renounce the personality of Adam and live a life of dependence on Jesus in me.” (A Thought for Every day, page 41)

Let us pray:

Come over each of us with your Holy Spirit and give us the courage to enter the wilderness of our hearts. Teach us there to choose God, for there is only God; there is no other. Help us resist the loss of our lives to the passing values that fail to fulfill the longing for your life in ours—onto everlasting life. Amen.

Daily Eucharistic Reflection – Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing (eucharisticevangelizing.com)