1st SUNDAY OF LENT (B) 18th February 2018

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The reflections for Sundays and Solemnities is an activity of Society of St Paul, India

A Reflection by:
FR DEVASIA PUTHIAPARAMBIL, SSP,
SOCIETY OF ST PAUL, LISBON, PORTUGAL.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
We are on the first Sunday of Lent. Lent brings to our mind the forty days of fasting and prayer undertaken by Jesus before embarking on his public ministry. Lent calls to mind the humanity’s transgressions which caused ineffable pain to the Creator, and invites everyone to repent and to believe in the Gospel. Lent is also a special time in the life of every Christian to intensify his or her commitment to live as a true disciple of Christ.
The first reading of today reminds us God’s covenant with the whole universe after the flood which took place as a punishment for the transgressions of human beings. To express the gravity of the wickedness and sinfulness of human beings, the book of Genesis states that God himself was discouraged that he had created them (Gn 6: 8-11). Despite the infidelity of human beings, the Creator makes a covenant with the entire universe. God’s covenant is a covenant to save the people and every living creature. This covenant is an expression of God’s unconditional love. We experience the unconditional love and mercy of God in all that God has done, and in a particular way, in the gesture of sending God’s Son for our salvation. And the Son reveals God’s love and mercy by giving his very life for us. The second reading of today reminds us that Christ died for all; the upright one gave his life for the sake of the guilty (1Pet 3:18). Jesus died, so that we have life and have it in abundance.
God’s faithfulness to the covenant is again revealed during the temptation scene narrated in the gospel of today. By overcoming temptations, Jesus shows himself to be faithful to God and to the covenant. Not giving in to temptations Jesus confirms that he will never betray God and the covenant, come what may! Indeed, the temptations of Jesus represent all the inducements and trials he would have encountered in his life. This experience of Jesus indicates an essential condition of human being, that is, everyone is subjected to temptations, attractions, trials and difficulties. By his victory over the inducements of the devil, Jesus communicates to us of the possibility of being victorious over them. In our Lenten journey, we are exhorted to face the temptations and to overcome them as Jesus has done, and thus to remain faithful to our God and to the covenant.
After overcoming the temptations, Jesus begins his mission. Before the beginning of his mission, John the Baptist is arrested. This arrest of John is a strategic movement to intimidate Jesus. Jesus, instead of being terrified, considers it an opportunity to begin his mission. From a very negative event, Jesus draws the strength for a positive activity. In fact, the whole life of Jesus is characterized by transforming the problems into opportunities, weakness into strength and disadvantages into advantages. For him every problem was a hidden opportunity to do something good and positive. This attitude of Jesus invites us to transform our weakness into strength, our poverty into wealth, and our difficulty into opportunities.
Starting his mission, the first call of Jesus is: “Be converted and believe in the Gospel”. He begins precisely from what had been the central teaching of John the Baptist—conversion. The call to conversion is a call to die with Christ to sin and to rise with him to the life of God. It is a reminder to renew our baptismal covenant through reconciliation with God and with others. This call to conversion, is not simply a beautiful expression, it is not a mere advice, but it is the hallmark of being a true Christian. Hence, let us be converted, believe in the Gospel and be true followers of Jesus. May God bless us all.