First Sunday of Lent

SVP 21 February 2021

The Gospel of Mark tells us that immediately after his baptism the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert. It is there that He will encounter God and from there He will begin his God-given ministry. Every year we follow Jesus’ example going into the desert to seek God. We call this encounter Lent.

Traditionally we have tended to think of this as a time of penance. It is seen as a time of giving up; giving up what we know may be harmful to us, giving up our excess and what distracts us from God. What we give up, these excesses, we give away as alms to those who are worse off than us; to those we see as the suffering people.

This last year though, in many ways, it’s we who have been suffering. We have suffered the consequences of our isolation. We have had to give up a lot of what makes life enjoyable, parties, family gatherings, socialising, football, window shopping. Some of us have suffered illness ourselves or had to watch, at a painful distance, our sick and elderly loved ones, some of whom have died. All around us, there is anxiety and depression. It has been a tough year.

This year, given what we have been through, we could approach our Lent with a slight shift of priority: Jesus did not go to the desert to seek suffering, in some kind of masochistic endeavour. Jesus went into the desert to meet with God. He left his family and friends and the distractions of daily social life to enter into an encounter with God. Did you notice in today’s gospel how Mark is very sparse with his information? He tells us simply that after his baptism the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness.

First there was the baptism. Like our own baptism, this was a tremendously important, life-changing event in the life of Jesus. It was the moment when Jesus heard clearly and distinctly, maybe for the first time, the voice telling him, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Something that Jesus had been feeling, an idea that had simmered in his mind all his life, was confirmed for him at that moment. Astounded by this new and clear revelation, Jesus needed time and space to understand what was going on and what this confirmation meant for him. He needed to get away to contemplate, to discern, to take on board what this revelation meant for him. The desert was the best place to go.

In the desert Jesus found God. He found the trust and the love within himself to say yes to God. He worked out what God was asking of him and worked out how he would conform his life to God’s will, even though he knew that it would lead him to that terrible rejection by the people and his death on the cross.

There are signs in this week’s news and announcements from the government that the month of March could see us loosening the restrictions of isolation and lockdown. The efforts we have been making to slow down the spread of the virus have had a positive effect. We can hope that in the weeks to come we will be released and that by Easter we will be safe to gather here, even if we will still need to take precautions. That is our hope.

In the meantime, we can use this, hopefully final period of lockdown to imitate Jesus in the desert. We can use the desert-like isolation as a place to encounter God and prepare ourselves for Easter. It is then we will relive our baptism and the promise God made to us. At our baptism each of us became a child of God and now God abides deep within us, and we in God. In today’s second reading St Peter compares this covenant with that made by God with Noah after the flood, confirmed by the sign of a rainbow.

We have suffered much in this last year. there is no need to add suffering for the sake of it. Let us seek during this lent rather to encounter God in the silent moments God gives us each day. Let us make time each day to read the readings of the Mass, at home, in communion with each other. In this way, we contemplate the Word of God and allow the Word to blossom in our hearts. As far as possible, let us get out into the fresh air and welcome the signs of Spring and hope for a rainbow in the sky; a reminder of the ever-faithful God who tells us that life is always renewed and hope never fades.

I finish with these profound words of Pope Francis on how to live Lent, which we shared with you in the newsletter last Sunday.

Do you want to fast this Lent?

Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

Fast from worries and trust in God.

Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.

Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.

Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.

Fast from grudges and be reconciled.

Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.