A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.
1st Sunday of Lent A
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God
For a short introduction to the meaning of Lent you may go to Archives: "The Joyful Season of Lent"
Reading 1
The Lord God fashioned man and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life.
The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.
Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,
and placed there the man whom he had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow
that were delightful to look at and good for food,
with the tree of life in the middle of the garden
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
and placed there the man whom he had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow
that were delightful to look at and good for food,
with the tree of life in the middle of the garden
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.
During Lent the first reading is independent of the Gospel. We will not see then a direct link as on other Sundays. There is a history of our Salvation. It is the story of how God has intervened in the history of mankind to bring about our Salvation in and through his Son, Jesus. Today we hear the story of creation and the sin of Adam and Eve. Don’t think the author is describing this event as you would expect to read it in the newspaper today. He knows no more about the details than you or I. He is telling us a story which conveys a very true message. God created this world. He made us in his own image and we have the gift of free choice. Men and women from the beginning have used this gift to act in a way God forbids. Salvation history is God’s response to our continuous rebellion. It is not a punishment in anger but a love which abounds even more than our sin.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (cf. 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
The good act of one man, Jesus, brings everyone life and makes them justified.
Reading 2
Sin ruled the world
12 Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned. 13 There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins. 14 But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command.
God’s grace is greater than our sin
Adam was a figure of the one who was to come. 15 But the two are not the same, because God's free gift is not like Adam's sin. It is true that many people died because of the sin of that one man. But God's grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many people through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.
Jesus: true head of the human race
16 And there is a difference between God's gift and the sin of one man. After the one sin, came the judgment of "Guilty"; but after so many sins, comes the undeserved gift of "Not guilty!"
17 It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! Mankind is acquitted through Jesus
All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ.
18 So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life. 19 And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man. Sin is the cause of all the evils we encounter. God’s plan was good and for our happiness. It was thwarted by men and women who wanted to be independent of God and do their own thing. Since God’s way alone is the way of happiness, the way we chose has caused all the evils including the tragedy of death. But and this is the point Paul is making it is now through the loving obedience of God’s Son and our Brother, Jesus, that we have been reconciled with God and are once again the beloved children who will share in the divine inheritance. Lent is the time when God once again, in his humility and love, pleads with us to be reconciled with him and so be able to live. Are we to follow Adam and Eve or the new Adam Jesus? The one is the way of eternal death and the other the way of eternal life. The choice is ours.
Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Gospel
At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”
Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.
angels came and ministered to him.
You are in the ring
Things are bad in the world. There are numerous wars. Innocent people are killed, maimed, orphaned, and widowed. Statistics for governments, they are tragedies for individuals. Terrorists inflict misery and death on people in no way connected to the alleged injustices about which they are angry. Greed, exploitation, deprivation are everywhere. Poverty, sickness and premature death are in vast areas of the world.
In the first reading we see God making us out of dust and giving us life. In the story he places us in a beautiful garden where nothing is lacking. But there is one tree, which is dangerous and yet has to be there. It is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God doesn’t want puppets but children. He has given us the gift of making our own choices. He wants us to choose to be his children, to listen to his Word, respect and love him for all he has given us. There is the reverse: we can choose to do our own thing and rebel. Unfortunately as the story tells us and as we know from experience this is what we chose to do. By our choices we have created the world in which we live. Humans are easy victims of Satan’s deceptions. ‘Do what you want and you will be like God’. Deceived every time, we produce more sorrow.
Fortunately all is not lost. There is a light on the horizon. Our God with a heart of kindness has come to visit us like the dawn from on high. His love is greater than our sin. It is greater than all the sins of the world. He resolved to wrench the world and us from the hands of Satan and make us free again.
He came into the world not with divine power but with our human weakness. He decided to defeat Satan as a son of Adam. Satan approaches Jesus as he approached Eve. But he has met his match. Today we witness the first round in the conflict. Jesus sees through his deceptive and false promises and will have nothing to do with him. Unable to succeed Satan leaves him for awhile. He will try in every way to get Jesus to give up his faith in God. The Cross will be the climax.
Lent reminds us that we must take sides: with Adam or with Jesus? You have to make the choice. To follow Adam is to bring misery to the world and cause your own eternal death. To follow Jesus brings joy to the world and your own eternal happiness. Jesus overcame Satan by prayer and the Word of God. It is the same for us. Do you pray daily? Do you spend time with the Word of God? Do you know Jesus?
Father, may we pray constantly and make our home in your Word and so join Jesus in the defeat of Satan.
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