First Sunday of Lent

Reading I
Gn 9:8-15

God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
"See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."
God added:
"This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the earth,
and the bow appears in the clouds,
I will recall the covenant I have made
between me and you and all living beings,
so that the waters shall never again become a flood
to destroy all mortal beings."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. (cf. 10) Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

Good and upright is the LORD,
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and he teaches the humble his way.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

Reading II
1 Pt 3:18-22

Beloved:
Christ suffered for sins once,
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.
In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison,
who had once been disobedient
while God patiently waited in the days of Noah
during the building of the ark,
in which a few persons, eight in all,
were saved through water.
This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.
It is not a removal of dirt from the body
but an appeal to God for a clear conscience,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven
and is at the right hand of God,
with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

Gospel
Mk 1:12-15

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
"This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel."

COMMENTARY

God blesses Noah and his sons. “Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.  Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea: into your power they are delivered”. (8:1-2) This verse echoes the command that God gave Adam in the first story of creation (1:28).  Thus a new creation has come into existence and God again makes man the steward of his creation.  God in essence is “blessing” mankind, however the recurring theme of blessing-sin-repentance-forgiveness-blessing will again come into the world.

Up to the time of the flood, man appears to have been a vegetarian.  However, after the flood God gives mankind permission to eat the flesh of animals.  The only limitation on this new food group is that it shall not contain its life giving blood.  This is probably extracted from the Mosaic Law, which we find in the Book of Deuteronomy.  The Hebrew people believed that the issue of blood was binding to all of mankind and not just to those of Jewish decent since this prohibition against blood was given to Noah – the new ancestor of all mankind – and not just to the chosen people.

God establishes his covenant with Noah and gives the sign of the covenant (8:11-12).  This is the first of many covenants that God will establish with mankind.  All of God’s covenants greatly favor mankind.  God promises his fidelity to the covenant and provides mankind with greater benefit in the covenant than man could ever provide.  Yet, mankind will not or cannot remain faithful to God.  God’s covenant with Noah is that he will never again destroy the world with a flood (8:11) and the sign of this covenant is the rainbow (8:12).

The context of the second reading from the First Letter of Peter is that of an exhortation to Christians, in danger from their social alienation, to remain faithful.  In the interpretation offered here, the spirits to whom Christ made proclamation are the archetypal angelic sinners, who, according to Jewish tradition, instigated the “original sin” of human beings at the time of the flood and who continue to induce humans to do evil.  Christ’s proclamation to these sinners, on the occasion of his ascension, is a mythical way of saying that, by his death and resurrection, he has conquered all evil: he proclaimed himself the risen One.  The association of these spirits with the flood gives the writer and opportunity of a typological development: just as Noah was rescued from the evil world of his day by water, so are Christians rescued through the water of baptism.  In the new covenant, Christians make a pledge to live in keeping with God’s will.  This is possible only through the power of the risen and triumphant Christ.

Mark’s version of the temptation in the desert is much shorter than Matthew’s or Luke’s.  Its brevity, however, makes its significance more direct.  The Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted and tested by Satan for forty days, just as the people of Israel were tested before him after their exodus from Egypt.  Mark’s two verses simply state that Jesus has withstood the test and is ready for his mission of salvation.

With the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus begins his mission.  The good news of God now begins with Jesus’ words: “This is the time of fulfillment”.  For Mark, God’s reign of power has begun in the person of Jesus, who is in effect God’s good news in person.  However, Jesus immediately links the good news with an equally important call for radical response: “Repent, and believe in the gospel”.  Through these two statements, Mark summarizes the gospel message that Jesus preached:  the very power of God is available to those who open themselves to Jesus and to his gospel way of loving service.

REFLECTION

Change.  Start over – a new creation.  This is the message for this first Sunday of Lent.  I was never the best student in my class and this would always cause me tremendous anxiety.  I always wanted to be considered a top student but somehow I would always resort back to the same old things of lagging behind in my work or not putting in the right amount of effort.  Then summer would come around and I would think, “This is great! I have the opportunity to start over!”  It was a time when I could think about how I had done throughout the school year and what I had to do to better my performance as a student.

In a way, Lent is much the same thing.  It’s a time for us to step aside and take a close look at our lives.  Certainly I’m not at the “top of the class” when it comes to being a Christian, but I’m still trying, and one of the things that inspires me to keep trying is knowing that there’s always room for improvement.  Just as I would struggle to always be at the top of my class when I was in school, I need to keep struggling to be the best disciple of Christ I possibly can.  The temptations will always be there but that’s a good thing because temptations let me know that I’m on the right path.  If I were not being tempted then I’d have to wonder if I have become so complacent in my relationship with God that I don’t even realize that I’m drifting away.

The entire time of Lent needs to be a time for us to re-evaluate our lives with respect to discipleship.  The Lenten practices we are all so familiar with – fasting, abstinence, etc. – are all very good ways to help us in this process, but in reality they should be a reflection of our innermost being.  We need to deny ourselves willingly and joyfully knowing that the emptiness we are creating will be filled with the fullness of God.  Only then can we achieve a true transformation, because it will be God himself transforming us – recreating us into a closer image of Jesus Christ.

Biblical Sources:

New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Anderson, B.W. (ed.), “Creation in the Old Testament”; Cassuto, U., “A Commentary on the Book of Genesis”; Dalton, W. J., “Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits: A Study of 1 Peter 3:18-4:6”; Franco, R., “Primera Carta de San Pedro,” La Sagrada Escritura; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Kingsbury, J.D., “The Christology of Mark’s Gospel”; Schweizer, E, “The Good News According to Mark”; Tucket, C. (ed.), “The Messianic Secret”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”.

Reflection:

Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa