SUNDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2024
SUNDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT YEAR B
Genesis 9:8-15
1Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15
THE LENTEN SEASON :- A TRUE REFLECTION OF OUR WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
A known philosopher once holds that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” And this assertion is true because life without purpose and direction looses meaning and becomes brutal and uninteresting. The human person can only find meaning in life when we personally take out time to think rationally, reflect deeply and discover for ourselves the meaning God put in creation and in the world.
Our gospel reading today tells of Jesus who took to the wilderness in preparation for his ministry and in total abandonment of himself into divine authority for the success of his mission. Jesus went there to discover through reflection, prayer and mortification the meaning of life. And Jesus pointed out and discovered for us various temptations, trials and beast confronting the life of every man.
In this experience, Jesus teaches us how to arm ourselves with the necessary tools and technic to confront the forces that may obstruct life and our mission on earth.
The gospel of Mark did not present to us the different temptations but only states that Jesus underwent temptations but was helped by God’s spirit and angels who ministered to him.
The first point is to consciously make a recourse into oneself and to openly and personally understand that life is more than daily routines, or following the flow in the world or just casing shadow. Life has meaning, purpose and goal. The way to discover ones purpose, goal and meaning of life is to enter the wilderness of our lives.
Wilderness is an uninhabited, uncultivated and very hostile region, taken over by wild animals and confronting beasts. It is an uncomfortable place, a place of battle whereby the forces of darkness and nature takes preeminent role. So going into the wilderness is like going into the most dangerous environment of our lives, where the different beasts that confronts us lives with us. And we enter there too to make war, to fight battle and to confront them headlong.
As Jesus confronts the evils in the wild, the beasts and wild animals and these challenged him so hard. So also we must enter our wilderness to do same. The scripture says that he was tempted. These forces are temptation for us. There are to be put in their places, to be conquered. And the good news is that the Spirit of God conquers and was present. It is the same spirit that led him into the wilderness and also protected him.
Lent offers us opportunity to get into our wilderness experience, to reflect on our journey in the wilderness of life. We take a recourse into our lives and reflect on the wild beasts tempting and pulling us so hard.
We need this season to come to terms with these wild beast inside us, those outside too and many fighting us. The temperaments we have, our appetites for things, the pull of pleasure, the beasts of hatred, malice, jealousy, backbiting, envy, stealing, fornication, adultery, lust and the lists goes on and on.
How much powers does these wild beasts and evils tempting you and challenging your eternal rewards and desires wield on us? How can we conquer and defeat them?
We need to arm ourselves with the spirit of God, and the power and intercessions of the angels to triumph over them. We need prayer in this wilderness, fasting, almsgiving and mortifications. And this is the message that in the wilderness of life, we must recognize and arm ourselves with God’s Spirit, intercession of the angels who ministers before God and our efforts to stay, hold on to the true life of penance, fasting, prayers and almsgiving.
And the first reading reminds us that destruction of our lives have been ruled out of God’s plans for us. In fact, a new covenant was made with Noah. God promised never to destroy life and man again.
The letter of Saint Peter, our second reading confirms that in Jesus Christ the high priest is the eternal covenant God made with us , anchored and sealed. That he did it once and for all and taken his seat at the right hand of divine majesty.
So we have no excuse at all to hold or think that we are alone in this journey. There is always with us, God’s grace, blessings and Favors given by the spirit of God.
Let us begin this season of lent holding onto the promised covenant, by renewing our covenant in Jesus Christ. And in the wilderness experience, let us face those beast with the power of Christ, and the will to renounce all through fasting, prayers and almsgiving. For by so doing, the battle of life will be won.
God our Father, we are confronted by so many temptations and evil forces. Help us by your spirit to conquer our temptations and those raging beasts that confront our true moral, physical and spiritual lives. May your spirit fight and win for us this battle of life through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
