1. --
Lanie LeBlanc OP
2. -- Carol & Dennis Keller
3. -- Brian Gleeson CP
4. --
5. --(Your reflection can be here!)
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1.
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Lent 1 B
In our first reading from the Book of Genesis, we read/hear
God making a covenant with Noah through the sign of a
rainbow, a covenant with a particular promise of care that
"never will every bodily creature be destroyed by flood."
God is indeed faithful; this promise extends to God's care
for us. Our Gospel reading reminds us of yet another sign of
God's faithfulness: Jesus.
Mark's account of Jesus going to and being tempted by Satan
in the desert seems like bare bones, minimum information. As
I sit with this selection a bit longer though, I see several
things that deepen my thoughts. My reading of "drove"
suggests that the Spirit did not just drop Jesus off in the
desert via a jeep for a few days away, but nudged Jesus
rather strongly to do something very difficult. Perhaps at
first, like all humankind, Jesus was willing, but really did
not want to face the things of the world that tempted him.
Jesus stayed because he trusted the Spirit and he trusted he
would receive care, from God and the angels.
Jesus triumphed over really hard stuff. Even after 40 days,
Jesus did not take a vacation. He wasn't even side-tracked
by the arrest of John, although he probably was greatly
saddened.
Jesus immediately went to Galilee and proclaimed the Gospel
of God. He encouraged all to change their ways and believe
in the gospel. He did so with enthusiasm and confidence
because Jesus knew first hand that part of this gospel is
God's everlasting care for us.
Jesus triumphed and because of Jesus, so can we. During
Lent, we can trust that God will be with us as we examine
the things that tempt us away from our faithfulness to God.
We, too, need to change. Perhaps we need not just to change
some sinful behaviors, but, very importantly, how we view
God and His promises in our lives. The Gospel is Good
News....how can we live it and proclaim it as GOOD News?
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie LeBlanc OP
Southern Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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First Sunday of Lent February 21, 2021
Genesis
9:8-15; Responsorial Psalm 25; 1st Peter 3:18-22; Gospel
Verse Matthew 4:4; Mark 1:12-15
This Sunday’s
narrative from the book of Genesis tells us how God deals
with the chaos, disintegration, violence, and hatred
humanity brought into God’s creation. The flood rose to
“wash clean,” “wipe away those terrors,” these
contradictions to the goodness of God’s creation. When all
had been washed clean, God reached out to Noah, his family,
and all animals wild and tame and promised to never again
destroy the evil springing from humanity by flood waters.
God initiated this deal, this covenant. As proof of this
arrangement, a sign would be the rainbow – many hued colors
painted across the sky. Israelites seeing that arc, reaching
from horizon to horizon, would be reminded of the Noah
story. It reminded them to consider their personal and
communal behaviors. They understood that ancient need for
the great cleansing. God also reminded himself by his
rainbow. We know scientifically how rainbows are formed. But
that science does not take away the custom, the ritual of
using the rainbow as a reminder of God’s abiding presence.
For those people of faith, the chaos of waters before God
brought order out of the tumult will not again destroy
living beings. The message is clear to people of faith,
however. The creative activity of the Lord of goodness is
challenged by evil. God does not allow his judgment of the
“very good” of creation to be overthrown by evil done by
humanity. The destruction of family, the destruction of
community will not be allowed to perdure: creation will not
revert to the primal chaos before creation.
It is clear from this first reading that destruction,
violence, division and murder, jealousies and envy, and
theft of persons’ freedom created in them by the Creator
will never be allowed to stand. The four narratives of sin
in Genesis are portrayed as fracturing relations, of ripping
apart communities. Community as a way of life becomes a
victim of violence, hatred, murder, and chaos. If we think
this is merely a rational theological construct trying to
explain how a good God and evil can co-exist, then we are
not paying much attention to the events of our day. Chaos
that comes with divisiveness and scapegoating was evidenced
on January 6. Even beyond that terrible day, daily we read,
watch, hear about violence and ethnic cleansing in the
world. In this our time there is a resurgence of tyranny in
many nations. In each such instance, tyranny follows the
development of a cult of person in contradiction to the
common good. The violence of the mob always arises from a
devaluation of community and an honest effort for the common
good of all.
Catholic tradition has always taught the Eucharist is the
source of unity and community. From the earliest teachings
of Paul and in the writings of the Fathers and Mothers of
the Church, the Eucharist is the nourishment and the cause
of the unity of the Mystical Body of the Lord. The entirety
of the Judeo-Christian tradition insists as do the Jews in
their morning prayer – “God is One.” We, the creation of
God, diverse as we are, must be one or we are not living out
the “very goodness” of what God created us to be. Our God is
so massive, so tremendous that revelation of God in creation
demands a terrific diversity. Even then, the revelation of
what God is could only be achieved in the Person of Jesus,
totally God and totally human. Take another look at our
Eucharist celebration. What is it that becomes the Body and
the Blood? The material which is consecrated by invocation
of the Spirit is brought to the altar from the workings of
the people. In a sense then, our daily living, our
achievements, our failures, our joys, and our sorrows become
the stuff that is consecrated and becomes the Body and the
Blood of the Lord. Thus, our daily lives become the food
that nourishes, heals, and unites the community. It is the
Lord who consecrates us into himself and gives us as
medicine, as food, as unifying glue. In this Lent, perhaps
we should – even with virtual Eucharistic celebrations –
focus on how the Eucharist forms us into a Community of
faith that expresses itself in love. Let us look at it as a
warning. God promised never to destroy mortal life by the
pre-creation chaos of rampaging waters. But God never
promised to eliminate the failures of humanity. Think again
of the images broadcast worldwide of the January 6 attempt
to disenfranchise the votes of more than eighty million of
our fellow how common cause was destroyed. Focus on the
theft of our common cause by false claims for power.
Creation reveals the nature of God. What God is, as
revealed, is a Community, a Trinity of three persons. That
life of God is our model, what we should aspire to as
Christians, as creatures of God. The work of God after
creation is ever a labor laced through and through with
mercy, compassion, and absolute, unconditional loving
kindness. That is our model, the way we should also live.
There is evil in our world that challenges our efforts at
imitating God’s modeling. That evil comes to us comes from
our own hands, minds, and hearts. Lent is a time for
cleansing our hearts so that our minds might be more mindful
of the source of our happiness and contentment. Sin destroys
relationships. That is what sin is. Is it not a fitting way
to begin our Lenten journey to remind ourselves of our
self-inflicted pain?
The reading from Mark’s gospel of the temptation of Jesus is
short. The Spirit of God forces Jesus into the wilderness.
That wilderness is a place of harsh reality, primitive life
supports, and where the basics of survival are evident.
There are few chances to regain missed opportunities for
survival, no room for mistakes. There are wild beasts there,
always on the prowl for victims. The Spirit forces Jesus
into the wilderness for an extended stay. What is Mark
telling us? Why would God put his Son – the one acclaimed by
God as pleasing to him – into such straights? Is God testing
him to see what he is made of? Jesus has clearly accepted
the task of establishing a new Kingdom of God at his Baptism
by John. The old creation has failed. Humanity continually
rips apart creation’s goodness and purpose. The four stories
of sin in Genesis have become the model for much of human
living. However, the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom whose goal
is unity, the celebration of diversity as an indication of
God’s wonder, and an alleluia of gratitude for the gift of
life. That Kingdom is a sharing in the image and likeness of
the Creator. That Kingdom is populated with persons who have
the capacity to reveal the goodness of Creation, bringing it
to a fullness dreamed by the mind and heart of the One God.
So why was Jesus brought into the desert? Mark skips the
details of the temptation of Jesus found in Luke and
Matthew? Mark presents Jesus in the wilderness as getting
ready for his ministry. This living in the wilderness, this
temptation is like what talented and physically well-trained
athletes do to prepare for their contests. Athletes not only
prepare their bodies physically and minds to perceive and
judge. They also prepare their whole person to react without
thinking. They prepare their bodies to specific actions, to
specific movements that are unthought. They become
instincts. So also, Jesus. He knows the mission is to begin
the force that will transform creation into the Kingdom of
God. How is he to do this? What are the instincts that he
needs to achieve so as not to cloud the message, his
modeling? He is in training camp for this great contest with
those who would subvert the goodness of creation for their
own purposes. His example, his preaching, his healing, and
his conflicts with the powers of this world were and are
necessary parts of his ministry. There can be no question
about how he responds. That is what lent does for us.
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the techniques that
ready us.
Lent is a time for us to hunker down and examine our
Christianity. Lent is the time to focus on relationships.
Jesus worked in his short ministry to begin God’s Kingdom.
He fought mightily against the way of the world. He fought
mightily against the typical fall back of so much of
religion. Faith that is viewed as an institution or as a set
of rules does little to grow the Spirit in its believers.
Jesus’ conflicts were with those who believed that strict
following of the Law of Moses was the way to salvation. He
fought as well against those who believed that ritual and
administration were the stuff that made religion real. Rules
are essential but only a steppingstone to fullness of
spirit. Ritual is necessary as instruction and
participation. When administration is the purpose, when
ritual is merely repetition without heart overseen by
persons set above the people, then the vitality and thrust
of faith is mitigated. Lent is the time for us to remove the
trash and clutter of the past year. That cleansing – not
unlike the cleansing of the Flood of Noah – brings us more
in community with our Creator. Amazingly, that cleansing
brings us into a stronger, more vital, more real connection
with others.
We cannot, however, forget the arc of Jesus’ work. At the
end of his ministry, he established the Eucharist – that
giving thanks for the work done and nourishment for the work
yet to be completed. That Eucharist, that giving thanks,
effectively makes us different. What has held us back, that
which separates and divides us from others, is overcome.
That victory is a strange victory to those who live only in
the way of the world. Jesus ascends the Cross in a most
cruel death. He is put there by the confluence of a spurious
interpretation of the Law of Moses and the law of the world
that demands compliance to power. His death demonstrated to
us what happens as we follow in the way of Jesus. There is
suffering. That is why we need the time in the wilderness of
Lent to strengthen ourselves for the struggle, to sharpen
our instincts.
This Lent prepares us for the struggle. That struggle is
very simply put as the development of a culture of life.
That is a culture for all life. The liars of the world would
have us think that only the unborn are worthwhile life. They
effectively use that definition to garner support and votes
and allegiance. The way, the truth, and the life is that all
life is sacred. Not one single person – born, unborn, young,
old, healthy, infirm – there is no life that is not sacred
in the eyes of God. That is the dream of the Creator: that
all life reach fullness and find its place in the Kingdom of
the Lord of all Creation.
May that Kingdom be our goal: may that Kingdom be our focus:
may that Kingdom’s establishment and completion motivate us
in all the moments of living. May we remember that God’s
Kingdom is noteworthy by is mercy, its compassion, and it
unconditional love of each of us.
Carol & Dennis Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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TESTS, TRIALS, AND TEMPTATIONS: 1ST SUNDAY LENT B
How might
we see Lent as an opportunity for self-improvement?
The movie, An
Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere, is about a
very selfish young man, who for the thrill of it, wants to
fly jet planes in the navy. A tough drill sergeant sees
through him and sets out to challenge him with every test
and ordeal in the books. In the process, the young man
discovers his moral compass and develops a new set of
values. He graduates from boot camp as both an officer and a
gentleman, with a strong fresh focus away from himself and
towards others and their needs. His tests and trials have
worked to get him there, and have re-made him to be the best
person he can be.
Jesus, as another young man, was never selfish, but he too
needed to discover what new direction his life should take.
It comes out in Mark’s story today of how the power of God,
which is to say the Holy Spirit given to him at his baptism,
drives him into the desert for forty days. Instead of human
company there, he is with wild animals, and angels provide
for his basic needs.
There in the desert, he too is tested and tried, not by
another human being, but by Satan, the arch-enemy of God and
goodness. It was in the desert too that his own people, the
people of Israel, had met their God, and entered into a
binding covenant-relationship of love with God. But the
Bible shows the desert as not only a place where they met
God but also as a place of trials and temptations. It was
there too that they gave in to temptations. There they
adored false gods and murmured against Moses, God’s
representative.
Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark does not specify how Jesus was
tested and tried, but says only that he ‘was tempted by
Satan’. Mark implies that, as happens with all temptation,
Jesus was wrestling with the question, ‘Will I choose what
God wants of me, or give in to other wants and desires?’
Mark also implies that with the help of the Spirit of God,
Jesus resists and defeats the Evil One, and chooses just
what God wants of him.
What God wanted of him, discovered by Jesus in the desert,
is revealed in the next lines of Mark’s story: ‘… Jesus went
into Galilee. There he proclaimed the good news from God.
“The time has come,” he said, “and the kingdom of God is
close at hand. Repent, and believe the good news”.’ There
and then he came to accept his mission from God – to tell
others that the kingdom of God was happening among them and
that Jesus himself was making it happen.
The kingdom of God means God’s power, authority, reign, and
rule over everything and everybody. The coming of the
kingdom of God was the new direction of his life, that Jesus
discovered there and then in his desert-experience. It
became the central theme and program of his life. It became
the basis of practically everything he did and everything he
said. It was his guiding-star, his ultimate vision of
reality, the cause for which he both lived and died. It was
his favorite phrase for what his mission was all about. His
sayings, his parables, his cures, his relationships, and
especially his practice of sharing meals with outcasts, were
all connected to his purpose and program of bringing about
the kingdom of God on earth. So much so that Jesus without
the kingdom of God would be an incomplete Jesus, and not
what he is for us – our way, truth, and life (Jn 14:6).
The coming of the reign and rule of God requires a response
from everyone, Jesus insists, a turn-around, a change, shown
in the first place by accepting God’s offer of mercy and
forgiveness for our sins, and in the second place, by living
as God wants. In practice, this means living the teachings
of Jesus and following his good example.
Jesus is still telling us to repent of our sins, and to
believe and live the good news that God is the king of our
lives. This is just what Jesus was saying to us on Ash
Wednesday, when we received the ashes and heard the
accompanying message, ‘Turn away from sin, and believe the
good news.’
Lent, then, is not just a time for little acts of
self-denial, but to believe and live with the greatest
fidelity and constancy, the greatest truth of all, that God
is our loving and merciful King, that we belong to God as
God’s beloved children, that God has great expectations of
us, and that God is calling us to be loving persons too -
loving God and our fellow human beings, with our whole mind,
heart, soul, and strength.
That’s a message not only for Lent but for every season. No
wonder, then, that Jesus wants us to keep praying to God:
‘Our Father … your kingdom come … lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil’! For that to happen,
we must also, like Jesus, let the Holy Spirit drive us into
the desert of our lives, and there empower us, to tame any
wild beast prowling around to tempt us to sin.
"Brian Gleeson CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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4.
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5.
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