First Sunday of Lent
Gen 2: 7-9, 3: 1-7 | Ps 51: 3-6. 12-13, 17 | Rom 5:12-19 | Mt 4:1-11
Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent. This is a season when we are asked to consider our lives, decide how we can change with God’s help, and act in some manner to help that change come about. The readings all talk about the effect of sin on our lives. From the sin of Adam and Eve, to the sin of the people in Moses’ time, to sin of the people in Jesus’s time, to our present day today–all sin causes a rupture in our relationship with God. Sin comes about through desire and temptation, etc. When we lose sight of our relationship to God and people, we give into temptation and turn away from God. Yet God calls us to listen to God’s Word and accept His unending love and forgiveness and be restored to this great relationship with God. Paul tells us this; and, the life of Christ shouts this loudly and clearly.
In the Gospel, we see how Christ fasts for forty days, is hungry, and then is tempted by the devil. Christ did not give into those temptations. Through His prayer and sacrifice, He was able to fight the temptations.