Mother Church celebrates Sunday, February 26, 2023, as the First Sunday of Lent – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray, “When he calls to me, I will answer; I will rescue him and give him honour. Long life and contentment will be his. Amen.”
As we enter the Lenten season, it is appropriate to answer the question: what is Lent? The word ‘lent’ does not have any religious or Christian meaning, being an old Anglo-Saxon word for spring time, lencten. It describes the gradual lengthening of daylight after the winter solstice. So it is a word that is associated in Europe with the weather, marking the transition from winter to spring. It’s not clear how it became associated with Christianity, but it is the period coming about a month and a half after Christmas during which the whole Church goes on retreat for six weeks, that is, for 40 days, for an annual spiritual renewal. It prepares us to celebrate Christianity’s most fundamental belief, which is that Christ died, rose from the dead and is alive. In the absence of this belief, there is no Christianity.
For the next six weeks, beginning on Ash Wednesday, we will be meditating on two main themes: 1) the renewal of our baptismal promises and how faithful we’ve been to them, and 2) a spiritual renewal of faith and conversion through penance, charity and reconciliation. By these means, Lent readies the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery after a period of closer attention to the Word of God, and more ardent prayer.
Why does Lent last forty days? Early in Christianity, the discipline of fasting became associated with the number 40 in imitation of Christ’s 40-day fast in the desert, of Moses’ 40 days on Mount Sinai, of Elijah’s 40-day fast on his journey to Mount Horeb and of the 40 years the Israelites spent in the desert.
During Lent, penance should not only be inward and individual but also outward and social, and should be directed toward works of mercy on behalf of our brothers and sisters, especially those who are less fortunate than we are. We should strive during this period, therefore, to take a greater and more fruitful share in the Lenten liturgy and penitential service.
The first reading from Genesis shows us God who has rested after seven days of work, creating the universe and all that is in it. But there was no one to take over the universe and so he creates man from the earth. So man is dust and into dust he shall return. In the second reading from Romans, Saint Paul tells us that even though man was condemned through the sin of one man, Adam, mankind has been redeemed through the action of another man, Christ Jesus. In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has been fasting for forty days and it is precisely at this moment when he is most fragile that Satan decides to tempt him with bread, with spectacular but senseless acrobatic displays and with the vainglory of the kingdoms of the world.
Let us pray in the course of this Eucharist that when confronted with the evil and temptations of this world during our Lenten season, we should not forget that no evil or sin ever conquers he or she who firmly believes in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9.
The Lord God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. The Lord God caused to spring up from the soil every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden.
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Genesis is the first of the first five books of the OT; the other four being Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Together, they form a unit collectively known as the Pentateuch (Greek word for five books), or the Torah (the Hebrew word for Law). The Jews saw these books, varied though they were in subject matter and style, as the work of a single author: Moses.
Genesis deals with the origins of the world and of the Jewish people. The reading of today is about the creation of man, who receives his life when God breathes into his nostrils. God is portrayed as a potter who models man’s body from clay. The care with which God takes to create man definitely shows that man has a dignity which no other animal has. Man’s life is therefore sacred and should be treated as such.
Man is, however, created from dust and to dust he shall return. But the fact that man belongs to the earth is not his most characteristic feature. What distinguishes him from the other creation is that he receives his life directly from God himself. God breathes life into man. The fact that God infuses life into man in this way means that man as a living being comes directly from God. Man is animated by the soul or the spirit, which does not come from the earth. The principle of life received from God also endows man’s body with its own dignity and puts it on a higher level than the other animals.
God is portrayed as a potter who models man’s body in clay. The image of God as a potter shows that man is in God’s hands just like the clay is in the potter’s hands. He should therefore not resist or oppose God’s will. As Jeremiah (18:6) says “Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.”
From the onset, God and man are friends before the sin of disobedience came in to destroy the harmony between them. There was then no such thing as evil or death. The garden into which God puts man is a leafy oasis, with the special feature of having two trees in the center, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Out of the garden flow rivers that water and make the earth fertile. The lesson to take from this reading is that man was created to be happy, to enjoy the life and goodness which flow from God. You and I were created to be happy. What makes us unhappy is the temptation of the evil one into which we fall so often.
But Genesis tells us that even after man and woman have sinned and are hiding from God, God still comes looking for them. This is God’s redemptive power at work which will culminate in his sending his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. No matter how much we sin, God always comes looking for us, to redeem us. This Lenten season is a period of our return to God. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to overcome whatever obstacles may be hindering us from hearing God’s call as he comes looking for us, as he does our first parents, Adam and Eve. Amen.
Second Reading: Romans 5: 12-19.
Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. Sin existed in the world long before the Law was given. There was no law and so no one could be accused of the sin of ‘law-breaking’, yet death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even though their sin, unlike that of Adam, was not a matter of breaking a law. Adam prefigured the One to come, but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. The results of the gift also outweigh the result of one man’s sin: for after one single fall came judgment with a verdict of condemnation, now after many falls comes grace with its verdict of acquittal. If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man’s fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man’s fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
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The African Bible tells me that Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans is the longest, most influential and rewarding of Paul’s undisputed letters. He seems to have written it in Corinth (in modern-day Greece) around the year 57 AD.
The Church in Rome was not founded by Paul himself but probably by Jewish Christians from Judaea, or by Jews who had been converted to Christianity while on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There were frequent contacts between Rome, which was the most important city in Paul’s world, and Jerusalem.
In his letter, Paul stresses the universality of salvation because all have sinned: Jews and Gentiles alike. God has revealed himself not only to the Jews through the Laws of Moses, but also to Gentiles through his creation and natural law.
The passage for our meditation sounds like the continuation of the first reading from the book of Genesis which tells us that sin entered into the world through the disobedience of our first parents. But Saint Paul tells the Roman that there is hope of salvation which leaves room for hope because as sin entered into the world through one man, so has that sin been blotted out and salvation assured through one man’s obedience. That man is none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
By drawing a parallel between Adam and Christ, Paul clarifies the manner of our reconciliation with God. Adam steeped posterity in sin, and in consequence, in spiritual death. Christ, on the other hand, reverses the trend to destruction. Men through their faith in God are withdrawn from sin’s power. Christ’s achievement through the resurrection is to bring us eternal life.
Jesus comes in God’s name. Like God in the garden of Eden, he comes looking for those who have sinned and are hiding in shame because of their sins. He has come to seek out and to save the lost, he tells us through Saint Luke (19:10). He is the one who comes seeking us out, calling us by name, knocking on the door of our hearts and asking us to let him in. As we embark on this 40-day journey to Easter, let us remember what Saint Paul tells us: “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Romans 5: 20). God’s grace is boundless. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: "Alleluia, alleluia. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Alleluia."
Gospel: Matthew 4: 1-11.
Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.’ But he replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says: ‘He will put you in his angels’ charge, and they will support you on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture says: ‘You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘I will give you all these’ he said ‘if you fall at my feet and worship me.’ Then Jesus replied, ‘Be off, Satan! For scripture says: ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.’ Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.
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Before beginning his public ministry, Jesus prepares himself for forty days by prayer and fasting in the desert. Moses acted in a similar way before proclaiming the Old Law on Mount Sinai by fasting for forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai (Ex 34:28). Similarly, Elijah journeyed for forty days and forty nights in the desert to fulfill the Law (1 Kings 19:5-8). God’s people themselves wandered for forty years in the desert in their search of the Promised Land.
The Church also follows Jesus’ footsteps by prescribing the yearly Lenten fast. As Saint John Paul II once said, “It can be said that Christ introduced the tradition of forty days fast into the Church’s liturgical year, because he himself ‘fasted for forty days and forty nights’ before beginning to teach. By this Lenten fast the Church is in a certain sense called every year to follow her Master and Lord if she wishes to preach his Gospel effectively” (John Paul II, General Audience, 28 February 1979). In a similar way, Jesus’ withdrawal into the desert invites us to prepare ourselves by prayer and penance before any important decision or action.
In this Gospel, the devil takes advantage of Jesus’ forty days and forty nights in the desert to tempt him. He knows our Lord is tired and hungry and he sees this as an opportune moment to see if he would abandon trust in his Father’s providence and go the way of worldly power and riches.
The first temptation the devil brings is food. Christ is hungry and so the devil asks him to change stone into food. We in Africa are particularly vulnerable to temptations from well-to-do countries that propose food for their own agendas. African countries have recently been threatened that food and other material donations from the West would cease if they do not support homosexuality, for example. Like Christ too, the devil is at our door.
The second temptation deals with a very unnecessary and spectacular display of acrobatic skills: jump off the pinnacle of the temple to show that he is the Son of God. The Jews would soon ask Jesus for similar signs from him. We should not put ourselves in the way of unnecessary danger, expecting God to come to our help by an exceptional use of his power.
The third temptation is the type many people in our country fall to: human glory. Fall down and worship me, the devil tells us, and I will give you money and power. We see strange scenes in our cities, especially in Douala, where it is not rare to see apparently well-off men and women doing strange things: undressing and exposing their nudity in public, bathing in public, sleeping with mad men and women in public, etc.
Jesus overcomes all these temptations with the power of the word of God. He does not get into an unnecessary argument; he simply uses the word of scripture and makes fidelity to the word of God the mark of his mission. During this Lenten season, may we too make God’s word our only weapon against the devil’s temptations. Let us make time to listen to God’s word and allow it to influence us as we strive for conversion, charity, fasting and penance. Lord, come to our assistance. Amen.
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