Homily for the First Sunday of Lent

There is a school of thought to which Saint Mark apparently adheres, that applies to the concept of writing, that “less is more.” Saint Mark’s Gospel is both the first written and the shortest in length.

The other Evangelists go into much deeper detail in recounting the story of the Lord’s Temptations, but Saint Mark simply mentions it in passing. Yet, for all his verbal brevity, there is a richness in the images he employs that the casual reader might easily overlook:
+ the Spirit
+ the 40 days
+ the temptation
+ the wild beasts  — and —
+ the angels.

Let’s take a closer look at these various elements to see what part they might play in our own observance of Lent… as they played in this brief and taciturn presentation of an event in the life of Christ, since our lives are meant to emulate His.

The Spirit
This is, of course, the Holy Spirit — the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, often described as the Love between the Father and the Son, so powerful that it begets this Third Person. Look closely at the action of the Holy Spirit here: the Spirit doesn’t just lead Jesus out into the desert… Saint Mark tells us that the Spirit drove Him there.

And, since the Holy Spirit is the personification of the internal love of the Holy Trinity, we can say with confidence that this driving is an action of love that the Father enacts for His Son. At the Lord’s Baptism, the first appearance of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is in the form of a dove above the Lord’s head. The Spirit was a witness to the Lord’s own free will action in choosing to be Baptized by Saint John. Now, however, the Spirit takes this more active role in preparing Jesus for His own public ministry.

It is the same Holy Spirit that was given to each of us when we were Confirmed, perhaps in our adolescence or even younger, empowering us to begin a public life for Christ, strengthened by Grace to face and overcome the temptation to avoid this commitment.

The 40 days
We know that the number 40 is significant as we read the Sacred Scriptures.
+ Noah’s 40 days and 40 nights of rain
+ The Hebrews’ 40 years of wandering in the desert
+ And now, our Lord’s own 40-day “retreat” in the desert.

This number 40 suggests a significant passage of time. It would certainly take 40 days of rain to flood the earth, and thereby rid the earth of sinfulness. And, since the Hebrews wandered for 40 years in the desert, the people who went into the desert would not be the same people who come out the other side: these would be their grandchildren, whose identity would not be wrapped up in their slavery to the Egyptians, but now, reformed as the Chosen People of God formed by their trust in God’s leadership.

In our day, social behavior theorists suggest that a bad habit can be reformed in about three weeks. (We’re not speaking here of addiction, nor of obsessive/compulsive behavior). Our observance of Lent doubles that three-week endurance trial, with Grace given for our efforts, so that our Will might be reformed in order to align it with God’s Holy Will for us.

The Temptation
Because He has taken on human nature, Christ is subject, in His humanity, to temptation. Temptation is an effect of Original Sin, though, which means that He is subject to temptation, but not victim.

We are all subject to temptation, and the devil tailors his work to both our strengths and our weaknesses. Jesus was able to overcome temptation through His knowledge of Scripture. But look at how the devil quotes Scripture back to Him in other Gospel passages of this story, in an attempt to use the Lord’s own strength against Him.

Our strength is in our knowledge of the Faith, and of the truths beyond which the devil wishes to take us. A brief prayer during temptation can be of assistance in chasing away the evil one, such as:
+ My Jesus, mercy
+ Jesus, Mary and Joseph
+ O God, come to my assistance

The Wild Beasts
We rarely come across wild beasts, except at the Zoo, or perhaps on a walk in the woods, so we can move beyond the literal to the figurative here. The notion of wild beasts signifies a harsh world that could destroy a person’s sense of well-being, perhaps by attempting to convince us that we are naïve because of our faith, unloved, or even unlovable. We need the Grace of prayer and the Sacraments to face these beasts so that we can remind ourselves that we are the Beloved of God.

The Angels
These are God’s messengers whose purpose is to carry out God’s Will that we should never be left thoroughly alone in Spirit. 



Now that we have come to an understanding of the meaning for these elements in the life of Christ, as well as in our own lives, we can return to the story with greater insight. Just what was Jesus doing out there in the desert those forty days, amidst beasts and angels?

He was absorbed in prayer, on an extended retreat before embarking upon His Public Life and Ministry. In this He shows us that Prayer is the first calling of the disciple. It is what empowers ministry; its Grace is what makes ministry God’s work, not my own. It precedes and forms the basis for the apostolate: the work of the Laity in the world, so we must be primarily people of prayer.

Today’s Gospel confirms that the devil will try to tempt us away from both prayer and charitable good works. He will encourage us to question the efficacy of prayer, and even the value of Faith. Then the devil will tempt us to waste these 40 days in the figurative desert of Lent, with its call to discipline and repentance. Yet prayer is the primary mode of repentance. It is our Noah’s Ark of protection from the flood of punishment due our sins. 

In the closing statement of today’s Gospel, Our Lord enjoins us to “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  This means that belief in the Gospel is central to our discipleship, but, as Jesus states it, repentance comes first. Repentance creates a renewed fidelity to our Covenant with God, a Covenant so important that God utters the word four times in our First Reading.

In this Reading, God speaks to Noah not simply about the Covenant He established with Abraham, but with the Covenant as it pertains to Noah himself. This is personal; this is new. The post-diluvian relationship that God and Noah will enjoy is based in obedience to God’s Will, not simply a nod to the ancient Covenant.

This same reality is offered to us. In our Lenten — and post-Lenten — experience God will renew and strengthen His Covenant with us, so that our experience will not be just our little share in a Faith that belongs essentially to the ages, but, as was true for Noah, a Faith that is personal as well as communal, especially if we can endure the 40 days ahead washed clean with a flood of Grace.

If we feel that Lenten penances and disciplines are too much: treading water in a flood of other activity… look to what lies ahead: God promised He would not let us drown in our sin, if we choose to repent. So, give Lent a good try, with real effort. God will renew His Covenant with us through 
+ our repentant spirits
+ our disciplined behaviors
+ our good works and sacrifices

Just as He did for Noah, when He asked him to build the Ark, God will ask something of us that He asks of no one else, and it will be the means of our salvation. So, a few questions arise here: What will be your Ark that will help you to survive the flood of life’s temptations? Of what will you construct it?
+ prayer, fasting, charity toward the poor?
+ giving up this or that behavior which separates me from God’s Will for my life… and creates hurt or sorrow to the lives of others?
+ intensifying the practice of my faith?

Then… what will you take with you on this Lenten Ark, for these forty days to confirm you in the Faith…
+ a favorite prayer book?
+ a weekday Mass?
+ Stations of the Cross? 

… and what might you leave behind? 
+ selfishness?
+ uncharity?
+ bad habits?
+ an inclination to sin?

Lent can be challenging, but ultimately renewing. Use this time wisely and creatively and the Resurrection story of Easter morning will have a newer, deeper meaning, and bring new cause for joy in our lives.