Second Sunday of Lent

 

 Reading I

 

Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

 

 

God put Abraham to the test.

 

He called to him, “Abraham!”

 

“Here I am!” he replied.

 

Then God said:

 

“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,

 

and go to the land of Moriah.

 

There you shall offer him up as a holocaust

 

on a height that I will point out to you.”

 

 

When they came to the place of which God had told him,

 

Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.

 

Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

 

But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven,

 

“Abraham, Abraham!”

 

“Here I am!” he answered.

 

“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger.

 

“Do not do the least thing to him.

 

I know now how devoted you are to God,

 

since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.”

 

As Abraham looked about,

 

he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.

 

So he went and took the ram

 

and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

 

 

Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:

 

“I swear by myself, declares the LORD,

 

that because you acted as you did

 

in not withholding from me your beloved son,

 

I will bless you abundantly

 

and make your descendants as countless

 

as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;

 

your descendants shall take possession

 

of the gates of their enemies,

 

and in your descendants all the nations of the earth

 

shall find blessing—

 

all this because you obeyed my command.”

 

 

Responsorial Psalm

 

116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

 

R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

 

I believed, even when I said,

 

    “I am greatly afflicted.”

 

Precious in the eyes of the LORD

 

    is the death of his faithful ones.

 

R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

 

O LORD, I am your servant;

 

    I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;

 

    you have loosed my bonds.

 

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,

 

    and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

 

R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

 

My vows to the LORD I will pay

 

    in the presence of all his people,

 

In the courts of the house of the LORD,

 

    in your midst, O Jerusalem.

 

R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

 

 

Reading II

 

Rom 8:31b-34

 

Brothers and sisters:

 

If God is for us, who can be against us?

 

He who did not spare his own Son

 

but handed him over for us all,

 

how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

 

 

Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?

 

It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?

 

Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—

 

who also is at the right hand of God,

 

who indeed intercedes for us.

 

 

Verse Before the Gospel

 

Cf. Mt 17:5

 

From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:

 

This is my beloved Son, listen to him.

 

 

Gospel

 

Mk 9:2-10

 

Jesus took Peter, James, and John

 

and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.

 

And he was transfigured before them,

 

and his clothes became dazzling white,

 

such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

 

Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,

 

and they were conversing with Jesus.

 

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,

 

“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!

 

Let us make three tents:

 

one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

 

He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.

 

Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;

 

from the cloud came a voice,

 

“This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him.”

 

Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone

 

but Jesus alone with them.

 

 

As they were coming down from the mountain,

 

he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,

 

except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

 

So they kept the matter to themselves,

 

questioning what rising from the dead meant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

 

In much the same way Abraham was put to the test by God we are confronted with tests throughout our lives that will shape and forms us. It can be argued that there really is no pass or fail regarding these but instead they are experiences that are gained which will serve to form us and strengthen us into a better Christian. Our relationship with God will also be affected; it hopefully being strengthened throughout the many processes. Some may ask if these tests originate from God or from some other source; maybe from an internal struggle between doing something we know is wrong and what we know is right. The answer to the question can be either one depending on the circumstances. Even though that is the case much time should not be placed on the question of the origin of the test but on enduring the test itself. Abraham may have known it was God who was testing Him but He certainly did not know why. Even when God revealed that Abraham had indeed passed the test and proved himself to be a devoted servant there is a startling question that still remained: “Why did God have to test Abraham in the first place if God would already know the end result and already had a plan for Abraham?” For an answer to that question we need to refer back to the opening sentence of this reflection and apply it to the situation: “We are confronted with tests throughout our lives that will shape and form us.”

 

 

Abraham was completely trusting in God and benefited from a close, intimate relationship with Him. He completely trusted in what God had to say to Him and followed Him without question. An open, trusting relationship with God will always produce good results. As long as we keep God central in our thoughts and our actions things will work out for the better instead of for the worse. Putting God first ensures that whatever we face we will overcome and we will be better off because of the experience. It is not hard to imagine what thoughts were going through Abraham’s mind as he slowly climbed the mountain to the place where he was to sacrifice his son. Human nature would all but insure that Abraham’s actions were filled with doubt and despair. There was also trust and obedience which then ultimately revealed love. Could we have done what Abraham had done? Only God knows the answer to that but we can be assured He would be there to guide us to the proper result because nothing evil comes from God; so it would be impossible for anything bad to result from the commands of God. Only good comes from God which does not include the innocent death of someone’s son by His hand.

 

 

This brings us to Divine Revelation and a precursor to The Crucifixion of Our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. The exchange between Abraham, Isaac, and God sets a threshold that those of us could never cross yet God did: Would we voluntarily give our son up to death so that others may be saved? Thankfully God would never expect us to do so yet THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DID. God offered His only Son and His only Son accepted what His Father wanted Him to do. Isaac was an early revelation of the Crucified Christ carrying His own cross to be a holocaust offering for all of our sins. Us mentally failing the test that Abraham and God had passed should strengthen our faith and love in Him who is above all things. The failure of the test actually makes us pass it if we enter into relationship with God and love Him even more as a result.

 

 

This is one of the many tests that we are being set up for during The Season of Lent. The messages from these tests are designed to strengthen us and deepen our faith. Through the process of the testing the love that God has for us will be made all the more clear. It has been mentioned in previous reflections how the most important relationship we should have in our lives is our relationship with God. All others relationships, built on this God foundation, will benefit and become Godlike as a result with love as the mitigating force. To know God is to love God. In order for us to love God we have to delve into a relationship with Him. This test as presented in the First Reading today centers around us recognizing that, if tested in the way Abraham was, we would fail. In comparison God did not fail the test and gave His Only Son in sacrifice for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. This cannot be overstated or easily dismissed. GOD GAVE US EVERYTHING so that we can be healed. He gets nothing out of this while we get everything. Whatever we have done and whatever we will do there will always be an opportunity of forgiveness and healing. God made sure of that.

 

We are so broken and corrupted that the impact on Jesus’ sacrifice can be minimized very easily. Like a bright shiny object distracts an animal so does sin and temptation distract us from the basic truths that are laid before us. Wrecked by sin and the exercising of our free will we choose to act like gods ourselves instead of recognizing the True God. We are attracted to evil and the allures of the flesh. The good news is that Jesus is here to help us in that respect. Jesus, possessing a human nature, knows the struggles that we go through and the temptations that we face. He offers us comfort and aid in our most difficult circumstances where we can overcome what is facing us. Even those who were closest to Jesus and were witnesses to His divinity had their doubts. In response Jesus did not rebuke them but instead gave them what they needed to fortify their faith even further. The doubts that they possessed, even though they knew Jesus intimately, gives us all encouragement. If they had doubts then it is acceptable and natural for us to be challenged with our own doubts. It is okay to be challenged and to have doubts. Jesus has the solutions to these. We just have to be willing to put in the work. Jesus shows the way and we do the work. When we need a little help He is also there to assist in the heavy living. We are never really alone in this area. We are never really alone in our lives. Christ is with us. We can have no greater friend.

 

Deacon Tom

 

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

 Would we be able to sacrifice our precious child to God if He so requested it? In reality, He would never require this but, through the First Reading in Sacred Scripture today, He was making a point. Abraham willingly brought Isaac forward to be the Sacrificial Lamp to demonstrate his love and obedience to God. At the last moment, God then had him replace Isaac with a ram. His love for us is this way that He would never request that which would cause us unnecessary pain and torment. God loves all of us and we are His children. He only wants the best for us and to experience the joy of an intimate relationship with Him. Yet, it is  He that has demonstrated that He indeed loves us more than we love Him. He gave up His beloved son to suffering and death so that we may obtain eternal life. It was a sacrifice that He willingly made for us. We are encouraged to place ourselves in the character of Abraham: Could we ever rise to the request of God to offer to Him what He offered to us? Again, the answer would be no and that is the point of the entire exercise. God did for us out of love for us what we could never do in return. It is through that knowledge that we should approach our relationship with Him. He is all giving and loving while we will naturally show restraint in our reverence to Him.

 

Why are we so afraid to surrender to God’s Will? It is partly because of Original Sin and our own pride that causes us to not fully commit to God. There will always be some level of doubt which will leave us lacking in our relationship with Him. But, where there is failure there is also an opportunity. As Christians, we are encouraged to recognize our shortcomings in order to overcome them. We should approach these faults by embracing them and contemplating them in relation to our overall relationship with God. Acknowledging where we fall short then can create an opportunity for us to improve on the areas necessary to better ourselves and strengthen our faith in God. Wherever we find ourselves in our life at this present moment, there is always room for improvement and growth. Concentrating on the growth opens a doorway to further knowledge and understanding of Him who created us. The goal, though maybe not obtainable until our death, is perfection in our relationship with God.

 

During this Season of Lent, when our faults are recognized, it is spiritually healthy to feel unworthy and downtrodden. This is part of surrendering to God. Jesus then can more readily enter into our hearts and begin the process of healing. In the beginning, there will be some sort of pain but it can be a good pain that indicates that we are healing. No healing be it physical, mental, or spiritual is without some sort of pain. It is then we unite ourselves with the Crucified Christ and understand the pain He experienced for us and us alone. God gave us His only beloved son as a testament to what He was willing to do for us. Surrendering ourselves to Him in much the same way can bring about a new chapter in our relationship with God. It can be viewed as a mutual suffering where we become bonded with Him who created us and longs for our redemption.

 

Paul reminds us that if God is with us who can be against us? The relationship we have with God is established through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. With God committing this act for us is a testament to what He is willing to do for us to insure our happiness and joy. There is nothing that He will not do for us. In a world of selfishness and self-centeredness, this act by God raises us all above that into a new way of living. Living our lives through the example of this sacrifice glorifies Jesus Christ. It also glorifies us as His children. There is no exemption from this. As long as God is recognized and Jesus’ death embraced, we are naturally transformed by these events into something more amazing then we could ever contemplate. An act of acceptance is all that remains to begin a process of perfection through the Love of God.

 

Deacon Tom

 

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

 

Let us give all to the Lord and receive from the Lord whatever He sends us.  That is the invitation of the readings today.  Give all and receive whatever is given back.

 

Although we want to give all the Lord, we often find that what the Lord wants of us seems more than we can give.  Most of us don’t have the faith that we see in Abraham in the first reading today from the Book of Genesis.  We should recognize that even the early Christian commentators on this passage found it difficult.  Would God actually ask a father to kill his own son?  This is God asking something immoral from a human.  The only answer to this difficulty is that God does not actually, in the end, ask Abraham to kill his own son.

 

The point of the account in Genesis is not about God asking Abraham to do something immoral, but about Abraham being willing always to do the will of God.  Abraham is called “our father in faith” because of his complete dedication to doing whatever God asks of him.

 

We may doubt at times what God might ask of us.  We find it difficult to accept the evil that is in our world, the bad things that happen to good people, the atrocities against people that go unpunished, the school shootings.  Always people ask how a good God can allow such evils to happen.  Yet such questions are truly not about God but about us humans with our sinfulness.  We are broken beings who don’t always choose what is right and good.  God gave us this freedom.  And we misuse our freedom.

 

The real question is this:  why don’t we humans always choose what is good and what is right?  The only answer is that something is broken in us.  What do we do about the brokenness?  All the laws in the world are unable to redeem us and to force us to choose good.  Only salvation from God brings about a true conversion.

 

And how difficult that is!  The Letter to the Romans, from which is taken the second reading today, speaks to this problem:  “Christ Jesus it is who died–or, rather, was raised—who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.”  The only way of redemption is to embrace the path of God, who gave His own Son for us.

 

The Gospel today, from Saint Mark, is the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Jesus is changed in front of his own followers, at least some of them, so that they can believe that He is truly God even when they see Him undergo crucifixion.  At the heart of our Christian believing is this deep awareness that Jesus is born for us, that Jesus dies for us and that Jesus has indeed been raised to life for us.  This is not a philosophical argument but an experienced reality of the early Christians that we later Christians have come to see as true because of their testimony.

 

So our readings today are clear:  seek to do the will of God in all things, believe that Christ died and was raised from the dead for us and see in the Transfiguration of Christ that we also can be transfigured by our complete belief in Him.  Let us give all to the Lord and receive from the Lord whatever He sends us.

 

Your brother in the Lord,

 

Abbot Philip

 

God did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all—this phrase from the second reading today, from the Letter to the Romans, is the theme for this Second Sunday of Lent. We can hardly imagine that a father would hand over his own son to die for others. We could not imagine that such a father would have any love for his own son. The accounts that we are given in Scripture sometimes leave us with enormous questions and enormous doubts that it can really be of God.

 

Yet, if we read the Scriptures with open hearts, we come to find the wisdom of God there. The first reading today, from the Book of Genesis, is the story of Abraham being will to kill his own son because he believed that God was asking that of him. Was Abraham wrong? Is it just a story? Is there any morality in it? All those kinds of questions are justified. Yet, we are called to read with faith and to understand the meaning of the story: a person must be willing to give up everything for God.

 

All of us know this. No one, not even the persons that we most love, should interfere in our relationship with the living God. Yet we must pray that those whom we love can walk with us in the relationship to God, rather than get in our way. Even when we know that a relationship is perhaps not the best for us in terms of our religious practice, we can still pray that it might change. That is what we do when we love others. But at the end, we must be willing to give up all for the sake of God.

 

The Gospel today, from Saint Mark, is about the Transfiguration of Christ. Always the first Sunday of Lent is about the temptations in the desert and the second is about the transfiguration. These two experiences go hand in hand, and in both of them there is an awareness of some special relationship with God, some special manifestation of spirit (even of Spirit) in which the people around Jesus feel and experience something divine.

 

Jesus is baptized and is willing to give everything for God. Jesus is tempted in the desert and is willing to give everything for God. Jesus is transfigured and the disciples with Him remember this experience after His suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus is willing to give all for God.

 

The challenge of the Gospel for us today is very clear and very stark: Am I willing to give everything for God? This is the challenge of Lent. We would like to give all for God and yet we don’t. Lent is to help us continue to move into action our deepest desire: all for God.

 

CHRIST IN THE DESERT MONASTERY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Sunday of Lent

 

Lectionary: 23

 

 

Reading I

 

Gn 9:8-15

 

God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

 

“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you

 

and your descendants after you

 

and with every living creature that was with you:

 

all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals

 

that were with you and came out of the ark.

 

I will establish my covenant with you,

 

that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed

 

by the waters of a flood;

 

there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”

 

God added:

 

“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,

 

of the covenant between me and you

 

and every living creature with you:

 

I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign

 

of the covenant between me and the earth.

 

When I bring clouds over the earth,

 

and the bow appears in the clouds,

 

I will recall the covenant I have made

 

between me and you and all living beings,

 

so that the waters shall never again become a flood

 

to destroy all mortal beings.”

 

 

 

 

Responsorial Psalm

 

Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

 

R. (cf. 10) Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

 

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;

 

    teach me your paths,

 

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

 

    for you are God my savior.

 

R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

 

Remember that your compassion, O LORD,

 

    and your love are from of old.

 

In your kindness remember me,

 

    because of your goodness, O LORD.

 

R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

 

Good and upright is the LORD,

 

    thus he shows sinners the way.

 

He guides the humble to justice,

 

    and he teaches the humble his way.

 

R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

 

 

 

 

Reading II

 

1 Pt 3:18-22

 

Beloved:

 

Christ suffered for sins once,

 

the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,

 

that he might lead you to God.

 

Put to death in the flesh,

 

he was brought to life in the Spirit.

 

In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison,

 

who had once been disobedient

 

while God patiently waited in the days of Noah

 

during the building of the ark,

 

in which a few persons, eight in all,

 

were saved through water.

 

This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.

 

It is not a removal of dirt from the body

 

but an appeal to God for a clear conscience,

 

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

 

who has gone into heaven

 

and is at the right hand of God,

 

with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

 

 

Verse Before the Gospel

 

Mt 4:4b

 

One does not live on bread alone,

 

but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

 

 

Gospel

 

Mk 1:12-15

 

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,

 

and he remained in the desert for forty days,

 

tempted by Satan.

 

He was among wild beasts,

 

and the angels ministered to him.

 

 

After John had been arrested,

 

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:

 

“This is the time of fulfillment.

 

The kingdom of God is at hand.

 

Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

 

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

 

Why did Jesus go off into the desert for forty days to be tempted by Satan? There really was no personal need for Him to do that since He is God and above all things. Satan had no power over Him and could not force Him to do anything. The reason Jesus went into the desert and was confronted by Satan is because He did it as an example for us to follow. He did it as an example of the Human Christ; the Christ that we are encouraged to encounter during The Season of Lent. Through His example it is revealed to us that Jesus feels everything that we feel. He understands our struggles, pain, and the divisions that we have within ourselves. He can relate completely to what we are experiencing even in the most challenging times in our lives. Not only does He feel what we feel but He does it because He wants to. It can be comforting to know that Jesus weeps for us and has complete empathy for what we go through in our lives. This understanding creates an opportunity for us to establish a strong relationship with Him. A friendship always grows stronger when something is experienced together. This is the same when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

 

Just as Jesus Christ voluntarily went out into the desert we are invited to journey out into our own spiritual desert during this Season of Lent. Through fasting, sacrifice, and meditating on our sinfulness we are able to unite ourselves to The Crucified Christ. As Christians suffering takes on a different perspective and is more than something to be avoided. It is actually something to be embraced and celebrated. The more that we suffer the closer we are able to get to Jesus Christ. Just as Christ suffered for us we can relate our suffering to Him and find relief in the fact that Jesus knows completely what we are going through. With that knowledge comes an opportunity where Jesus can take the burdens we are carrying from us. We share our burdens with Him and He shares His burdens with us. The experiences that we are going through bring ourselves into a deeper relationship with Jesus that could not be accomplished any other way. Arguably there is nothing more intense than shared suffering and Jesus Christ, through His suffering, brings this to perfection. We are encouraged to actively seek out this suffering and glorify in it when it comes with the understanding that it will end and a more powerful relationship with Jesus Christ will result; thus we becoming stronger in the process.

 

When the body is weakened through fasting and denying itself physical pleasures, the mind and the spirit naturally become stronger with the spirit gaining control over our thoughts. We then become more in tune with the spiritual world and Jesus Christ. Our spirituality can lift us above any type of suffering and bring us into a higher realm with our God. Suffering is a state of being which makes a Christian stronger and enables them to overcome all obstacles that separate ourselves from God. Jesus Christ becomes our greatest advocate in this area; serving as the perfect partner in all of our ordeals and whom we can trust to bring us to victory over them. This is why suffering should not be feared. Jesus Christ suffered and He conquered death. In comparison what do we have to fear if death itself has already been defeated by the one whom we have established a relationship with?

 

God does not lie. It is impossible for Him to do so. Throughout the existence of the universe He has made various covenants with us that built on each other to bring all of us and His creation back to perfection. It can be argued that the first was unwritten but came into being with the Creation of Man. We were created out of love to love and be loved. God will never cease from loving us. The second was with Noah and all his descendants which include us: never would the world be destroyed by water and through God there would always be an opportunity for rebirth and forgiveness. The Flood became the symbol of baptism and salvation. The third was through Abraham and the Revelation of God to the world. Through Abraham God a personal relationship with us which was established and through Abraham and his descendants. God was revealed to the world. Through Abraham the nation of Israel was established. God renewed this covenant through Moses and again through David. Finally, in this last age everything that came before, and everything that had been revealed has been brought to perfection through Jesus Christ. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Him dying on The Cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and the promise of eternal life marks the Final Covenant and defines everything that came before through its lense. All of creation, all that was, and all that will be needs to be viewed through Jesus Christ.

 

When Jesus died on The Cross it affected everything. He is present throughout eternity and so is the Crucifixion. That is why the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is viewed by Christians as the Cross of Christ. To understand creation, the universe, and ultimately God one must know Jesus Christ first. One of the first steps in this relationship is to get to know the Human Christ who is the Suffering Christ. This is the overarching theme of Lent: There is suffering in the world, Christ suffered for us, we suffer, and we become closer to Jesus as a result of the suffering. When we suffer Christ suffers. When Christ suffers we suffer. Through suffering we become closer to Jesus and we become stronger. When the suffering is endured and overcome then the Resurrected Christ is realized. Just like the storm which brings rain and fruit to the vine so will our suffering produce fruit and a rich harvest. With this in mind it can be expected that Lent, with its suffering theme, will bring out the biggest of harvests.

 

Deacon Tom

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 

As the earth was cleansed in the waters of the flood, so were we cleansed of Original Sin through our baptism and were claimed by Christ. We became new creations and our birthright as Children of God was recognized. During this Season of Lent, we are encouraged to meditate on this fact more closely and ask ourselves how we should let this knowledge influence our spiritual life. Recognizing our special status enables us to build on a foundation of faith, hope, and love that has been preconfigured by God through Jesus Christ. This should be viewed  as a wonderful opportunity to structure our lives around our relationship with Jesus Christ and constantly make it better. Even more, going forward, we can be comforted with the fact that whenever we make a mistake or when the structure becomes weak, the foundation established through our baptism always remains strong as long as realize that it is in place.

 

Jesus’ words in the Gospel Reading today are strong and profound:

 

 “This is the time of fulfillment.

  The kingdom of God is at hand.

  Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

 

The time of fulfillment is the Word Becoming Flesh which is the Incarnation. The Kingdom of God is Jesus himself. His baptism by John had just occurred forty days prior and with it came the full revelation of the Holy Trinity. Now, in this passage, Jesus commences with His ministry, telling everyone in the world what we have to do. Included in this is repentance which was first proclaimed by John the Baptist. It means having true remorse for our past sins. With this remorse comes a commitment to change our past behaviors which threaten our relationship with Jesus. This repentance, for it to have its desired effect, must be continuous. There should be a constant examination of our conscious through prayer and reflection. Through repetition comes familiarity. Through familiarity comes a deeper relationship with Jesus. We can then see the difference between our old self and our new selves.

 

Every day brings a new opportunity through Jesus Christ. When we lay down to sleep He is with us. When we wake up He is there. He never abandons us. He died for us so that we might be led to God. It is a powerful affirmation for us that He who is everything gave everything for us and in return asked for nothing except our love. This is only the beginning of the relationship. Consider what more is in store for us if Jesus started this relationship between us and Him with His own death. This alone should make us feel special. Yet, there is so much more for us to receive if only we be receptive to it. A way to do this is by stripping ourselves down to the foundation that Jesus built for us and to not be afraid of rebuilding everything again. Thoughtful prayer, worship, and a dedication to Sacred Scripture will bring about an abundance of fruit. Acts of charity adds to the harvest. Through the Journey of Lent we will then encounter the Crucified Christ walking His Passion as we endure own. We can be encouraged by the fact of what lies beyond that: The Easter Joy and our redemption.

 

Deacon Tom

 

Just as Jesus entered the desert for a period of forty days, we have now followed into our own spiritual desert with the beginning of the Season of Lent. Here, amidst nothingness, we are encouraged to examine our faith and relationship with God all the while focusing on the Crucified Christ, the Christ who suffered, the Christ who was crucified, and the Christ who died so that all of us would obtain eternal life. That is Christ’s longing for us: salvation and happiness through a relationship with him.

 

We must take this opportunity to envelop ourselves within our faith and live our faith every moment of our existence. The world around us must be pushed away until only Christ remains. Then we can experience the true effect of his presence. He has always been with us; it is us in our supreme arrogance that has forgotten him. In the past, we have tried to convince ourselves  that happiness can be achieved without him. This has left us empty and suffering; truly in a hopeless desert. But the desert we seek is different. It is one which offers an oasis of eternal water and eternal life. This we will only have to seek. And as long as we seek it, it will definitely be found

Through the sufferings of the Great Flood, God offered all of us a Covenant of forgiveness and love. Water was used as a symbol of cleansing and our own baptism. We are encouraged to meditate on this during Lent: God promises us forgiveness and love, not destruction. He has not revealed himself so as to destroy us but to rebuild us in his own image with a revelation of our birthright: Children of God.

 

Those who rebuked God in their ignorance suffered greatly just as many of us have when we turned away from God. Yet, even those who apparently had no chance at salvation and were representative of evil were welcomed into the Kingdom of God through the sufferings and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The First Letter of Peter offers an amazing description of how Christ descended into Hell to give instruction and salvation to all those who came before with those who perished in the flood being specified directly. Each of us is as important to God and can look forward to help and reassurance from him; if only we accept what he is offering and take that first step into the desert to truly find him as he calls to us.

 

In our desert we must turn to prayer, fasting, and acts of charity to understand our relationship with Christ. Through this understanding we can experience his love. The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is essential to this understanding. We must walk the Passion with him; taking up our own crosses and walking beside him. To know him is to become like him in our sufferings and acts of love. We suffer by fasting and going without while we perform Acts of Charity to express love. We then naturally remove all the clutter and obstacles that we have put in our lives which has blurred the true presence of Christ.

 

Let us go forward together, onward to Calvary. We are all united in the suffering as one community. Because of this, we must help each other in the very same way. Unified suffering creates unified love.

 

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

 

Part of Lent is deepening our awareness that we people who have a Covenant with the Living God.  We are not just people who believe in God.  We are a people sought out by God, a people formed by God and a people with a special love relationship with God.  Only when we are deeply aware of His love for us can we truly begin to do penance in a Christian way.

 

The first reading today is from the Book of Genesis and recounts the establishment of the Covenant with Noah and his descendants.  Many times in the history of the Chosen People, God has made Covenants.  These Covenants mark important events in the life of the Chosen People and are a sign of God’s choosing this people and remaining faithful to His choice.  What happens always is that God remains faithful to the Covenant and we do not.  Yet we are called to look back at these Covenants and to let God change our faithlessness to faithfulness.

 

The second reading today is from the First Letter of Peter.  This portion of the letter refers us once again to the Covenant with Noah and explains even more clearly that we must return to faithfulness.  The letter points out that it is Christ who has died for our sins and that we cannot think that the death of Christ was simply a removal of dirt from the body.  Rather the death of Christ our consciences are made clean by our faith in Him.  Thus we are invited to choose Jesus Christ once again in this time of Lent and know that He is our salvation.

 

The Gospel of this First Sunday of Lent is always the Gospel of Christ in the Desert, the temptations of Christ fasting for forty days.  The account this year comes from the Gospel of Mark and is very, very short.  Saint Mark simply tells us that Jesus was in the desert forty days and was tempted and that angels ministered to Him.  When Jesus leaves the desert, he begins His ministry of preaching.  He preaches repentance and belief in the Good News of God.

 

We are invited to see that Lent is a time of Good News of God.  Lent is a time to believe more deeply in this God who loves us and comes to save us in every situation.  Lent is a time to listen attentively to the Word of God and to meditate on what this Word means in our lives.  We are invited to turn away from anything that misleads us and walk always the way of the Lord.

 

Your brother in the Lord,

 

Abbot Philip

 

Lent is a time of knowing more profoundly God’s love for us. The purpose of any good works that we do in Lent is to open our hearts more completely to God’s love. Just as the Book of Genesis reminds us once more that we have a covenant with God and God has a covenant with us, so also today’s Gospel recalls that covenant between God and us. The Kingdom of God is the expression of this sacred covenant.

 

When today’s Gospel tells us to repent and believe in the gospel, we need to be aware that the phrase could not mean at all the written gospel, because it did not yet exist. When our Scriptures refer to the Gospel, it can be translated as the Good News. The good news is that God has chosen to send His only Son into the world so that we can have life through that Son. That is Good News.

 

God loves us. That is Good News. God forgives us. That is Good News. God invites us to share His life. That is Good News. No matter how often we refuse God’s invitation, He continues to invite us. That is good News. No matter how often we sin, God is willing to forgive us. That is Good News.

 

Lent is not about thinking we are bad and beating ourselves up. It is about know that God loves us and invites us to know the Good News and to live it. It is always invitation and never condemnation.

 

In Lent we are invited to do penance, to change our lives, to believe in the Good News. This can be and should an absolutely joyful experience because we know that we are preparing for the joy of celebrating Christ’s Resurrection.

 

Let us embrace the small discipline of Lent so that our hearts will rejoice even more as we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection at Easter, the great Passover, the great event of all history, which unites us to the Divine Love.

 

CHRIST IN THE DESERT MONASTERY