Cycle B - Year II:  

18 February 2024: First Sunday of Lent 

(Liturgical color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Genesis 9:8-15

Second Reading:   1 Peter 3:18-22

Gospel:  Please read  Mark 1:12-15 

The Lenten journey!

 The Church liturgy brings us a new phase in our journey of faith, the Season of Lent. It began on Ash Wednesday, February 14 this year, with the symbolic distribution of blessed ashes on our forehead, and will continue until the Mass of the Lord's Supper exclusive on Holy Thursday.

We will hear in the Gospel proclamation the shorter version of Jesus' forty days of fasting in the desert through St. Mark. There Jesus was "tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts and the angels ministered to Him." (Mk 1:13)   Unlike in the other synoptic Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, the version of St. Mark does not provide much details about this particular incident in our Lord's life.

Then Jesus emerges from His forty days of temptation in the desert to start His public ministry. Jesus began His own testimony in Galilee, His home district. At this time, also, John the Baptist was arrested by Roman authorities.  Mark's Gospel makes a connection between the arrest of John and the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.

Our Lord takes up from John's message of repentance and calls disciples to believe in the Gospel: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mk 1:15)  The word "gospel" here literally means "good news" that Jesus has come to deliver.

Let us reflect further on the word "repentance":

Repentance is preceded by an acknowledgment of our sinfulness. This is possible only by the virtue of humility to recognize that we are in need of God's mercy. Repentance forces us to look at ourselves for who we really are and who we choose to become in the light of God's own perfection. We are sinful and imperfect creatures. The admission of guilt is always a challenge so never easy to do, but when we do so, the experience is liberating. That is why, "to repent is to be free". After all, doesn't God already know our sins? We never fool our omniscient God, that is for sure.

Also, repentance frees us to receive God's grace to change our life's direction. Because when we are less full of ourselves and instead more filled with God's light and truth, then we begin to experience the freedom and glory of living as God's children. That is what our Lord Jesus Christ desires for each of us.

Let us pray that the spirit of repentance, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession, free us to love God more, especially during this our Lenten pilgrimage.

So we know:  During Lent the liturgical color of the priest's vestment and the altar cloth changes to violet, that is, the lighter shade of violet to distinguish it from the violet during the Season of Advent.

A blessed Lenten Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!