Genesis 9:8-15
God Establishes his covenant with Noah after the 40 Days of rain.
“And God spake unto Noah, and unto his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you: And with every living creature that is with you…"
Mark 1:9-15
Jesus is baptized by John, The Holy Trinity manifests itself on earth for the first time, God directly calls Jesus his son, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness by Satan for 40 days, The Angels minister to Jesus.
“And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
We are all on a journey towards eternal life, and Lent is but a small-scale journey compared to that of the journey of life, but importantly, Lent is the special time where we prepare for the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Those forty-day periods which I have indicated above, and also the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering the desert, are special preparation periods. During Lent, we prepare 40 days to then celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. We are all called to renew our baptismal promises during this time. Last year during this time we saw churches beginning to close amid nationwide lockdown orders, and many of us did not enter into Lent or go to mass. Many people throughout the world are still experiencing lockdowns and it’s sad that the mystical body of Christ is separated from receiving the sacraments. Maybe you find yourself a little afraid to go back to church, but I’m praying for you to make that decision to go and receive the sacraments again. When we were newborns, our parents brought us to the church and they were asked questions by the priest on your behalf, questions like, what do you desire for your children? Do you reject Satan? Do you reject sin? Do you believe in God, the father of Heaven and Earth? The most common answers are to receive, baptism, faith, eternal life, entrance into the church, with the most common being baptism. The three other responses happen as a result of baptism. Through baptism we are given faith and we allow God into our soul and receive his sanctifying grace. Through baptism, we are made members of Christ’s church as well as his mystical body. Jesus’ body is like a vine, and we are the branches of the vine, we need the vine, without it we cannot survive. Baptism is also the doorway into the entire sacramental life of the church, participating in the sacraments such as confirmation, holy communion, penance, reconciliation and the sacrament of matrimony (many marriages are on hold because of the COVID-19 lockdowns).
We celebrate the Israelites escape from Egypt during Passover, and I think we all know, it wasn’t a straight trip from there to the promised land like it was supposed be and instead, it lasted 40 years because of all their stubbornness and disobedience towards God along the way, and perhaps, this is our journey too. Lent reminds us of the 40 days and 40 nights struggles. Think about the Holy Spirit during the time of Lent like a Sycle, like the one used on a farm, cutting away at the things that God knows are not good for you, the sins, the things that are harmful to our soul. Have you ever had a serious conversation with God about your soul? Questions like, “What does my life look like, God?” A lot of times our prayers are that of supplication, meaning asking God for something, to help someone who needs it, or for someone to get over an addiction etc. “Where do you see me, Lord?” Many of us waste time in useless and non-productive conversation with God. I am not saying this is always the case, but do we ever just get to it? Lent is the time you let the Holy Spirit start digging deeper into you, the time you come face to face with Jesus, and know that he has a gentle face, not a harsh one.
How about, “What does my life look like, Jesus? If someone were to look at your life from the outside, would it resemble the life of Jesus Christ? Some good things to measure our life against are the beatitudes. Matthew, Chapter 5 Verses 1-10, look at your life up against the beatitudes, are you really living a life of Christ if you were to honestly assess your soul? Where are you and what obstacles are in the way that are preventing you from embracing the Lord. What weeds are in your garden that need to be pruned, taken out, cut down, use the sickle in your heart, the holy spirit that cuts away from you from that which does not belong. Remember, repentance is necessary, not optional for the Christian, it is a necessary ingredient for the Christian life, and it takes the grace of God within us to recognize our frailty and cry out to Jesus the savior of mankind, and through repentance we recognize that there is a God, and that I am not him, I am a creature, and without him the creature vanishes. We need the creator of all, we all need to rely on him. Saint Francis, during his dialogue with Jesus in his prayers would ask, “Who are you Lord God, and who am I?” And his answer is “A useless worm of a servant.” St. Francis recognizes his need and dependence on God for everything, his absolute and unconditional need for God in all things. Do we recognize that without him we are spiritually bankrupt? We could have all the money and comfort in the world but without God we’re dried up, we need a life with God in it. Some of the happiest people are those who don’t have very much but they have God, they have the peace of Christ in their souls. Our thirst for God is made manifest through our repentances, and know that Christ thirsts for our love too, he wants to feel from you, his love created us and sustains us, and it continually sanctifies us. We must cultivate the attitude of hatred for sin and everything sin stands for, all the obstacles that keep us from God we should abhor them, and when we come before God let’s be honest, what is keeping you, from you?
What are we reading on the internet or tv? Is it creating holiness or driving us away from God? There is a saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” If we put garbage into our senses-our eyes and ears, and also eating garbage, it’s going to be garbage out, but if we put good things into our soul, it’s going to produce a life of holiness. Are we forming our consciousness in the truth, or are we deforming our conspicuousness by the newest trends of the culture and whatever comes by? When someone is involved so much in social media, it becomes their reality, and they can’t get passed it. Imagine people from the 1920’s and 1930’s seeing us now and asking, “Why is everybody look at their hands all the time?” Walking passed people and checking our messages, it’s horrible! And we are all guilty of it. Do we recognize the reality right in front of us, or are we being formed by the media, which de-sensitizes us and clouds our judgement and basically says that anything goes!? And when we don’t have the gospel first, there is no moral compass or standard any longer, that’s why need the sacred words of scripture to be our compass, not the daily news on tv or media, let God’s word guide you, sin is the only obstacle that keeps you from perceiving the truth, like a fog in front of us, Christians throughout the ages has given witness to this and that repentance paves the way for faith, believing without seeing, and hearing without seeing and obedience. Every time you pray, first ask for repentance, whether it be in mass, at home, on vacation, or reading the bible, ask God firstly for the grace of repentance, that we might clearly see and might be able to perceive him. I seriously doubt when we watch tv or go on social media we ask for the grace for repentance. Think also not about just what you want to perceive, but what God wants us to perceive, he wants us to be free, he wants us to love him back in return, to love our neighbors too. As we celebrate this lent, allow the sickle of the Holy Spirit to cut out that stuff that keeps you from perceiving God .