LENT I [A] Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11

Today we begin the first Sunday in the season of Lent. Lent is a season of penance that has been set apart by the Catholic Church in memory of the forty days fast of Our Lord Jesus in the desert.

The first reading from the book of Genesis (Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7) describes the “Original Temptation” – “You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil.”  It tells us that Adam and Eve were given the possibility of making a choice. The fundamental choice was to live for God, dependent upon and obedient to His will, or to say no to God. Like Adam and Eve, we are all tempted to put ourselves in God’s place. Consequently, we resent every limit on our freedom, and we don’t want to be held responsible for the consequences of our choices, as the first parents tried to pass the blame on each other and the snake.

Paul reminds us of the social consequences of sin. Sin is never a private affair, affecting only myself. When we sin, all our relationships are affected: our relationship with our inner self, our relationships with our brothers and sisters, our relationship with our God and our relationship with nature and the world in which we live.

Today’s Gospel gives an account of the temptations Jesus endured. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was put to severe temptations.  The message of lent given to us from the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is that we fight against three basic evil natures in us:  temptation to amass material possession, temptation to gain popularity through unfair means, temptation to get power at the cost of others. If we are able to resist them in little measures we will be able to contribute to the alleviation of suffering and injustice that prevail today.

Originally, Lent was the season when those about to be baptized repented of their sins and sought to know the Lord Jesus more intimately. Then it became a season for the baptized to do the same. We are challenged to die to sin so that we may rise again to the new life in Christ.

There is an Irish island called Lough Derg, which is also known as St. Patrick’s Purgatory, which purportedly was visited by St. Patrick in the 5th century. The saint came in order to spend a penitential retreat of forty days and forty nights. And from the Middle Ages to the present day, pilgrims have journeyed there, in imitation of Patrick, to do penance and to pray. When the retreatants arrive, they are instructed immediately to take off their shoes and socks, and they endure the three-day process barefoot, regardless of the weather. That first day, they fast (eating nothing but dry bread and a soup composed of hot water and pepper), and they move through a series of prayers and spiritual exercises. The first night, they are compelled to stay awake, fasting from sleep. If someone dozes off, his fellow pilgrims are expected to wake him up. The following day, they continue with their fast and their exercises, but they are allowed to sleep that night. The third day involves still more prayer and culminates with confession and Mass. After the liturgy, the pilgrims put their shoes back on and are ferried across to the mainland. Those who come to Lough Derg take their spiritual lives with utter seriousness, and that is precisely why they are willing to endure hardship – even imposing it on themselves – in order to deepen their communion with God. They know that there are certain tendencies within their bodies and souls that are preventing the achievement of full friendship with God and therefore they seek, quite sensibly, to discipline themselves.

St. John Henry Newman commented that the ascetical principle is basic to a healthy Christianity. He meant that Christians, at their best, understand that our sinful nature has to be chastised, disciplined, and rightly ordered. When the ascetical instinct disappears (as it has in much of Western Christianity), the spiritual life rapidly becomes superficial and attenuated, devolving into an easy “I’m okay and you’re okay” attitude. The whole point of the Christian life is to find joy, but the attainment of true joy comes, in a sinful world, at the cost of some suffering.

As we delve deeper into the season of lent let’s recognize our need to accept personal suffering and inconveniences to strengthen us in our spiritual footing and the need of grace to fight the temptations that come from within and the testing that comes from outside of us. And let’s earnestly pray the prayer Jesus taught us:  “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

O T VI [A]: Sir 15:15-20, I Cor 2:6-10, Mt 5:17-37

Two great men were born in the year 1564 A.D. One was Shakespeare, who lived to the age of fifty-two and became the greatest dramatist of the English language. The other, Christopher Marlow, perished midway in his life at the age of twenty-nine, because of his anger. Christopher wrote some of the best tragical plays at a very young age. One of his best plays is The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus. Had he lived longer he probably would have become greater than Shakespeare. He was a man given to anger. He picked up a quarrel with a man in a tavern. That man challenged him to a sword fight unto death. They both fought and Christopher was mortally wounded and later succumbed to his injuries. A great promise was terminated because of anger. In the gospel reading today Jesus equates anger with physical murder. Whoever is angry with brother will be liable to judgment just the way a murderer will be.  We have to control our anger because it is the rawest, strongest and most destructive of human emotions.

The first reading, from Sirach, contains the clearest statement in the Old Testament concerning the God-given freedom of the human will and exonerating God from all responsibility for evil in the world. “If you choose, you can keep the commandments . . . before you, are life and death, whichever you choose shall be given you.” 

For the Israelites, the Torah was not a set of laws, but the instructions or teachings intended to promote the holiness and wholeness of each believer. It was the revealed will of a caring God for His Chosen People, those with whom He had made His covenant.

In today’s Gospel, while challenging his disciples to live a life of justice and righteousness which would exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus sets forth his own position with regard to the Law given through Moses by providing a new interpretation and meaning for the old laws. He says that he did not come to destroy the Torah but to bring it to perfection by bringing out its inner meaning, because Jesus Himself is the ultimate Self-revelation of God, the Lawgiver. Jesus also explains the real meaning of three Mosaic laws concerning murder, adultery and false oaths.

The world judges a man from his deeds. But Jesus judges a man from his thoughts. Jesus taught that thoughts are as important as deeds. By Jesus’ standards a man is not a good man until he never even desires to do a forbidden thing.

Jesus is very practical about what can corrupt our hearts. He identifies anger, lust, and dishonesty as hidden viruses capable of damaging, and even destroying our integrity, our very souls. But if we are honest with ourselves, all of us will have to admit that we struggle with temptation in each of these areas.

So what are we to do? Are we simply doomed? No.

Jesus comes with the medicine of his grace to cure us. Jesus looks to the heart, not just to appearances; he knows our deepest motivations and desires. We just have to give him the chance.

Later in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 15:18), Jesus explains that, "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man."

If we want to know the true condition of our hearts, of our friendship with Christ, all we have to do is reflect seriously about our words and the quality of our conversations. For a true, faithful citizen of Christ's Kingdom, the attitudes and desires of the heart must also be in harmony with God's plan for our lives. When we speak, are we usually building others up, or tearing them down? Do we engage in crude and degrading humor? Do we join in gossip sessions and unnecessarily spread criticisms or even lies?

Do we use our words to encourage, enlighten, and edify, or are we constantly nagging, nitpicking, and belittling?

The fuller our hearts are with God and the experience of his love, the more our words will reflect his mercy, goodness, and his wisdom.

The standard Jesus demands from us is not only our deeds but also our thoughts should be pure. So Jesus forbids forever the anger which broods, the anger which will not forget, the anger which refuses to be pacified, the anger which seeks revenge. When selfish anger boils up in our hearts, we don't have to let it rule our lives - we can turn to Christ on the cross and learn from him how to turn the other cheek.

When a lustful thought flashes through our minds, we don't have to accept it - we can reject it and turn to Jesus and Mary instead.

When we are tempted to get ahead by compromising the truth, we can hold our tongues and cling to Sirach's promise:  "Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him."

Jesus wants us to choose life, a fulfilling life here on earth and eternal life with him in Heaven, by choosing to reject temptation and follow him.

As we continue with this Mass, in which Jesus will give us, yet again, undeniable evidence of his unconditional love for each one of us, let's ask for the grace we need to make the right choices every day, thereby deepening our virtues rather than just externally comply with the laws like the Scribes and the Pharisees.