LENT I (Gn 9:8-15; I Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15 )

St Mark tells us in today's Gospel that after Jesus was baptized, but before he began his years of public ministry, the Spirit "drove Jesus out into the desert," where he experienced temptation. Throughout the Bible, the desert is often referred to as a place of testing, where we experience our weakness and dependence on God. Water and food are hard to come by there, and the temperatures and emptiness are oppressive to both the body and the mind. The desert is a place where our illusions of self- sufficiency and comfort fade away. When we are in the desert, either literally or figuratively, we quickly realize that we need God. In other words, the desert is the opposite of the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden our first parents yielded to the temptation. And in the wilderness and on the cross Jesus defeated Satan and his temptation.

The Fathers of the Church explain that Jesus’ temptations after his baptism are described to teach us why we are tempted and to show us how we should conquer temptations. Baptism and Confirmation give us the weapons we need to do battle with Satan. God never tempts people, and never permits them to be tempted beyond their strength. But He does allow them to be tempted. Why? Here are the five reasons given by the Fathers: i) so that we can learn by experience that [with God] we are indeed stronger than the tempter; ii) to prevent us from becoming conceited over having God’s gifts; iii) that the devil may receive proof that we have completely renounced him; iv) that by the struggle we may become even stronger; and v) that we may realize how precious is the grace we have received.

No sooner was the glory of the honour of Baptism was over than there came the battle of the temptations in the life of Jesus. The great lesson it imparts is that we cannot miss temptations. In this life it is impossible to escape the assault of temptations. But, temptations are sent to us not to make us fall; they are sent to strengthen us. They are not meant for our ruin, but for our good. They are meant to be tests from which we emerge better warriors of God.

 As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West.  Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, “Are you trying to break this bridge?” “No,” the builder replied, “I’m trying to prove that the bridge won’t break.” — In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren’t designed to see if He would sin, but to prove that He wouldn’t. 

Mark says that the Angels were helping him. Jesus was not alone to fight his battle. Neither are we. We are always supported by God, guardian angel and men, when we begin our battle.

While God allows us to experience temptations, He never gives us more of these than we can bear. He will give us means to overcome our sinful habits with His guidance and grace through prayer.

Our temptation is actually a two-part process. First, there is the choice we make at the actual time of the temptation. Second, there is the preparation done before we are tempted. It is our failures in the preparation stage that make it more difficult for us to resist our temptations. Preparing ahead of time provides us the tools and strength to help us overcome the temptations. Some people fall into temptation, but a great many make plans for disaster ahead of time.

“Son,” ordered a father, “Don’t swim in that canal.”  “OK, Dad,” he answered. But he came home carrying a wet bathing suit that evening.  “Where have you been?” demanded the father.  “Swimming in the canal,” answered the boy. “Didn’t I tell you not to swim there?” asked the father.  “Yes, Sir,” answered the boy.  “Why did you?” he asked.  “Well, Dad,” he explained, “I had my bathing suit with me and I couldn’t resist the temptation.”  “Why did you take your bathing suit with you?” he questioned.  “So I’d be prepared to swim, in case I was tempted,” he replied.  — Too many of us expect to sin and do sin. The remedy for such dangerous action is found in Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Whenever we play with temptation, it is easy to drift into great danger.

Let us use Lent as a time to fight daily against the evil within us and around us: Repenting and fighting against temptations and evil is a lifetime’s task. Lent reminds us that we have to take up the fight each day against the evil within us and around us, and never give up. Jesus has given the assurance that the Holy Spirit is with us, empowering us, so that final victory will be ours through Jesus Christ who promised, “I will be with you till the end of times”.

 

OT VI [B]Lev 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31 – 11:1; Mk 1:40-45

At one time in his life, St. Francis of Assisi had a terrible fear of lepers.  Then one day when he was out for a ride, he heard the warning bell that lepers were required to ring in the Middle Ages.  When a leper emerged from a clump of trees, Francis saw that he was horribly disfigured.  Half of his nose had been eaten away; his hands were stubs without fingers and his lips were oozing white pus.  Instead of giving in to his fears, Francis slid down from his horse, ran forward, embraced the leper, and kissed him.  Francis’ life was never the same after that episode.  He had found a new relationship with God, a new sensitivity to others and a new energy for his ministry.

All three readings of today contain the Christian teaching on the need for social acceptance even when people are different from us. The first reading shows the ancient Jewish attitude toward leprosy and the rules for quarantining lepers. This provides a background for Jesus' healing of a leper.  According to the Mosaic Law leapers had to dress in torn clothes, keep their hair unkempt, and their life became a life-long period of mourning and estrangement.

Mark simply states "A leper came to him and pleaded on his knees." He saw that Jesus was his only hope, so he dared to break the rule forbidding going close to people. "Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him."

The leper had broken a rule; Jesus broke another. No Jew would have ever touched a leper. The mere touch rendered him legally impure. Jesus ignored the law. Then Jesus asked him to go to the priests to be instated into the society.

Man is not meant to be alone; he needs a family, he needs friends, he needs to belong to a community to be really happy. But when sin and selfishness enter man's life, they estrange man from God, they estrange man from his society and they estrange man from himself.

First of all, sin separates us from God.  When Adam ate the forbidden fruit and disobeyed the command of God, he was overtaken by fear; and he fled from the presence of God. He hid himself from the presence of God. When God called him, he said that he was hiding from Him. When Cain killed his brother, Abel God called him. Cain answered that he was hiding from God.

"In 1992, a Los Angeles County parking control officer came upon a brown El Dorado Cadillac illegally parked next to the curb on street-sweeping day.  The officer dutifully wrote out a ticket. Ignoring the man seated at the driver's wheel, the officer reached inside the open car window and placed the $30 citation on the dashboard.

The driver of the car made no excuses. No argument ensued-and with good reason. The driver of the car had been shot in the head ten to twelve hours before but was sitting up, stiff as a board, slumped slightly forward, with blood on his face. He was dead. The officer, preoccupied with ticket-writing, was unaware of anything out of the ordinary. He got back in his car and drove away.

 

Secondly, sin separates us from our brothers.  We read that when Cain slew his brother Abel, he "went on from the presence of the Lord" (Gen. 4:16) and he became a wandering nomad. Sin always drives a man out......out from his friends.

We should not let go any opportunity which will help to patch the strained relations with our brothers. It may demand   humility from our part, just like the leper who declared, "If you want to, you can cure me"; it may be a blow for our ego; it may be shedding the false accolades that we have been claiming.

Thirdly sin estranges us from ourselves.

'He that covers his sin shall not prosper.' (Ps. 32:1; Prov. 28:13)

The particular lesson that we should not miss from today's Gospel is that sin brings loneliness to man, and with loneliness, utter misery.

Jesus calls every one of us to demolish the walls that separate us from each other and to welcome the outcasts and the untouchables of society.   These include homosexuals, AIDS victims, alcoholics, the imprisoned, drug-addicts, and marginalized groups such as the divorced, the unmarried, single mothers, migrant workers, and the mentally ill. God’s loving hand must reach out to them through us.   Jesus wants us to touch their lives. Let us pass beyond the narrow circles of our friends and peers and try to relate to those who may be outside the bounds of propriety.  

This week we also begin Lenten season. During lent, we need to trust in the mercy of a forgiving God who assures us that our sins are forgiven and that we are clean of the leprosy of sin.  No matter how many sins we have committed or how badly we have behaved, we know God forgives us. The only condition required of us is that we ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart.  We need only kneel before him and ask him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” We are sure to hear his words of absolution, “Very well– your sins are forgiven, and you are clean” echoed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.