First Sunday of Lent: "he remained in the desert for forty days"

"The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him. (Cf. Mk. 1:12-13) At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him 'until an opportune time.' (Lk 4:13)" (CCC 438)

"The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror: he 'binds the strong man' to take back his plunder. (Cf. Ps 95:10; Mk 3:27) Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father." (CCC 539)

As a desert is a place we associate with thirst, a desire for the water to quench that need, so life becomes for us a desert when our longing for "something" remains unsatisfied after consuming things, people, money, drugs, alcohol or pornography.

Our experience of "longing" is quenched only by the One in whom we find the source of the waters of life-giving grace: the heavenly Father in Christ who gives the Holy Spirit.

Longing for something? Maybe it's God.

((((..))))

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the First Sunday of Lent.

(Art: Duccio - The Temptation on the Mount.jpgTemptation of Christ (The Temptation on the Mount). Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Tempera on wood, 214 x 412 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena.)

((((..)))) Request for prayers

A special intention.

Thank you.

Liturgy is "Given"

"Liturgy thus should be considered a treasure 'given' to the Church, not created by it. The fact of the steady growth of liturgical traditions along its bi-millennial history, and the surprisingly harmonious and natural way in which it has happened, is proof of the work of the Holy Spirit and the surpassing nobility of its contents. It is like a tree, which continues to grow, at times shedding its leaves, at other times being pruned to become stronger and straighter, but always remaining the same tree. Sacred Liturgy has undergone a similar process of growth but never a new beginning, right from the earliest times even until now — and so it will be even in the future because it is Christ Himself who through His Mystical Body, the Church, has continued to exercise His priestly office."

-- Abp Malcolm Ranjith

For more, read Toward an Ars Celebrandi in Liturgy by Abp Ranjith. Photo from Rorate Caeli.

"Rend your hearts"

"Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: 'For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.' By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert." (CCC 540.)

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for Ash Wednesday.

(Photo by mictl: View of Euphrates River and Iraqi desert from Marine aircraft.)

"do not let your left hand know what your right is doing"

Lent is the time of returning:

"Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning"
-- Joel 2:12-18

Penance is the "path" of return and an opportunity to stay in silence: "do not blow a trumpet before you".

The grace of one's self-offering is increased when kept a "secret" shared only with the Beloved:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them"
-- Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

Grace abounds through penance which gives the reward of joy:

"But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

((((..)))) mcitl

(Photo by Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters: Cardinal Stafford receives ashes from Cardinal Sodano, Ash Wednesday, 2005, Rome.)

"They will hate you"

"You do not belong to the world." We are Christ's and Christ is God's.

"I have called you out of the world." The "calling out" of God's people is his flock, the Church, sacred to Him and holy for the sake of the salvation of the world.

Our Holy Father Benedict presses forward in his mission to "restore the sacred" in liturgy, the nexus between the sacredness of God in Christ, through the action of the Spirit in the Church, and life. The liturgy is sacred because our worship and meeting with the royal Priest: "The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty."

The spirit of worldly idolatry, of "hate", is cast out by the Holy One, surrounded by His holy people:

"Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, 'Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him.' "

The continuity of Vatican II, with the whole tradition of the sacred, has yet to be fully implemented. The agenda of the destroyers of the sacred, the haters of the Holy One, is now in danger. The worldly reaction of attack, slander and vituperation betray this worldly spirit and agenda.

The serenity and love of Christ, pinned upon the Cross by the hatred of the world, is with all of those who join spiritual forces to restore the sacred together with our Holy Father. "...his disciples asked him in private,' Why could we not drive the spirit out?' He said to them, 'This kind can only come out through prayer.'"

Let His holy Church grow in the holiness of the Spirit, crying out together with Him and all martyrs, "Father, into Thy Hands I commend my Spirit."

((((..)))) mcitl

(Photo by archsculpt of work by Lee Lawrie at Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer, NYC.)

Are you longing for something?

Maybe it's God!