FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, YR C
Deut. 26:4-10; Ps 91
Rom. 10:8-13; Lk 4:1-13
RESPONDING TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
With his life and leadership of God’s people coming to an end, Moses gives them final instructions as they get closer to the promised land. In these instructions, he points out to them ways by which they will enjoy this gift of God, the land and its resources. His instructions bother on Sacrifice, Generosity and Prayer.
Like the children of Israel, we are also on a spiritual journey this Lent and therefore reflect on these words of Moses to guide us also.
First, having settled in the land, the people were to cultivate it. The Israelites were to bring the first fruit of their produce or labour to the house of God for sacrifice. This was to be the first most significant activity they were to perform. This has great significance because it brings to an end the fulfilment of God’s promises to his people. Also, for the Jews to bring a portion of what they have was to show that all they have belong to God. It is an acknowledgement of God’s ownership and providence.
Lent offers us also the opportunity to offer the Lord our first fruits. Our souls are the first fruits. We undertake penitential practices to return to the Lord. We acknowledge that the Lord has redeemed us by the death of Jesus. We read from the scriptures that, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish” (1Peter 1:18-19). The Lenten season therefore offers us the opportunity to reconnect with God who has bought us with the life of his son. To make sacrifices of various kinds of fasting and abstinence is to break the hold and the lure of this world on our souls and entrust it to God. In the various things we fast from in Lent, we give ourselves to God who owns our souls.
Secondly, when they bring the sacrifice of the first fruits to the priests, they offer a worship and prayer of thanksgiving. In this prayer, they recognise God’s providence and goodness towards them in their 400 years in Egypt and liberation. It is prayer that reminds them never to forget what the Lord has done for them and the need for them to continue to depend on him.
We too pray to God in this season appreciating all that the Lord has done for us and plead the help of his grace to serve him better in obeying his word and in serving our brothers and sisters. Prayer becomes a means by which we communicate with God and by which we grow in our relationship with him. In prayer, we attest to God’s help in the past and are sure of his help for us even now.
Thirdly, in the prayer of the people they recall that,
“A wandering Aramean was my ancestor;… When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut 26:5-9).
This was an acknowledgement of their humble beginnings. It is a fact they should never forget. It is one we should also never forget. We should always recognize our nothingness. Our incapability to help ourselves but for the grace of God. It is Jesus who saves us and we are nothing without him.
Jacob, their father was a wondering man who had nothing. He was a semi-nomad whom God blessed. But aren’t we all? We too had been lost but God saved us. Some had lost hope but Jesus came to their help.
It is from this level of nothingness and humility that we reach out to those who need help. This season is a time when we reach out to those who lack. We reach out in generosity to others in order to put a smile on their faces and ease their burdens a little; but the greatest act of generosity is to tell them about Jesus and his Love for mankind.
God bless you.
BY Rev Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
