First Sunday of Lent Year C

We begin our Lenten journey in the wilderness. In the first reading Moses reminds the people of Israel of the story of how they became a mighty nation. He also tells of their years of slavery in Egypt, and how the Lord heard their cry. God’s people were led through many trials in the desert to the Promised Land.

The psalm is a song full of confidence in the power of God to help us endure the difficulties of life. We can imagine Jesus taking comfort from praying this psalm when he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And yet it is a verse from this very same psalm that the tempter in the desert uses to test Jesus’ trust in God. The psalm reminds us that God is always with us, whatever trials we may face.

Luke’s Gospel of testing in the wilderness sees Jesus being tempted to use his divinity for his own needs and of the possibility of seizing earthly power comes from centering your life on God.

The second reading reminds us of this teaching, and tells us that the Word of God is very close to us.  It is deep within our being for all who believe in the saving love of Christ. We are all equal in that love, and we are called to proclaim this message of love in our lives. When we call the Lord for help in our daily struggles, God will be with us.

Let us hold one another in prayer and pray for our small Christian communities to become contexts of growing in trust in God and deepening our prayer life.

This week in our families and small Christian communities we can take the symbol of a tree and use it in our SCC meeting. We can ask ourselves the following questions:

Where does this tree grow? Could Jesus have found such a tree in the wilderness? What does it reveal to us about God and creation? Think of the tree of the cross, think of life, do you find any connection with your environment? How can we as a family, small Christian community or parish community find God in creation?

Joy and Peace.

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