First Sunday of Lent Read more
First Sunday of Lent
First Reading
Genesis 9,8-15
God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons, 'I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come, and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth. And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.' 'And this', God said, 'is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things.
Psalmody
Psalm 24
Antiphon
Lord, remember your great mercy and love.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
I trust you, let me not be disappointed;
do not let my enemies triumph.
Those who hope in you shall not be disappointed,
but only those who wantonly break faith.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth and teach me;
for you are God my saviour.
In you I hope all day long
Remember your mercy, Lord.,
and the love you have shown of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me
because of your goodness, O Lord.
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path;
He teaches his ways to the poor.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and will.
Lord, for the sake of your name
forgive my guilt; for it is great.
If anyone fears the Lord
he will show him the path he should choose.
His soul shall live in happiness
and his children shall possess the land.
The Lord's friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
My eyes are always on the Lord;
for he rescues my feet from the snare.
Turn to me and have mercy
for I am lonely and poor.
Relieve the anguish of my heart
and set me free from my distress.
See my affliction and my toil
and take all my sins away.
See how many are my foes;
how violent their hatred for me.
Preserve my life and rescue me.
Do not disappoint me, you are my refuge.
May innocence and uprightness protect me :
for my hope is in you, O Lord.
Redeem Israel, O God,
from all its distress.
Second Reading
1 Peter 3,18-22
Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life, and, in the spirit, he went to preach to the spirits in prison. They refused to believe long ago, while God patiently waited to receive them, in Noah's time when the ark was being built. In it only a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. It is the baptism corresponding to this water which saves you now -- not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has entered heaven and is at God's right hand, with angels, ruling forces and powers subject to him.
Reading of the Gospel
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Mark 1,12-15
And at once the Spirit drove him into the desert and he remained there for forty days, and was put to the test by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels looked after him. After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Homily
Wednesday, we began Lent. The proposal is simple and direct, as it needs to penetrate into the many habits which always makes us the same as ourselves - incapable of humbling ourselves in a beginning which is always necessarily poor. Jesus confronted evil in the desert, "tempted by Satan," says Mark's Gospel. Thus, begins Jesus' agony, the struggle between life and death, between good and evil. Jesus' entire life was an agony, a struggle against Evil. Yes, this is why the time is fulfilled. The Lord, lover of people, comes to do battle against humanity's enemy, the one who sows division, who is behind the instinct of division and fight. This is why we need to convert to this struggle. Jesus asks us to change our life and join him, because he loves men and women and does not want our life to be lost; he wants it to be better and rescued from a sad mediocrity. Those who do not change maintain themselves always the same and end up, even without choosing to, giving themselves over to deaf and dumb idols.
Lent is an itinerary. Lent is an insistent invitation, reiterated and affectionate to people who unfortunately prefer fast, easy and immediate solutions and who do not choose to humble themselves in a discipline of the heart thinking to have all the options always available. In fact, only those are aware of the abyss of their heart and are scared of it, are ready to change. From this awareness starts the way of repentance. Lent is a time of forgiveness and joy because we find our heart again, listening to a father who loves and renews.
Lent is the pressing invitation to welcome the proposal of changing the world, beginning with our heart. Like sin and complicity with evil always have always an effect on others; similarly, when we change we will be building a world of peace. A good heart makes the life of so many good. Jesus' disciples are called to be caring people who take others' life to heart. This is what Jesus did first. Jesus urges us, "Believe the good news." Believing in the Gospel means trusting the love of the Father who embraces the son and clothes him with his forgiveness, without merits or atonement, just because he has come back to Him. Believing the Gospel means that this word is a way of peace and that the world can be changed. Believing the Gospel means believing in the power of prayer. In this time of Lent let us open the Gospel frequently, let us silence our reasoning in order to listen to the Word of God; let us implore God with the sick, the suffering, those struck by evil. Thus, we will rediscover anew God's covenant of love the Lord has established with us. God has granted the world to humanity, but he admonished them to respect human life, their blood, that no one live uninterested in another's life. God's commandment is against violence. The one who converts, who becomes peaceful, reconstructs this covenant. In the depths of the human heart there is a desire for peace. Lent is the opportune time to find again within one's own heart and that of one's neighbour that rainbow of peace, so that the deluge of violence may end. And may many, who scrutinize heaven imploring help and protection, who ask for peace and hope, be able to see that rainbow that start from our hearts and end on those who welcome peace.
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
