Reflection on the Gospel-First Sunday of Lent Year A, 9 March 2014 (Matthew 4:1-11)

Lent comes around each year and presents us with its usual challenge to take stock of our lives, to see more clearly what is in our hearts, and to discover what might be calling us out of our comfort zones. It is a time for personal as well as group reflection, a time for entering into ‘the wilderness’ and grappling with the mysteries of life, as well as a time of preparation for Easter. Today’s liturgy invites us to reflect on Jesus’ ‘forty-day’ experience in the wilderness. Jesus is ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ and, like so many human beings before and since, is ‘led by the Spirit’ into the wilderness of life to be ‘tested’ there. [‘Tested’ is a more accurate translation of the Greek than ‘tempted’].

Forty is a symbolic number in Israel’s story: the great flood lasts forty days and forty nights; Moses spends forty days and forty nights on the mountain of God; Israel wanders for forty years in the wilderness; King David reigns for forty years; the prophet Elijah travels forty days and forty nights in the wilderness on his way to the mountain of God.

The wilderness is ever so real and at the same time symbolic. In Israel’s story, it is the place of testing for God’s people: ‘Remember the long way that your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness… testing you to know what was in your heart’ (Deut 8:2). In Matthew’s account, the ‘devil’ is the ‘tester’ or ‘tempter’, the instrument of God’s testing. In each instance, the test is expressed in terms of Jesus’ relationship to God: ‘If you are the son of God….’ The Matthean Jesus passes the tests that the people of Israel have failed in the wilderness of Sinai. He refuses the way of special favour from God, the way of status or self-aggrandisement. He is prepared to suffer whatever it takes to bring healing and wholeness to a broken world. In other words, he chooses the way of God’s empire or the empire ‘of the heavens’ rather than the brutality of the Roman Empire. Jesus demonstrates that he is indeed ‘of God’.

Most people of faith would agree that being ‘of God’ right now has more than a little to do with the way we relate to Earth’s human and other-than human inhabitants, the value we ascribe to Earth’s precious resources, and the respect we show for life through our responsible use of those resources. In this context, Lent and wilderness take on a whole new meaning.

Lent starts this Wednesday 5 March. It is a day of Fasting and Abstinence from meat. On all other Fridays, except solemnities, the law of the common practice is fulfilled by performing any one of the following:

• Prayer, for example, Mass attendance, family prayer, a visit to a church or chapel, reading the Bible, making the Stations of the Cross, praying the Rosary, or in other ways

• Self Denial, for example, not eating meat, not eating sweets or dessert, giving up entertainment to spend time with the family, limiting food and drink so as to give to the poor of one’s own country or elsewhere; Project Compassion is a major means of expressing our self denial in Australia

•  Helping others, for example, special attention to someone who is poor, sick, elderly, lonely or over-burdened.

All who are over 18 and have not begun their 60th year are bound to fast. All who are over 14 are bound to abstain (Canon 1252)
The Season of Lent is a time of penance. During this season the faithful are exhorted to devote themselves in a special manner to prayer, to engage in works of piety and charity and to deny themselves. Each of the faithful is obliged to receive Holy Communion at least once per year. Lent is a most appropriate time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation

• Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in St Anne’s church will be led by Legion of Mary on Friday 7 March from 7pm-8pm. All are welcome.

• Legion of Mary also pray the Rosary in St Anne’s Church every  Saturday morning from 9am.

• We thank Strathearn Glen Neighbourhood for hosting Morning Tea after 8.30am Mass this weekend.

• We also thank the Maintenance team for organizing the Working Bee yesterday.

• No Sing a long at Goonawarra Aged Care until Friday 4 April.

WELCOME: to the children and their families who will be celebrating First Communion in the Easter Season. This weekend the children will be looking for Prayer Companions who will pray for the children as they prepare to receive this sacred Sacrament.

International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, the present and the future. The theme the Australian National Committee has chosen for International Women’s Day on 8 March is Ending Poverty for Women and Girls through Economic Empowerment. Seventy per cent of the global poor are women. Although women perform two-thirds of the world’s work, they earn less than 10% of the world’s wages. Women are far more likely than men to live in poverty because of discrimination and lack of access to education, employment and financial services. For more information and resources please visit: https://unwomen.org.au/iwd/theme-and-resources

CATHOLIC STEWARDSHIP FROM SUNDAYS READINGS

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is continued in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, is the Lord’s longest sermon recorded in all of Holy Scripture. It is included in two of the four Gospels — Matthew and Luke. Interestingly, Matthew states that Jesus spoke on the mountain (“He went up the mountain.” Matthew 5:1). Luke, on the other hand, maintains that Jesus gave the sermon after he came down from the mountain (“…coming down with them, he took his stand on a level stretch.” Luke 6:17). Thus, Luke’s version is often called the Sermon on the Plain.

Regardless, the important aspects of the sermon are that the Lord lays out for us what we must do to be His disciples. Jesus has high expectations of us, such hopes for us, as a matter of fact, that we cannot possibly fulfill them. The point is not that we can achieve perfection in the Lord’s eyes, but that we diligently work to do so. Following stewardship as a way of life is that kind of an effort.

Today’s Gospel includes one of the most quoted statements of the entire Sermon. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” Sometimes we struggle with exactly where to start. Jesus’ point is that we start with God, place our trust in Him, and the rest will follow. “Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

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With the recent publication of Pope Francis’s new apostolic exhortation ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ we have an exciting challenge ahead of us for 2014! So many “firsts”. First pope to choose the name Francis; The first in centuries to live outside the papal palace; first to give a press conference. The first pope to tell the world so much about his inner life, including weaknesses, for which he expresses regret. Here is a man who learns from his mistakes and who clearly yearns to grow in holiness, which he associates with patience toward himself and everyone else as well. When Francis was recently asked: “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” He replied, “I am a sinner . . . whom the Lord has looked upon. . . . I am one who is looked upon by the Lord.”
For our new Pope the vital thing is to know oneself as a loved sinner – where the adjective is more important than the noun. And God’s work is always done by graced sinners who rejoice in being called just as they are. Again and again since his election the message of Pope Francis is simple and profound: we who follow Jesus must meet people on their own terms rather than on ours. Love for the other comes first.
Since March 13, 2013 we have learned that Francis preaches this message more through his actions and style than by his words. This is why the world has opened its heart to him – because he has so opened his heart to the world. Everything else is then possible and yes – possible here in Melbourne 2014! We are sent with the joy of the Gospel!
Br Mark O’Connor fms Archbishops Office for Evangelisation
Enews February 2014.