FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B

Genesis 9:8-15
Psalm 24:4-9
1Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15

LENT, AN OPPORTUNE TIME FOR CONVERSION

"Repent and believe in the Gospel". This is the exhortation that Jesus addresses to each one of us on this first Sunday of Lent. Lent is essentially a preparation for the celebration of Easter. It is an invitation to change our lifestyles. It is a call to put order into our lives and return to God with all sincerity. Lent is a period of conversion and spiritual discipline: intense prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Lent is forty days journey as Jesus did in the wilderness. This notwithstanding, we must be aware that there will be temptations on the way. Jesus himself was tempted, as it is narrated in today's Gospel (Mark 1:12-15). But if we remember that we serve a faithful God, he who keeps his covenant for ever, we shall stand firm and not fall despite the many snares of the devil.

In effect, the first reading tells us that God made a covenant with Noah and all creation. He promised he would never destroy again the earth with flood. The rainbow became the sign of this covenant (Gen. 9:8-15).

In the second reading, Peter recognizes this event as a prefiguration of Christian baptism. With Noah's ark, only a few people were preserved from the devastating waters of the flood. But for us, many are we who have been saved through the life-giving waters of baptism (1Pet. 3:18-22).

Lent is therefore an opportune time to ask ourselves how faithful we have been to God. Baptism is a pledge of our commitment to God. How have we lived our baptismal promises? How many times have we not giving in to temptations? How many times have we not  denied God and gone our own way?

In any case, we serve a living and forgiving God, a God full of mercy and love. He does not count the many times we have fallen, but the times we have risen after falling. Like the prodigal child, let us come back home. Let us repent and trust in God's mercy and compassion. May he bless and keep all of us.

Amen