Last Wednesday we began the season of Lent. We received ashes on our forehead with the sign of the cross. In Scripture, ashes are a sign of repentance for sin so, our reception of the ashes must reflect our attitude during Lent – awareness to sin and our dire need for repentance and forgiveness. The words of invitation as the ashes are traced on our foreheads say it all – Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.

The Gospel today tells us of the account of Jesus that immediately followed his Baptism at the River Jordan by John the Baptist. Jesus retired into the desert and spent forty days praying and fasting. In His 40 days of sojourn in the wilderness, Jesus divested himself of human obsessions for power, for material possession and for worldly recognition, an exercise of self-purification. Our forty days journey in Lent should mirror the desert journey of Jesus. We must consider that Lent is a time in imitation of Jesus spending forty days in the desert. Jesus fasted in the desert and overcame the devil’s temptations. Jesus never sinned but, in the desert, he was tempted, and during these forty days of Lent we remember Jesus in the desert as we try to overcome temptation in our lives and to overcome sinfulness. The first reading tells us as well of the temptation of Adam. The situations of Jesus in the desert and that of Adam in the garden are conducive to temptation. In the desert there is extreme physical hunger as a result of fasting that yearns to be satisfied, and in the garden, there is the forbidden fruit so lovely to behold and so inviting to eat. The devil took advantage of these situations and exercised his cunning deception fully hopeful for triumph. Adam succumbed to the deception. Jesus on the other hand, immersed in prayer overcame his temptations. During Lent we say no to the devil’s temptations to continue committing sin, and instead to trust in our heavenly Father like Jesus in the desert.

By nature, all humankind inherits Adam’s fallen human nature. Mindful of this inheritance, the Church encourages all the faithful to exercise the age-old practice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent. During Lent we are called to pray more, fast, and help the poor. Jesus has no need to pray yet he demonstrated the need for prayer. Often during his public ministry, he would detach himself from the crowd and retire to quiet place to pray. Like Jesus we need to pray constantly acknowledging our dependence on God. Fasting is a penance the Church encourages us to undertake during Lent. Holy Scripture tells us that fasting from food must go together with fasting from passion that is contrary to the virtues of self-denial and sacrifice. Almsgiving is a natural response to the commandment to love our neighbor. Helping the poor during Lent is obedience to the words of Jesus - “Whatever you did to one of the least of these you did to me.”

Our committed exercise of the three practices during Lent should bring about a change in us that intensifies our healthy relationship with God.

By Deacon Mar Tano

Reflection on the First Sunday of Lent