{"id":1555,"date":"2015-02-21T08:44:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-21T13:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2015-02-21T08:44:20","modified_gmt":"2015-02-21T13:44:20","slug":"1st-sunday-in-lent-year-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/1st-sunday-in-lent-year-b\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Sunday in Lent, Year B"},"content":{"rendered":"

1st<\/sup> Sunday in Let, Year B<\/a>
\nGenesis 9:8-15
\n1 Peter 3:18-22
\nMark 1:12-15
\nFebruary 22, 2015<\/p>\n

Jesus had just been baptized by John in the Jordan River.\u00a0 One might think it would have been time to celebrate.\u00a0 However, instead of a celebration, we are told that, \u201cThe Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0 We see the desert as an unpleasant place without food or water, a place without much life.\u00a0 As such, the desert can be a place of trial.<\/p>\n

It was in the desert that Jesus faced forty days<\/em> of temptation from Satan.\u00a0 Think about how you would have felt in the desert without much food or drink and the threat of \u201cwild beasts.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 All Satan would have to do to tempt one would be to offer them food and water or protection from the wild beasts.\u00a0 Would you have been able to resist the temptation?<\/p>\n

Jesus did<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Temptation is nothing new.\u00a0 Neither is sin.\u00a0 We hear of both in the very beginning when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden.\u00a0 They were tempted by Satan to eat the fruit of the one tree that was prohibited.\u00a0 They failed to resist the temptation and, hence, the original sin.<\/p>\n

It was the first sin but it was not the last sin.\u00a0 Not long after came Cain and Abel, the ultimate case of sibling rivalry.\u00a0 Things only got worse from there.\u00a0 Sin became so prevalent that God chose to send a great flood to cleanse the Earth.\u00a0 Only Noah and his family survived.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine living in fear of another flood every time it rained?<\/p>\n

After the flood was over, God promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world for sin by a flood.\u00a0 As a sign of His promise, God set his bow in the sky.\u00a0 This is the rainbow that we sometimes see in the sky after a rainstorm.<\/p>\n

We can hear of legends of leprechauns hiding their pot of god at the end of the rainbow.\u00a0 Hearing this, one wonders how to find the end of the rainbow to get the treasure.<\/p>\n

Viewed in the light of the story of the Great Flood, the rainbow does represent a great treasure but it is not gold.\u00a0 It is something that makes gold worthless.\u00a0 The treasure represented in the rainbow is God\u2019s love.\u00a0 What greater treasure can there be?<\/p>\n

When we are baptized, we become adopted children of God and heirs to the treasure of God.\u00a0 We might like to think that once we are baptized, life will suddenly become glorious and without temptation.\u00a0 Remember Jesus in the desert?\u00a0 It was after His baptism that He faced Satan\u2019s temptation.<\/p>\n

This Sunday at the 10:30 Mass we will celebrate the Rite of Sending for the people in our RCIA program.\u00a0 They span from around ten years old to over sixty.\u00a0 Some have baptized, some have not but they all have been making this journey towards faith in Jesus when, at the Easter Vigil, they will complete the Sacraments of Initiation.<\/p>\n

In receiving the Rite of Sending this weekend and next weekend the Rite of Election with our Bishop, they begin their final preparation for the Sacraments.<\/p>\n

Here we find the origin of Lent.\u00a0 Initially Lent was a special time simply for those joining the Church at Easter but the Church can to realize how we all need a time of examination and renewal.\u00a0 This is a time to reflect on how we are living out our lives.\u00a0 Are we following Jesus?\u00a0 Do we have sins we need to confess?\u00a0 Are we winning against temptation?<\/p>\n

It would be nice to say we are always winning the battle against temptation but that isn\u2019t the reality, is it?<\/p>\n

A few days ago we celebrated Ash Wednesday.\u00a0 As the ashes were placed on our foreheads, we hear the words, Repent and Believe in the Gospel!<\/em>\u00a0 These are the words Jesus said at the end of today\u2019s gospel.\u00a0 Do you repent?\u00a0 Do you believe in the gospel?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1st Sunday in Let, Year B Genesis 9:8-15 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:12-15 February 22, 2015 Jesus had just been baptized by John in the Jordan River.\u00a0 One might think it would have been time to celebrate.\u00a0 However, instead of a celebration, we are told that, \u201cThe Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.\u201d Why?\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘1st Sunday in Lent, Year B’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-p5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1556,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}