First Sunday of Lent – Jesus embraces His humanity
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters: During the season of Lent we are invited as a nation to reflect more intensely on Christ’s paschal mystery—his passion, death, and resurrection. Today, the First Sunday of Lent, we also celebrate the 22nd National Migrants’ Sunday and are challenged by the theme: “Show Concern to the Young Generation of Migrants.” The passion of Christ continues to be lived in the wounds and pains of our migrant Filipinos who suffer maltreatment from employers, separation from family, sometimes government incapacity to fully help in times of need, and threat of death. Let us pray that the cross the migrants and their families carry become also the source of their salvation and that they will be instruments of the Good News through their humble and selfless service of God and people. Bearing their cross and following Jesus, may they share the joy and victory of Easter. (Taken from Sambuhay)
First Reading
Man and woman, created and cared for by God, disobey the Creator and are cut off from him. They then experience disorder and helplessness, as symbolized by their nakedness.
A reading from the Book of Genesis
THE Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.
Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made. The serpent asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Responsorial Psalm (Ps 51)
Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
1. Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the great-ness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.
2. For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always: “Against you only have I sinned,/and done what is evil in your sight.”
3. A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
4. Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Second Reading
Paul contrasts the disobedience of Adam with the humble obedience of Jesus. The gift of salvation brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus is far more powerful than the grip of sin that enslaved humankind.
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (5:12, 17-19)
BROTHERS and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.
For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. (Mt 4:1-11)
AT THAT TIME Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.
The World of the Gospel, Gil Alinsangan, SSP
Tempted by the Devil
The opening of the Book of Job pictures a heavenly council where Job is presented as a blameless and upright servant of God. Satan, presented more as a “devil’s advocate” than as the enemy, objects that Job is “God-fearing” because he enjoys God’s favors. Let God remove the benefits and Job will blaspheme God. And so God allows Satan to put Job to severe trials.
At his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is declared God’s beloved Son in whom God is pleased (Mt 3:17). Jesus is then led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The devil, as it were, is saying that Jesus is God’s “beloved” because he enjoys God’s favors. Would he still be faithful without the “privileges” of being the Son of God?
Jesus’ three temptations are not a one-time occurrence during this ministry. Rather, they are “alternative” choices that are open to him. The devil targets Jesus’ fidelity to God which entails suffering. Why not take the easy way to accomplish his work of drawing people to him and to God? Why suffer hunger when he can easily turn stone into bread, why face dangers when he can always count on services of angels, why struggle for the kingdom of God when he can have the magnificence of the kingdoms of the earth?
Satan is a supernatural being actively working to gain control over human life, enticing people to sin and opposing God’s rule in the world. Jesus’ coming marks the entry of the kingdom of God which is engaged in supernatural struggle with Satan’s reign. As the temptation story shows, Jesus proves to be “the stronger one” (Mk 3:27) and conquers. But Satan is not annihilated. The obliteration of Satan’s power is reserved for God’s future time.
For the disciples of Jesus, the struggle with the devil or with evil situations persists. Because it is a struggle with a supernatural dimension, believers cannot rely simply on their strength. As they struggle to build the kingdom of God in this world, they always have to pray: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Mt 6:13)
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