Scripture Reflections for the First Sunday of Lent

“Jesus’s triumph over temptation at the end of his fast is rooted in his humility. All of Satan’s weaponry is focused on appealing to humanity’s false sense of independence.”

“With the arrival of Lent people think of giving up little indulgences. It might be better if we thought of taking up new commitments.”

“Temptation is really about freedom, having the freedom to say no to those things that will harm us and the freedom to say yes to those things that will help us. This is why it is important to cultivate the right orientation towards temptation.”

“I think that we sometimes try to capture God, box God in, putting tight boundaries around our understanding”

“do something this Lent. Pray, fast, give alms”

“sin always involves some kind of dividing, some sort of separation”

“How have I, personally, lived up to my covenantal relationship with God? How have we, collectively, responded to the Creator God who has placed us in this world to “till the ground,” to care for the garden?”

“No matter what we struggle with this Lent, God ISN’T GOING TO GIVE UP ON US. No sin is too great. No dullness of heart is too dead.”

“A rainbow is seen when rain and sunshine are combined: sorrow and joy. No day will have one of these to the complete exclusion of the other. And all the more, no real love exists without both joy and sorrow, sorrow and joy.”

“the good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand, and believing in it means, among other things, playing our part in making its closeness more manifest in our world, a process that transforms the whole world, us included”

“What is the Good News? That the Kingdom of God has arrived on earth! That is still Good News today. God’s kingdom has arrived, and one can join it, and it provides the means for the most intimate conceivable relationship of love with the creator of the Universe. Good News indeed!”

“Every prayer we say, every sacrifice and fast we make, and every act of kindness we perform, when done from the heart, parts those storm clouds in the life of someone else, and lets God’s light and grace shine through. And we never see it. God is at a higher level, he sees the bigger picture.”

“It is a strong temptation at times to project the blame on something outside of our self so that we don’t have to take full responsibility for our part in the sinful structures of society”

“If we pray for what we really want, we are brought face to face with our needs and, if we persist in this prayer, we will also find ourselves schooled by God, as our desires are tested and refined”

“It is not selfish to withdraw from others, to seek silence, solitude and a little more time in prayer from time to time. On the contrary, in the long run, it can help us to become better people.”

“We must remain vigilant in our efforts to address the unjust structures and power arrangements that feed into this horrific reality”

“We may not be able to create ourselves anew, but every time we repent and believe the gospel, we become a new creation”

“God’s blessing, mercy and love are constant and certain but we have to open ourselves to receive these gifts. We are not forced to receive salvation – that is our dignity, our being made in God’s image”

“To follow Christ is to be led by his Spirit, to be driven by his spirit to be possessed by his Spirit”

“Peter points out that the waters of Baptism are an antitype of the waters of the flood. The flood waters destroyed almost all the people except Noah’s family. The waters of Baptism on the other hand are the cleansing agent that saves all.”

“See, what's one point of the fasting and abstinence and discipline of Lent? It's to, it's to discipline the body lest it try to dominate the self too much.”

“doing the will of God in the midst of a devastated world will always look weird. See, because people get used to the devastation, that's the only world you know.”

“Sin is a refusal to listen to the divine word and the divine command which is designed to make us fully alive”

“The whole purpose of the Church, his mystical body, is to be an agent for the transfiguration of the world”

“What does sin do to us? It drives us apart, sets us at war with ourselves.”