Scripture Reflections for First Sunday of Lent

"On Wednesday, as we began this season of Lent, we might have heard the priest using words from today’s Gospel reading, ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ before sprinkling our heads with ash. They express, as it were, the consequence of the other phrase which might have been used at that point: ‘remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ (cf Gen 3:19). It is with this instruction to repent that Jesus..."

Gregory Pearson. "Repent, Believe, Preach." Torch. February 18, 2021

"Our weekly meetings in the Edinburgh University Inter-religious Chaplaincy are often occasions for very enlightening discussions. As Lent approached, the variety among Christians of observances and times, particularly between East and West, was of interest to the non-Christian chaplains who compared the practices with their own seasons for fasting and penance. Daily fasts of nineteen or twenty hours at a time awaited the Muslims in Scotland this year as the season of Ramadan draws nearer..."

Fr. Bruno Clifton. "The Way of the Lord." Torch. March 1, 2009

"Where do we expect the Spirit to lead us and what do we expect in this life by following Christ? After Jesus is baptised by John, the Spirit descends on him and then The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. As for John, he is arrested and will soon be dead. So begins the public ministry of the Christ we claim to..."

Fr. Brendan Slevin. "Lead us not into Temptation." Torch. March 5, 2006

"With the arrival of Lent people think of giving up little indulgences. It might be better if we thought of taking up new commitments. The commitment we need to make above all is to love. To love our neighbour more, to love God more. Easy words, but what do they mean? We can hardly love 'to order'; it's not like going into a shop to buy a ready-made suit. It's surely more like a mania,..."

Fr. Columba Ryan. "Lent, the discovery of love." Torch. March 9, 2003

"In the contemporary Lectionary, the First Readings during Lent in all three years attempt to rehearse and teach salvation history, not only as a refresher for the congregation but as an initiation for catechumens, who are preparing to enter in the story of salvation through the sacraments. World literature has many stories, with variations, about magic books that suck the reader into the world of the book, where he or she suddenly finds themselves in..."

John Bergsma. "The New Creation." The Sacred Page. February 16, 2021

"In the ancient Catacombs in Rome the early Christians painted many scenes from the Bible and one of the most frequently represented is that of Noah and the Ark. The Catacombs were places of burial and places of sanctuary for the early Christians in the dark days before the toleration of Christianity under Constantine. The story of Noah and Ark expressed very well the ambiguity of the situation of those early Christians. On the one..."

Fr. Martin Ganeri. "The Promise of Lent." Torch. February 14, 2018

"For us to accept its truth, the Bible must present a recognisable picture of what our lives are like, by showing us what the problems are, how to deal with them and what happens if we make the wrong decisions. It has been accepted as the reference book for Christianity because it best shows, not only what life should be like, but also what life is like. The Bible portrays life as a continual fight..."

Fr. Anthony. "A New Beginning?." Torch. February 19, 2015

"What's in a name? In Spanish, the name for the season of Lent is, prosaically enough, derived from the number forty – a period of forty days. In French and modern German the name of the season comes from the word for 'fasting' – what you do; Northern Europeans are ever pragmatic. In English, a surprising strain of poetry breaks through – our name for the season being derived from the season of the year,..."

Fr Gregory Murphy. "The Hope of New Life." Torch. February 26, 2012

"The theme linking the three readings of this First Sunday of Lent is the destruction of the world ruled by evil and the beginning of a new world and a new humanity. The First reading captures this theme through the story of the purifying flood (deluge) giving rise to a new people of the covenant. The Second Reading translates the theme to Baptism as a sacramental flood that marks the birth of new creatures in..."

Father Lawrence Obilor. "The reign of evil and the dominant power of God." A Catholic Moment.