First Sunday of Lent

First Reading

Deuteronomy 26,4-10

'The priest will then take the basket from your hand and lay it before the altar of Yahweh your God. In the presence of Yahweh your God, you will then pronounce these words: "My father was a wandering Aramaean, who went down to Egypt with a small group of men, and stayed there, until he there became a great, powerful and numerous nation. The Egyptians ill-treated us, they oppressed us and inflicted harsh slavery on us. But we called on Yahweh, God of our ancestors. Yahweh heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression; and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. He brought us here and has given us this country, a country flowing with milk and honey. Hence, I now bring the first-fruits of the soil that you, Yahweh, have given me." 'You will then lay them before Yahweh your God, and prostrate yourself in the presence of Yahweh your God.

Psalmody

Psalm 91

Antiphon

It is good to praise your name, O Most High.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord
to make music to your name, O Most High,

to proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night,

on the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,
with the murmuring sound of the harp.

Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad;
for the work of your hands I shout with joy.

O Lord, how great are your works!
How deep are your designs!

The foolish man cannot know this
and the fool cannot understand.

Though the wicked spring up like grass
and all who do evil thrive;

they are doomed to be eternally destroyed.
But you, Lord, are eternally on high.

See how your enemies perish;
all doers of evil are scattered.

To me you give the wild-ox's strength;
you anoint me with the purest oil.

My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;
my ears heard gladly of their fall.

The just will flourish like the palm-tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.

Planted in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God,

still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,

to proclaim that the Lord is just.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong.

Second Reading

Romans 10,8-13

What does it say, then? The word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith, the faith which we preach, that if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. It is by believing with the heart that you are justified, and by making the declaration with your lips that you are saved. When scripture says: No one who relies on this will be brought to disgrace, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is the Lord of all, and his generosity is offered to all who appeal to him, for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Reading of the Gospel

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Luke 4,1-13

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, 'If you are Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.' But Jesus replied, 'Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone.' Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, 'I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.' But Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve.' Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. 'If you are Son of God,' he said to him, 'throw yourself down from here, for scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, to guard you, and again: They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.' But Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Homily

Last Wednesday, as a fistful of ashes was placed on our heads, we heard repeated to us, one by one: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." With these words and this gesture, the Lenten journey began. Awareness of our weakness, our frailty and our wretchedness is the first step we have to take to walk towards the Lord. We know that he does not abandon us, as it is written: "He raises up the poor from the dust" (1 Sam 2:8). In the stern words addressed to us there is therefore also a proclamation of joy. Yes, the dust that we are will be raised at Easter. This time of Lent is an opportune time to acknowledge our weakness and sin, but also God's mercy for us all. The Lord is our salvation. It was this awareness that sustained the people of Israel on their journey, as the book of Deuteronomy recalls: "When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord ...the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand ... and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Deut 26:6-9). It was the grateful prayer to God's powerful and liberating mercy that was recited at the feast of the first fruits. Today, as we journey towards Easter, let us make these words our own. Lent is an insistent invitation, repeated and affectionate, for us who so often love easy solutions, who struggle to choose the humiliation of a discipline of the heart and who think we always have all the choices available.
It is the path that Jesus also travelled, as the Gospel of the temptations shows us. They come at the end of forty days of fasting, when Jesus is at the end of his strength. Luke notes that, 'then' (i.e. when he was hungry), the devil approached to tempt him. Indeed, temptation, any temptation, creeps into the folds of our weakness, our frailty, to at least appear reasonable. What could be more reasonable than eating a little bread after forty days of fasting? It is the naturalness of the first temptation: "Command this stone to become a loaf of bread." And equally natural is the desire to possess the kingdoms of the earth: "To you I will give their glory and all this authority." It was enough for Jesus to prostrate himself. And, indeed, to how many idols today one easily prostrates oneself, without even having many scruples. There is also the temptation to bend the Lord to ourselves, even to the point of reproaching him if he is not attentive to our demands.
The Gospel reports emblematic temptations: they all push to focus on oneself and to put the "self" at the centre of the world. It is the temptation of bending everything to oneself. Jesus subjected himself to these temptations and teaches us how to overcome them: driving away the tempter and choosing to follow the plan of the Father for the salvation of all. Jesus defeated temptations answering always with the Word of God. With it he defeated the devil's design. This time is given to us to nourish ourselves with the Word of the Lord. Let us not waste it: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..." And we will discover what it means: "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4). With the Word of god in our mind and in our heart, we will be able to be close to Jesus and live with him his very passion for the salvation of the world.