Sunday reflections: First Sunday of Lent (Year B)

First Sunday of Lent (Year B)

Gen 9:8-15; 1Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15

image courtesy: Mangalore diocese

Saint Jerome, the brilliant doctor of the Church, lived for twenty-five years in the cave where the Child Jesus was born. One time he prayed to Jesus thus: “Dear Child, You have suffered much to save me; how can I make amends?” “What can you give me, Jerome?” a voice was heard. “I will spend my entire life in prayer, and I will offer all my talents into your hands,” Jerome replied. “You do that to glorify me, but what more can you give to me?” the voice asked again. “I will give all my money to the poor,” Jerome exclaimed. The voice said: “Give your money to the poor; it would be just as if you were giving it to me. But what else can you give to me?”

Saint Jerome became distraught and said: “Lord, I have given you everything! What is there left to give?” “Jerome, you have not still give to me your sins,” the Lord replied. “Give it to me so I can erase them.” With these words Jerome burst into tears and spoke, “Dear Jesus, take all that is mine and give me all that is yours.”

The Gospel of today tells us that Jesus begins his public ministry in Galilee. In the Gospel of Mark Galilee is the favorite place of Jesus. His ministry was most successful there, he chose his first disciples from Galilee, and later he told the disciples that after his resurrection he would meet them in Galilee. However, Jesus did not begin his mission of proclaiming the Gospel until John the Baptist was arrested by Herod or he was handed over. The Greek verb used here by Mark is similar to that word referring to the passion of Jesus as he was handed over to his enemies. The implication from the start is that the fate of Jesus somehow foreshadows in that of John.  Mark presents him as a precursor to Jesus, a person who prepared his way. It was in Galilee that Jesus proclaimed his first message of the Kingdom of God and this first sentence he spoke summarizes the first ten chapters given by Mark.  Jesus here announced the advent of a new time, a new situation, a call for radical change, and a commitment to faith. 

Jesus invites us to enter his Kingdom through his personal call of repentance. This call is not just to feel sorry about our past; it is not just to stop the bad things we are doing now. Jesus was calling the people for a radical change in their whole way of seeing life and the world. In the words of St. Paul's it is to be a new person for in Christ and a person has to undergo a radical personality change.  Jesus then put forward the practical way of entering into the Kingdom by believing in the Gospel. Not just believing that the Gospel is true but believing in what the Gospel says and more significantly believing the person of Jesus.

Through the Word of God, we are today invited to repent and believe in the Gospel. In other words, to reform ourselves and believe in the person of Christ. So we pray in the words of St Jerome, “Dear Jesus, take all that is mine and give me all that is yours.” So that during this Lent we turn from our sinfulness and believe that Jesus can save us. 

Happy Sunday

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