First Sunday in Lent

First Sunday of Lent

Good morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate first Sunday of Lent. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate God, who sent His Only Son Jesus to be our Savior and good shepherd, every time we come to Church, every time we come to Church, we celebrate Christ in the Holy Spirit who willingly suffered for our salvation and every time we come to Church, we renew our baptismal promises that give help us to say “No” to evil and “Yes” to God alone.
“The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the Good News”

These forty days of Lent invite us to explore ourselves in the presence of God and others. We begin a humble journey today like our Lord Jesus Christ who after His baptism, though heard His father’s voice from heaven, “Son, I am so happy that you accepted to be human and suffer for their sins and experience their weaknesses. Son, you are mine and you will do it” Baptism at Jordan shows how our Lord humbled himself before His Father and gave Him divine energy to accept sufferings. Yes, the sacrament of baptism makes us children of God and invites to accept suffering for others. Christianity is all about neighbor. When we help others and wipe their tears, we become better followers of Christ.

Right after baptism, the Spirit took Christ to wilderness where He spent forty days and forty nights in prayer and fasting. The Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness asking Him, “if you are the Son of God, change this stone into bread” Jesus said, ‘we do not live on bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God” yes, we live, move and have our being because of God. Taking Him to a pinnacle of mountain, the devil asked Him to jump to prove that He belonged to God and Jesus said, “do not test the Lord your God and then the Satan began to beg Him saying, “I will give you everything. I will make you king of the earth, adore me” Jesus said, ‘get away from me Satan”.
Once a devil, transformed into a beautiful angel of light, appeared to one of the holy fathers of the desert and said, “I am the Angel Gabriel and I have been sent to you by the Almighty”. The monk looked at the angel and replied, “you must have been sent to someone else. I have done nothing to deserve the visit of an angel”

With that very word, the devil vanished and never came to the monk at all.
Our prayer, fasting and other means of Lenten disciplines help us to discover ourselves and thus we put God first. We will have enough grace to say to no to our tempter. We then hold on to Christ our Lord.
Jesus, after His forty days and forty nights prayer and fasting, began His public ministry. He came to Galilee and proclaimed the Good News saying, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the Good News”
Dear friends, on Ash Wednesday when we received the holy ashes on our foreheads, the church used the words saying, “repent and be faithful to the Gospel”. Being faithful to the Gospel means loving God and others. It means trusting in His love and accepting His forgiveness. As we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent let us renew ourselves in the presence of God and be faithful to the Gospel. Amen.