First Sunday of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

“The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Today’s reading from Genesis)

In today’s first reading, the serpent tempts Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As we know, knowledge of good and evil is not a bad thing. There are many examples throughout scripture of God sharing this knowledge with us, like when He gives Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. So what is so sinful about eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? It is not the knowledge itself that is sinful, but the act of grasping for this knowledge without God’s help. Like a child who wants something high up on a shelf, we can climb up on a tall stool and risk coming tumbling back to earth, or we can ask our heavenly Father to assist us. This reminds me of a saying from the desert fathers that we junior monks often hear. “If you see a young monk by his own will climbing up into heaven, take him by the foot and throw him to the ground, because what he is doing is not good for him.”

Reflection by Br. Augustine Kroeze, OSB