Reflection for the First Sunday of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

Welcome! My name is Fr. Daniel, and we, the monks of Conception Abbey, welcome you as we begin this spiritual journey through Lent.

We welcome you, our regular fellow travelers, as well as newcomers who are serious about preparing for Easter. In a special way, we welcome you who are catechumens as you eagerly look forward to the coming of Easter, that special moment, when you will be baptized into full union with Christ and the Christian community! 

And so we begin with the First Sunday of Lent – and what a powerful beginning it is!

In a beautiful way, our liturgical readings on this Sunday come together to lay the spiritual foundation for all of Lent, and really, for the rest of our lives! 

That foundation proclaims two things: 

1. God has loved us with an everlasting love from the very beginning of our existence.
2. We are called to respond to that magnificent fact with gratitude and wisdom.

We start off with the story in the Book of Genesis where God places his greatest creation, namely, Adam and Eve, in a garden of abundant life, fertility and order – its a very special place of wisdom – and, really, the only thing our first parents needed to do, was to say “yes” to that gift of love and wisdom

But what happened? Adam and Eve allowed themselves to be tricked by the serpent to think that they could do just fine with their own wisdom – so they chose to do it “their way” and found themselves to be naked and out of harmony with the beauty and purpose of the garden. In shame, they could no longer face the One who had given them everything but notice that last line from that Genesis account – God reached out to Adam and Eve in their nakedness and made them a set of clothes – is that not the most tender sign of a love that knows no limits? 

The Gospel today, builds on that idea – it shows us a very different kind of Genesis scene –it’s the struggle maintaining a precious relationship while it is threatened by the clever foolishness of the Devil.  

Jesus as man goes to the desert for 40 days, the traditional place and time span to confront evil and interact with the wisdom of God – He does it for us!

As our Lent begins Jesus takes our place in confronting the temptations of selfishness, false self-esteem, and false use of power – all lies coming from Satan, the Father of Lies. So how did Jesus overcome the temptations? By showing how the vast power of God’s gift of wisdom overcomes the foolishness of evil. 

Here’s a question for you to think about – as we journey through Lent, whose wisdom do I trust as we seek spiritual growth, joy, and generosity?

Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB