The People of the Forty Days. We are the people of the forty days: the people of God in the Old Testament needed forty years in the desert to grow through their trials and mistakes into the People of God ready for the Promised Land. Jesus spent forty days in the desert in fasting and prayer to prepare himself to make his choice to be the kind of Messiah God wanted. We today are given our forty days, too, to re-examine ourselves before God whether we want to be and are the kind of Christians God wants us to be. We look up to Jesus here among us to see if with him and by his power we are willing to reject the temptations that try to divert us from the task God has given us. Let us go with Jesus into the desert, look into the depth of ourselves, and with Jesus reject what imprisons us, what keeps us lukewarm and indifferent, so that like him and with him we can serve and give back to the Lord a portion of what he has given us. First Reading: Genesis 2:7 — 9; 3:1 — 7. Tempted from the beginning. In a symbolical story, the sacred writer says that as far as people can remember they have always been tempted to make themselves their own gods, absolute masters of their own life and happiness. This is the human tragedy. Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3 — 4,5 — 6,12 — 13,17. R./ Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned. Second Reading: Romans 5:12 — 19. We are saved by the man Jesus Christ. Adam, standing for all of humanity, has spoiled the right relationship with God, other people, and himself. Gods Son, the man Jesus Christ, came to restore this relationship. This is the human tragedy Jesus came to remedy. Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:1 — 11. Jesus overcomes our temptations. Jesus overcame all our human temptations of selfishness, pride and power. He wanted to serve God and save people. In this way he made us capable of humbly serving God and our neighbor.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 11:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015