HOMILY FOR FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A

Readings: Gen. 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Ps. 51; Rom. 5:12-19; Matt. 4:1-11.

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia  

                                                                                               

COME LET US RETURN TO GOD AND OBTAIN THE GRACE TO OVERCOME THE SINFUL THINGS OF THIS PASSING WORLD

 

Today is a special day because it is the first Sunday of the Holy Season of Lent. Lenten season is a period set aside by the Church for the renewal and rediscovery of oneself, given the daily struggle against sin and temptations which darkens our spiritual life. So Lenten season is another chance for us to reconnect to God, to be reconciled with Him and to find our place once again in God’s  loving grace. It is a time for us to turn away from the excesses of worldly desires and greed, from so many temptations we find in the world, and focus our attention instead on God.

 

Hence the Church is offering us the opportunity during this Holy season to reflect on who we are, our mission and our purpose in this world.  The Holy season of Lent is a moment of deep reflection, a season that prepares us for that great event of Easter. It is a season when listening to the Word of God leads us to develop some inner attitude that helps us becoming more aware of our Christian obligations. It is a period when the Church invites us to enter into a journey of repentance and penance that will lead us to reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration.

 

This Lenten journey is marked in a special way by three traditional dimensions that is: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These three traditional dimensions were demonstrated by Jesus in our Gospel reading today. Where Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, was led to pray and fast for forty days in the wilderness and there he was tempted by the devil, just the way Adam and Eve where tempted by the devil.

 

We can recall that in the beginning of time, God created everything all good and perfect, and He made the first man, Adam and his companion, Eve, to live in the wonderful Garden of Eden. This means that mankind, all of us were actually meant to live with God in the fullness of God’s grace and love, to enjoy the wonders of God’s providence and blessings forever. However, this was not to be because we fell into sin as we were unable to resist the temptations to sin, which the devil, disguised as a snake, brought upon Adam and Eve as we heard in our first reading.

 

Here we see how Satan first approached Eve and tempted her with the temptation of desire, the desire for the forbidden knowledge that God has expressly forbidden for man to have. That is, eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And Satan being very cunny, convinced them that the fruit of the tree did not seem to be harmful, and how eating from the tree would bestow great knowledge upon them and made them to be like God. Through this temptation, Satan planted the seeds of pride and greed in the hearts of humanity.

 

So Jesus, who has come to redirect the hearts of humanity back to God, was also tempted by the devil during his forty days prayer and fasting in order to distract him from his mission. Here Jesus was tempted to doubt God's care and providence like the Israelites deed, to gain power through false worship and test God's protection. These forty days recall Israel's forty years ugly experience in the wilderness because of disobedience.

 

Hence, these forty days of Lent, the Church calls us to spend gracious time with God through prayers and fasting, so that, we can obtain the grace to overcome the sins and temptations we encounter everyday of our lives. Observing how Jesus responded to these temptations, can help us in our own spiritual battles against the human endless desire for power, fame, money and pleasure. This story also shows how the devil can use the Scriptures for his evil purposes. Telling us to be careful because the Scriptures can be wrongly interpreted and used for selfish motives.

 

Therefore, we are called to imitate Jesus in prayer. For through prayer we make room for God in our lives and express our desire to enter into a deep friendship with the Lord. So, it is important for us to spend more time with God just like Jesus, bearing in mind that we cannot live by bread alone, we need the spiritual food of God's Word. Thus, we are called to withdraw from the world in order to encounter God and truly profess our faith in him. 

 

This is what St. Paul in our second reading today calls us to do. We are to imitate Christ who resisted all the efforts of Satan to tempt him and prevent him from fulfilling his mission. Christ is indeed the New Adam who has come to show us that it is indeed possible for us to overcome sin and the temptations to sin, as he himself resisted the three temptations of the devil. But many of us continued to sin because, we do not have enough faith in God, and the devil knows this very well.

 

Dear friends, God is calling us in this Holy season of Lent, to come back to him. The world has taken us far away from him; it's time to come back. Sin has separated us from God; it's time to reconcile with him. Greediness, slot, unforgiveness, love of power and money, over ambition, unhealthy friendship have separated us from God; it’s time to come back to him. It is time to say am sorry Lord, am sorry for having deviated from you. It’s time to let go of hurtful feelings, malice and the bitterness in our hearts. It’s time to say yes to God and no to all the distracting things of this world.

 

It’s time to love, it’s time to share with one another, it’s time to bear with one another's failings. What is stopping us from embracing this opportunity? Is it fear of the future? Or fear of failure or death?

Fear not, for the Psalmist tells us that God will create a pure heart in us and put a steadfast spirit within us. Thus, God is calling us to repentance; he is offering us a new life. He is offering us the opportunity to gain our life back and obtain the grace to overcome sin and temptations. Don't miss this opportunity; don't let it pass you by.

 

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, as we return to you and embrace the events of this Holy season, give us the right disposition to embrace grace of this season and fill our hearts with joy, peace and love. And for those who find it difficult to live the Christian life, may they learn to draw strength and grace from Jesus so to resist the devil and all of his empty shows. We ask this through Christ our Lord. wishing you a fruitful Lenten season.