Homily For First Sunday of Lent Year B, 18th February, 2024

Readings: Genesis 9:8-15, Ps.25, 1Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:12-15

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

                                                                                                  

ARE YOU ENSLAVED BY SIN? IT IS TIME TO COME BACK TO GOD

The sinful and ugly situation in our society today has turned humanity into slaves, we have become slaves to so many things that sometimes we don’t know how to break out of them. We have become slaves to so many sinful situations that we don’t know how we get into them or how to get out of them. Some of us have given up struggles with them. Some of us are at the point of giving up. Some of us are now becoming masters of this sinful and ugly situation. Some of us are searching for help because we find ourselves drowning in these sinful and ugly behaviours. So what should we do? How can we come out of this situation?

 

To break out of this ugly and sinful situation the Holy Mother Church calls us to make a forty-day journey with the Lord. So today being the first Sunday in this Holy Season of Lent, we are reminded that it is forty days set aside by the Church for us to come back to God for the renewal and rediscovery of ourselves in God, for we are in need God's help to overcome our daily struggle against sin and temptations which darkens our spiritual life.

 

So, the Lenten season is another opportunity 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 excessive desires for worldly things so as to overcome many temptations we encounter in this world and focus our attention more closely 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 God’s words leads us to develop some inner attitude that helps us become more aware of our Christian obligations and dignity. It is a period when the Church invites us to enter into a journey of repentance and penance that will lead us to an encounter, conversion, reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration.

 

This Lenten journey is marked especially by three traditional dimensions that are: 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 were tempted by the devil, who planted the seeds of pride and greed in the hearts of humanity.

 

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 meant to live with God by his grace and love, to enjoy the wonders of God’s providence and blessings forever. However, we fell into sin as we were unable to resist the temptations to sin because of pride and greed and so separate ourselves from God’s presence.

 

But time and time again God has always extended his hands of mercies towards humanity, he always wants to bring us back to himself just as we heard in our first reading today. For when humanity’s sinfulness was so deep God wished to wipe away humanity. However, Noah having found favour with God was saved along with his family and other creatures who obeyed the command of God through Noah. So, having wiped away the rest of creation along with sinful humanity, God spoke to Noah and his sons saying, ‘See, I establish my Covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be swept away again by the waters of the flood. There shall be no flood to destroy the earth again.’

 

Referring to this great and sad event, St. Peter in our second reading tells us that, when Noah was still building that ark which saved only a small group of eight people ‘by water’, God was still waiting patiently, that those who refused to believe may repent. He tells us that the water is a type of baptism which saves us now, and which is not just the washing off our physical dirt but a pledge made to God from a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has entered heaven and is at God’s right hand, now that he has made the angels and authorities and Powers his subjects.

 

So Jesus, who has come to redirect the hearts of humanity back to God, calls us to repent from our sins and believe in the Gospel he has brought for us, which we promised to uphold in our baptism. When we promised to reject sin and Satan with all his empty promises and shows, while embracing God and his son Jesus who has come to save us from sin and death. Therefore, we are called to imitate Jesus in prayer. Through prayer, we make room for God in our lives and express our desire to enter into a deep friendship with the Lord. Hence, we need 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. 

 

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 made us its slaves, it is time to come back. Sin has separated us from God; it's time to reconcile with him. Greediness, slots, unforgiveness, love of power and money, ambition, and unhealthy friendships 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 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, to share, 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’s ways are faithfulness and love for those who keep his covenant. 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. For he will create a pure heart in us and put a steadfast spirit within us. Don't miss this opportunity; don't let it pass you by.

 

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