“After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: ‘This is the Time of Fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.'”
Mass Readings 2.22.15 – FIRST READING: Genesis 9:8-15 – PSALM 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 – SECOND READING: 1 Peter 3:18-22 – GOSPEL: Mark 1:12-15 – Find a Mass: MassTimes.org – Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com
Links & Resources
- Commentary on “Temptation After Baptism” by St Gregory Nazianzen (330-390) Sermon XL, 10 – DailyGospel.org
- The New Creation: Scott Hahn Reflects on the First Sunday of Lent – St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
- The True Rainbow in the Sky – A Reflection on the Readings of the First Sunday of Lent – Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington
- First Sunday Lent, Classic – St. Vincent Archabbey
- First Sunday Lent, Modern – St. Vincent Archabbey
GOSPEL
Jesus spends forty days in the desert, rejecting the devil’s attempts at temptation. Outside the scope of this passage, Jesus also fasts and prays.
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and He remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the Angels ministered to Him.
Jesus’ forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert inspire the forty days of Lent.
In addition to prayer and fasting, Lent also is a season of Penitence and almsgiving. With regard to penitence, Jesus Himself cannot sin. Yet, just as Jesus rejected temptation, we are to reject evil, repenting of our sins and striving for conversion, with God’s Help.
After the death of John the Baptist, Jesus begins His Public Ministry in Galilee, proclaiming a Gospel of Repentance.
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: ‘This is the Time of Fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Your Ways, O Lord, are Love and Truth to those who keep Your Covenant.
FIRST READING
After the flood recedes, God promises Noah and his sons that God will never again wreak global destruction by flood. The rainbow will be a Sign of this Covenant.
God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ‘See, I am now establishing My Covenant with you and your descendants … and with every living creature that was with you … I will establish My Covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth. … I set My bow in the clouds to serve as a Sign of the Covenant between Me and the earth.
Recall that God sent the flood because virtually all of humanity had plunged into evil.
Later, of course, God would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah by a different means than a flood. In that instance, their depravity consumed entire cities, except apparently Lot and his family.
And at the end of the age, there will be apocalyptic destruction as explained in Revelation, yet not by global flood.
Some voices will argue that the flood somehow could not happen on a global scale. The overarching reality, of course, is that God Created the earth and the universe to begin with, on a scale that dwarfs the flood many times over. God is All-Powerful and can do whatever He wants.
SECOND READING
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1
Saint Paul exhorts us to do everything for the Glory of God, and to avoid giving offense.
… whatever you do, do everything for the Glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God …
Paul goes on to explain that he seeks the good of the many, that they will be saved, and that he seeks to imitate Christ. He invites us to imitate him, as he seeks to imitate Christ.
More Resources
- Find a Mass: MassTimes.org
- Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – Basilica in Washington, D.C.
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – Passionists (New York)
- VIDEO: Diocese of Sioux Falls, including Sunday Masses
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – University of Notre Dame
- VIDEO: Daily Mass – Toronto
- VIDEO: Daily Mass – Boston/Catholic TV