Reflection on the First Sunday of Lent

Today’s first reading and the Gospel are about temptation. They speak for themselves. But Psalm 30, stuck in between,  is a prayer of forgiveness. Here’s the third stanza: “ Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

We’ve all succumbed to temptation plenty of times. And we’ve been forgiven. Martha reminded me that we pray “Lead us not into temptation,” and the paths God leads each of us on offer joy and hope. I want to lead us today in a little meditation about the paths we’ve been on. Like the gifts Paul lists, we’ve all been on different paths. 

Think about work. Consider your first job – probably before you ever joined Loretto. Consider all your work life, the paths you traveled, the joy and the fear and the mistakes. Think about your favorite boss, okay, three favorite bosses. There were temptations but the story of the path is not about failure but about how we arrived here. How we got here. It is cause for rejoicing. Take a moment now to remember your path.

Now turn to all the people you have loved, friends and family, students, clients. The paths we’re on, God’s paths, God’s gifts, have led us to intimacy, to joy, to sorrow. Again, take a moment. Think of individuals who taught us to love one another, to be good people, to resist temptation. 

Next consider passion – the fierce loves of your own heart for humanity, for justice, maybe also for cooking or gardening or exploring and for learning and for dogs and cats. All these paths where God has offered us myriad ways to reflect God’s glory. Take a moment.

And now, be still. Hold in your mind moments of contemplation, some in church or under a tree or even in a crowded street or prison. We pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” and we rejoice in the marvelous places where we’ve found ourselves, known who we are.  

Today Paul says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” That’s what we’ve been about all our lives. Lent reminds us. We stand with Jesus on that pinnacle surveying our own lives, our own domain, Like Jesus, we say no to the devil one more time, and, like the angels, we minister to one another with love.