1st Sunday of Lent 2024 Year B
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· 2 views“Repent and believe in the Gospel.” "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door"
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Mark 1:12-15. “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.”
What is the purpose of Lent? It all can be summed up with the last words of today's Gospel. “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
We read in the 1st reading today we read about God speaking to Noah and his sons after God had flooded the world and destroyed everything “God said to Noah and to his sons with him. “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you: […]” While Noah was God fearing the rest of mankind was not. Mankind had become godless, they cared nothing for God and probably refused to listen to Noah. It was only Noah and those who were on his ark that were saved. Noah was saved because he lived a life looking to and obeying God and so built the Ark.
Genesis 6:5-7 The Lord saw that human evil was growing more and more throughout the earth, with every inclination of people’s thoughts becoming only evil on a continuous basis. [...] So the Lord said, “I will annihilate these human beings whom I’ve created from the earth, [...], because I’m grieving that I made them.”
Because Noah sought God and obeyed His commands he saved. We read in the book of deuteronomy about Moses speaking to the people of Israel, “If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day… you shall live and multiply and the Lord your God shall bless you. But if your hearts turn away, and you will not hear … you shall perish” (Deut. 30:16-18a).
You might wonder how many people will be saved on the last day? This same question a man had in the time of Jesus. We read in Luke Gospel: “Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answered, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Luke 13:23-25. In Matthew Gospel Our Lord says: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14;
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Matthew 7:21;
And it is for this that we must take seriously our spiritual life, our lenten observance, our repentance of our sins. Actively trying to convert, actively trying to live a holy life and trying to avoid worldliness. Summed up with today's Gospel, “Repent and believe in the Gospel."
What is the message of the Gospel? The message of the gospel is this: God has provided a way of salvation for men through the gift of His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered as a sacrifice for our sin, overcame death, and now offers a share in His triumph to all who will accept it. As death and suffering came into the world through sin so now salvation and eternal life is offered to us through obedience to God. Through the repentance of our sins, believing in Our Lord Jesus and living according to God will.
[CCC 1430] Jesus' call to conversion and penance does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart. Without the conversion of the heart, such penances outward penance as fasting, abstinence and mortification remain sterile and false.
[CCC 1431] The conversion of the heart is a radical redirection of our lives to God, turning away from sin, rejecting evil, and repenting, expressing sincere remorse for the evil actions we have committed. At the same time the conversion of the heart entails the hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of His grace.
Our Lord was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. We are frequently influenced by spirits, but not always by the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes we allow evil spirits to draw us away from God. Spirits of lust, envy, greed, wrath, pride, sloth, vanity, gluttony and all things worldly. But the Spirit of God leads away from the pleasures of the world and leads us to the quiet of the wilderness of prayer and contemplation where we find God. The Holy Spirit teaches us to be pure, chaste and temperate; kind, loving and charitable; diligent; patient and merciful, humble and modest. So let us this Lent seek to become closer to God, living in His presence, and praying all the more.
Extra:
Our Lord also warns us of being led astray: Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15; and many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Matthew 24:11; Matthew 24:24;
St Paul warns of the same thing: I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! Galatians 1:6-8; Not only does he say it here but another 2 times: 2 Corinthians 11:4; 1 Timothy 6:3;