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| “The Temptation of Christ” by Tintoretto, 1579-81 |
Catechism
Links[3]
CCC 394,
538-540, 2119: the temptation of Jesus
CCC 2846-2949:
“Lead us not into temptation”
CCC 56-58,
71: the Covenant with Noah
CCC 845,
1094, 1219: Noah’s Ark prefigures the Church and baptism
CCC 1116,
1129, 1222: Covenant and sacraments (especially baptism)
CCC 1257,
1811: God saves through baptism
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Reading 1: Genesis
9:8-15
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:
all the birds, and the
various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came
out of the ark.
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."
God added:
"This is the sign that I
am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me
and you
and every living creature
with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to
serve as a sign
of the covenant between me
and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the
earth,
and the bow appears in the
clouds,
I will recall the covenant I
have made
between me and you and all
living beings,
so that the waters shall
never again become a flood
to destroy all mortal
beings."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Gn 9:8-15
In this passage
God establishes and seals his covenant with the earth in the person of Noah,
using as an eternal symbol, the rainbow. In this covenant, God once again gives
humankind dominion over all His creation.
He further promises not to destroy the earth using a great flood. The requirements placed upon Noah and his
sons, which fall upon all of their descendants as well, are found in the
opening verses of this chapter (see text and commentary of Genesis 9:1-13)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (cf. 10) Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to
those who keep your covenant.
Your ways, O LORD, make known
to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and
teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are
love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
Remember that your compassion,
O LORD,
and your love are from of
old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O
LORD.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are
love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
Good and upright is the LORD,
thus he shows sinners the
way.
He guides the humble to
justice,
and he teaches the humble his
way.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are
love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 25 is an
individual lament. The sinful psalmist prays that “Your ways” be made know.
This request directs us to repentance and ultimately justice. In the first
strophe of this hymn of thanksgiving we hear support for our belief that God
did indeed answer the prayers of Tobit and Sarah Tobit
3:1-11a, 16-17a. Their trust was justified. The
song continues as an individual prayer asking for guidance and salvation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: 1
Peter 3:18-22
For Christ suffered for sins
once,
the righteous for the sake of
the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to
God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the
Spirit.
In it he also went to preach
to the spirits in prison,
who had once been disobedient
while God patiently waited in
the days of Noah
during the building of the
ark,
in which a few persons, eight
in all,
were saved through water.
This prefigured baptism,
which saves you now.
It is not a removal of dirt
from the body
but an appeal to God for a
clear conscience,
through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven
and is at the right hand of
God,
with angels, authorities, and
powers subject to him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 1 Pt 3:18-22
This dialogue next links the
image of the salvation of Noah (Genesis
9:1-15) “saved through water”, with the baptismal bath that
frees the Christian from sin. That
purifying event wipes away every sin to free the conscience from guilt and
allows the baptized to live as God’s children.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Mark
1:12-15
At once 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.
After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
"This is the time of
fulfillment.
The kingdom of God
Repent, and believe in the
gospel."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk 1:12-15
The events described in this
passage from St. Mark’s Gospel occur immediately following Jesus’ baptism in
the Jordan by St. John
“The same Spirit who
descended on Jesus in his baptism now drives him into the desert for forty
days. The result is radical confrontation and temptation by Satan who attempts
to frustrate the work of God. The presence of wild beasts may indicate the
horror and danger of the desert regarded as the abode of demons or may reflect
the paradise motif of harmony among all creatures; cf Isaiah
11:6-9. The presence of ministering
angels to sustain Jesus recalls the angel who guided the Israelites in the
desert in the first Exodus (Exodus
14:19; 23:20) and the angel who supplied nourishment to Elijah in the
wilderness (1 Kings 19:5-7).
The combined forces of good and evil were present to Jesus in the desert. His
sustained obedience brings forth the new Israel of God there where Israel
It is noteworthy to observe
that all of the synoptic Gospels show Jesus not beginning his public ministry
until after the active ministry of St. John the Baptist has ended. The “Voice”
decreases while the “Word” increases.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
As our Lenten journey begins
we hear of the beginning of Jesus public ministry following his days of trial
in the desert. Symbolically, we are to
follow the spirit into the desert as well.
Like the Lord himself we are invited to take stock of the circumstances
in which we find ourselves.
From the ten thousand foot
level, our desert does not bear much resemblance to the wastelands that Jesus
encountered. He faced the physical
solitude of barren wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts. St. Mark’s
description, although terse, implies a place fraught with danger, physical and
spiritual. Spiritual danger because
Satan, we are told, tempted him in this place of solitude and hostile forces.
We can see, in our own
circumstances, analogous forces arrayed against us. We may not face “wild beasts”, but we do live
in a dangerous world and face forces beyond our control that can cause us
physical harm. These forces range from
the vague but real threat of attacks on our homeland to the more intimate and
urgent threat cause by individuals who are driven to steal and kill by impulses
provided by the same Evil One who also encouraged the weak minded to kill
Christ those many years ago.
We are also confronted by
temptation from Satan who, while not described in the account given today, none
the less uses fair sounding arguments to lead us down paths that end in our own
spiritual destruction. The very advances
in technology that God allows the tremendous potential in his creation to
explore become tools for the Fallen One.
He uses every good thing to evil purpose and we must constantly guard
ourselves and those weaker from the worst of these opportunities to become
victim to him.
Fortunately for us, we have
been given added armor against the worst ravages this malevolent spirit’s
attacks. In baptism an indelible change
was made in the very essence of our being.
The fallen nature of our humanity, evidenced by God’s epic punishments,
the expulsion from the Garden and the Great Flood from which only Noah and his
family survived, was changed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the bath of which St. Peter says “It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to
God for a clear conscience” we are
set free from sin, the shackles Satan would put upon us. We are sanctified and made holy, the gift of
grace through the Holy Spirit becomes indwelling.
Armed against evil in this
way we are given this season of Lent to inspect that armor. We look to see that no chinks have appeared
and refortify ourselves with prayer, fasting, and charity. We meditate upon our circumstances to insure
that no new threat has appeared for which we are unprepared. Thus we begin our own journey with a reassessment
of the perils that lie ahead. We gird
our belts and strengthen our resolve in Christ Jesus who is our guide and hope.
Pax
In other years on this date: Feast of the Chair of Peter
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture used is “The Temptation of Christ” by Tintoretto, 1579-81
[3]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June
2014, pp. 90
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[5]
See NAB footnote on Mark 1:12-13
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