Recall the Covenant

February 26, 2012

First Sunday of Lent B 2012

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

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." Genesis 9:12-15

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. 1 Peter 3:18-21a

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." Mark 1:15

Piety

Lent offers us the chance to be honest to ourselves. Christ gave up his life to redeem us. He offered himself to make up for all the wrong we have done. He offers himself in the place of us for the forgiveness of our sins. We have Lent which gives us the opportunity not only to be forgiven for the evil we have done, but also the chance to offer ourselves for each other. We have the chance to be more like Christ in our piety by the way we undertake the work of prayer, fasting and good works during this season of preparation for the Resurrection. There is no shortcut in being forgiveness for others. There is no bypass of the cross possible if we are going to make a difference against the tide of selfishness in our world. Piety stimulates our souls by the example of Christ to be loving and giving. How we give our lives for one another is the response to the great love of Christ. Piety offers the challenge during Lent to love one another even as Christ has loved us.

Study

Our study of our behavior allows us to see where there is the possibility in our lives to be more like Christ. We honor Christ’s going into the desert at the beginning of his ministry by joining him in our Lent by our prayer, fasting and good works. Our prayer makes it possible to make what we do each day into real prayer. We are all called to use our prayer to turn our activities into actions that are prayer. It is not just that we are working for the sake of Christ. The Contemplative in Action Grace pushes us to try to do what we do as Christ would do it. Our brotherhood and sisterhood with Christ has its foundation in love. Where love is, God is! This is a simple statement of deification. Our relationship to Christ makes us all children of God.

Action

The old question of what you are giving up for Lent might seem old-fashioned. Truly it gives fasting reality. Age 59 makes fasting a free act for the sake of Christ because the Old are excused from the obligation of fasting. Action speaks louder than words. Chances to be of help where I do not wait to be asked makes volunteering a positive action of love. Reaching out to the needs around us gives substance to the power of the Corporal Works of Mercy to make Christ real in our lives. The “whatever you do for the least one of your brothers and sisters is done for Christ,” who identifies with the poor and the needy of our lives. Lent gives us the chance to put on the mind and the heart of Christ. Our charity makes us over into the Christ we are meant to be. What we do for the poor and needy, we do for Christ.