Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 18, 2024 - 1st Sunday of Lent - B
[Gen 9:8-15; 1 Pet 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15]"This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." [Mark]
During my years as a full-time itinerant preacher (2009-2019) I was usually beginning a parish mission on the First Sunday of Lent. If the scripture cycle was "B," the gospel passage from the Gospel According to Mark would appear. When that happens (and even now), I like to address the congregation and ask them to repeat after me each line of the proclamation quoted above. Then I congratulate them on preaching their first homily! Those three lines are Jesus' own proclamation and we are commissioned ourselves to proclaim it.
How does this "commission" occur? Baptism! Pure and simple! The passages from Genesis and 1 Peter that comprise the first two scriptures for this Sunday speak of baptism as the sign of God's covenant and deliverance. Pope Francis has challenged all of us who are baptized to be "missionary disciples." Does this mean we have to go out on the streets and wave a bible to get attention. That is certainly one way to do it but not likely the way of the majority of Catholics, at any rate. I think it does mean more than passively going to Mass and the other sacraments and considering that to be all that is expected of us as disciples. What is the connection between that observance and the rest of our daily lives? How do we bring the covenant alive so that others may witness the "kingdom of God?"
Jesus had to face temptation in the desert. The Gospel According to Mark barely mentions it today. We might have to go to Matthew 4:1-17 or Luke 4:1-13 to see that he was confronted with power, wealth and prestige to combat before he began to preach. It was a temptation to abandon his integrity and cheapen his identity. Our culture offers all those temptations and more. We see it daily in political life and in the empty promises of social media and celebrity life. Lent is a chance to confront our integrity and the needs of our neighbor that our integrity as a baptized Christian commissions us to do. Jesus' simple message applies to each one of us and we are asked to share it. AMEN