FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR "B"

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT   Cycle  “B”

Mark 1, 12 - 15:  Repentance

            One day a little girl was asked, “What were you before your conversion ?”  She answered, “I was a sinner.”  “And after your conversion, what are you ?”  She answered again, “I am a sinner.”  “What difference did conversion make to you, then ?”   She answered again, “ Before my conversion I was a sinner running after sin.  But now I’m a sinner running away from sin ?” 

For many of us with a traditional religious upbringing, Lent has childhood connotations of “giving things up”  -  doing without sweets and treats, feeling perhaps that we were storing up good works that would make us more attractive to God.  Be that as it may, the Gospel teaches us that repentance is at the heart of renewal. Perhaps, for some people repentance appears as a rather old-fashioned idea. It is as if we have become too sophisticated to acknowledge our weaknesses and failures. Nothing could be further from the truth. We all sin and we all need forgiveness.

Lent is the season of repentance. If we approach it with the right attitude we can mature in our faith. True repentance brings forgiveness, freedom and joy. It liberates us from the hold of sin and allows us to taste anew God’s love and mercy, for Lent is also a time of great joy, renewal and refreshment.

            In his book entitled, “Mere Christianity”, the author C.S. Lewis, talking about the “Perfect Penitent”, says, “It needs a good man to repent.  And here comes the catch. Only a bad person needs to repent; only a good person can repent perfectly. The worse you are, the more you need it and the less you can do it.” 

            Even our prayer becomes difficult because our concentration wanders about in the sludge of self-recrimination and the disturbing remembrance of our sins. If you find it difficult to pray, why not try reading the psalms. For instance,  Psalm 37 begins like this: “Fret not thyself...” and Psalm 84,6 reads: “If you are going through a vale of misery....use it for a well....and early rain fills it.”  Using it for a well means for us today going deep into the waters of prayer, fellowship, scripture reading, changing direction by making a re-commitment to Jesus Christ.  Out of these experiences will surely come profound change.  Gradually we will find our prayers moving away from our self-centred concerns; away from selfish requests for holy electrical energy to come down and help us fulfil our purposes and solve our problems.  Instead, you will slowly turn from self-centred to God-centred prayer.

In the book of Isaiah, Chapter 6, Isaiah saw and understood that he was going to be purified by something far beyond his own power. As he stood before the altar of incense, one of the angels took hold of a red live coal with a pair of tongs, flew down with it and placed it into the mouth of the prophet. It does not require much imagination to see that having a live coal out in your mouth can surely be an unpleasant feeling. Yet surely there are times when such suffering has to be part of the repentance. I believe there can be no real repentance without pain and no real contrition without courage. It takes a courageous Christian to confess his sins.  Then Isaiah heard the wonderful words: “This has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.”  And the scripture goes on, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go on our behalf ?’  And I, Isaiah said, ‘Here am I, send me.’”

For some it has meant, “Send me to prison.” For others, “Send me to martyrdom; to persecution for the faith.” What could it be for you and me. It may well mean something much more disagreeable than we expected. Whatever it may be, with St. Augustine we shall repeat, “In his will we find our peace.”

PRAYER:       Lord, take my offering of self-denial this Lent, as a sign of my great longing for you. I hunger for your presence in my life, and I thirst for your love. I hunger for justice for those who are wronged and oppressed, and I thirst for your peace. I hunger for a glimpse of your glory, and I thirst for your stillness in my heart. God of giving, God of longing, God of pain, I hunger for you.