Happy Sunday!
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Genesis 9,8-15; 1 Peter 3,18-22; Mark 1,12-15: 1 Sunday of Lent, February
21, 2021)
On this first Sunday of Lent the readings speak of temptation, conversion, the
Good News and baptism. The first reading tells us about God's promise and
covenant after the flood, therefore, the good news that comes after an immense
disaster. In the second reading, Peter speaks of Jesus who, after his death,
goes to preach to the spirits, and remembers the days of Noah, that is, the
flood and salvation, thereby noting that they were like figures that announced
Christian baptism, in which there are conversion and salvation. Today's Gospel
is short, but very dense, and recalls the themes of temptation, conversion and
the Good News.
Jesus
remained in the desert forty days, tempted by satan. Mark does not
tell us about the temptations of Jesus, but only tells us that he was tempted.
Driven by the Holy Spirit, Jesus goes into the desert to prepare himself for
his ministry. He does not need conversion, but, as a man, he needs intense
preparation for a ministry of decisive importance. It is a preparation for a
spiritual battle against the forces of evil. Every great mission requires a
preparation of this type. It is not
possible to carry out an important mission without adequate spiritual
preparation.
For us, Lent is a
time of spiritual preparation for our mission. We must - and the Church insists that we-
personally face the forces of evil in prayer, with the help of God, in order to
be strengthened by God's grace and become capable of facing these same forces
in our world, and daily life. In fact, these forces of evil are active in our
existence, as well as in the world around us, where there are still so many
wars, violence and injustices. Jesus submits to this need. The Letter to the
Hebrews says that in order to
become a merciful high priest, [Jesus] had to make himself like his brothers in
all things (Hebrew 2,17) and, in particular, he had to face
temptations and overcome them. Mark tells us that in the desert Jesus is with
the beasts and, on the other hand, is served by angels. In Jesus’ spiritual
battle God is close to him and sends his angels to help him.
Immediately after
the temptations, Jesus begins to preach the Gospel of God or the Good News
(Gospel is a Greek word meaning Good News), which requires conversion and faith
from man. He announces: The time is complete
and the kingdom of God is near then he appeals: Get converted
and believe this Good News. We always need
conversion and faith in our life; the Church makes us pray for a continuous
conversion. This means that we are never sufficiently orientated towards God
and that we must always address ourselves towards him. Conversion
consists of leaving all secondary things and orienting ourselves with decision
and love towards God, trusting in his goodness and in his plan of love for us.
Only the kingdom of God can give us true happiness; we cannot look for it
elsewhere. The kingdom of God is the
fulfilment of all our deepest aspirations. It is, at the same time, man's
salvation and God's glory. We must with joy listen attentively to Jesus’
call to convert and believe in the Gospel. We must begin the journey of Lent
with commitment, and always welcome the grace of God better, who wants to
transform the world into a kingdom of justice, peace and love. God's plan,
which manifested itself in the Old Testament with the flood and salvation of
Noah, his family and all living beings, consists of eliminating evil from the
world and allowing man to live a good and beautiful life. For this reason, the
story of the flood ends with a marvellous promise that God makes to every man
and every living thing (birds, beasts, and all the animals that are in the
ark): I establish my covenant with you: No living thing will ever be
destroyed by the waters of the flood, nor will the flood devastate the earth
any more. The flood happened once, to eliminate evil from the world,
but now God affirms that there will no longer be a second flood, because we are
in a time of salvation. God’s sign of this intention to offer the earth, men
and all nature his covenant and peace is the rainbow. The Lord says: When
the clouds gather on the earth and the arch appear on the clouds, I will
remember my covenant. The clouds will no longer be
recognised as a threat of a flood, but only as God’s instrument to make the
earth fruitful.
In the second
reading, Peter teaches us that this extraordinary event of salvation after the
flood was a prefiguration of the Christian salvation that is implemented in
baptism. The passage begins in a rather obscure way: it speaks of a journey of
the dead Christ to the underworld. With his crucifixion, Jesus died from the
bodily point of view, but he is alive from the spiritual point of view, indeed fully
alive, precisely, by his death. And with this spiritual life he descends into
hell, as we say in the Creed. I am also announcing salvation to the
spirits who were waiting in prison, and especially, to
those people who were incredulous at the time of Noah (probably the term
spirits designates here, as in other passages of the New Testament, the souls
of the dead). Christ demonstrates his victory over the forces of evil with his
descent into hell. Obviously, the term hell here is not intended as hell, but designates the
sojourn of the dead, according to the Old Testament concept. The Jews spoke
of sheol, the Greeks of Hades; but
everyone was convinced that after death the soul of man went to an underground,
mysterious region, where life was no longer a human life, but a kind of shadowy
existence. Christ also brings salvation to this living room of the dead. The most
important affirmation of this passage from Peter is that the flood and Noah's
salvation serve as a prefiguration of Christian baptism. Baptism is not removal
of body dirt; it has the appearance of an ablution, but in reality, it is a
sacrament. The external ablution then becomes a sign of an interior
transformation, which means salvation. Baptism, as Peter says, is invocation of salvation addressed to God [...] by virtue of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It requires conversion and faith: Get
converted and believe! - and it brings salvation. We
should feel intimate joy for haven received the baptism that truly put us in
communion with the risen Christ and, through him, with God. We have been
radically liberated from evil. However, this does not mean that every
temptation has now become impossible for us. We are still in trial time, a time in which we have to fight to keep
the white garment we received at baptism immaculate and which symbolises the
interior purity obtained in it. Therefore, we are in a time when continuous
conversion is needed. We are truly saved, in the sense that our souls have been
purified and the Holy Spirit has come within us to communicate a new life to
us: a life of union with Christ and God, a life lived in the new covenant, which
is much more beautiful than the alliance promised to Noah and his descendants.
In this Lent we must live life of acknowledging God, because everything is his
gift; with great loyalty to his Word; and with an insistent prayer, as Jesus
did in the desert. We must therefore, live with the desire to fully welcome the
love that comes from God and wants to transform our life and the whole
world. +John I. Okoye
(graphics by Charles O Chukwubike)
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