DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Gen, 2,7-9; 3,1-7; Rom 5,12-19; Matt, 4,1-11; 1 Sunday of
Lent:Year A)
One
of the questions that comes into mind on this first Sunday of Lent is: why were these readings chosen for this
Sunday? The simple reason is that we are in Lent, which is
a period of fourty days devoted to the preparation for the annual celebration
of the Paschal mysteries (the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ),
a period in which we make some serious, personal and communal effort in the
fight against sin and all sorts of moral evil. There are two fundamental
questions we should ask ourselves: Why was it necessary that Christ should face
suffering and death? Why does sin diffuse in the world and why are we
continually subjected to temptation and sin? The answers to these questions are
contained in the readings of today.
Sin
entered into the world, according to the first reading from the book of Genesis,
as a consequence of original sin. Through the fault of our first parents sin
became part of every human being, like a powerful force evil. Personal sin is
nothing but the prolongation of the evil caused by the first sin of Adam and
Eve. Christ came and sacrificed himself to repay the harm that was done by
original sin, (original sin is aggravated by multitudes of personal sins of
human race) redeem us from the slavery of sin, restore friendship and communion
of life with God and teach us the way to salvation as well as the correct way
of realising our true happiness. Going beyond the symbols used in the story of
the fall of Adam and Eve we should try to gain insight into the theological and
religious meaning of the passage. Reading this passage we see the abundance of
God’s providence for his privileged creature, man, whom He created with much
love, put him in a beautiful garden where other creatures lower than him were,
then placed a woman similar to him at his side, as his companion and helper.
This was the situation of man in the state of grace and friendship with God.
Unfortunately, man’s response to God’s love was lack of trust disobedience him.
The essence of original sin consisted in man’s pretence to be able to realise
himself without God, to be able to be like
God, fully autonomous and
auto-sufficient. It was a catastrophe for man to try separating himself from
God, for he immediately found himself naked, with neither
power nor dignity. This was the fall of Adam and Eve, a fall through which sin entered
into the world involving every human being.
God,
however, neither abandoned man to himself, nor permit his design of love to
fail. In the fullness of time, he sent his only Son to redeem the human race.
This is why, Paul in the second reading affirms: If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence
of one man’s fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will
cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not
deserve, of being made righteous. Just as we all became
sinners because of the disobedience of Adam awe all became righteous because of
the obedience of Christ. Christ through his obedience to God the Father
redeemed us and restored the friendship between man and God, the relationship
broke through Adam’s. In order to profit from the redemption wrought by
Christ and from the graces therefrom, we have to fight with Christ against all
seduction to evil. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was really tempted as a
human person. His temptation was not only in the desert at the beginning of his
public ministry, but all through his life on earth. He was tempted to reject
and avoid the cross, poverty, humiliation, and suffering, as was willed by God,
the Father. He was also tempted to seek auto-affirmation, power and
wealth. He refuted all these, inspired by the Bible as he repeated: it is written. The
will of God, the Father enlightened the way of life of a poor and suffering
Messiah and Jesus did not want to deflect from it for any reason. We,
Christians of today, are tempted in the same way Adam and Jesus were tempted:
We are tempted to seek happiness outside God and without Him; to assert
ourselves against his will; not to repose confidence in God but in human
beings, wealth, success, power, etc. The gospel truth is that it is only in
obedience to God and dependence on Him and in the faithful execution of his
will, can we achieve our full happiness and realisation of ourselves. We can
find the will of God and his design of love for man only in the word
of God, in the sacred books of the Bible.
During
this period of Lent we are advised and exhorted to give the following some
consideration. (1) To devote time and give attention for the docile, reflective
and contemplative study of the Bible. Our study of the bible should not be
geared towards the acquisition of information about God and his
salvific plan, as is contained in the Bible, but should be aimed at transformation of
our lives. (2) To devote more time to personal prayer that illumines the mind
to understand the will of God and gives the fortitude of will to carry it out.
(3) To undertake some exercise in mortification, denying ourselves of
legitimate rights with the aim of acquiring some virtue (good habit) or
eliminating some vice (bad habit) and strengthening our will. Let us,
therefore, at the beginning of Lent pray that Christ who retired into the
desert for forty days and nights praying and fasting may help us to imitate him
in this period of Lent so that we may worthily and profitably participate in
the mother of all feasts, the great feast of Easter.
+John I. Okoye
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