Sunday Gospel Reflection: February 17, 2013 ~ He shall call upon me, and I will answer him...

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him...

As Jesus steps out of the waters of the Jordan after his baptism in Luke’s Gospel, we are told that the Holy Spirit pretty much immediately sends him into the desert, a place of trial and tribulation, of wilderness and chaos.  This sounds like a trap, not an opportunity.  Yet, in fact, the temptation of Jesus at the end of his 40 days in the desert does offer him an opportunity, a chance not to bypass tribulation, but to embrace it, thereby demonstrating his ultimate faithfulness to his relationship with God, reversing the transgression of Adam.

We ourselves are now embarking on our own 40 days in the desert, 40 days of a journey through Lent, before we arrive at the joy of Easter.  How might we spend those 40 days?  We could start, as Moses recommends the people of Israel do in Deuteronomy, with prayer.  Prayer puts our lives into context by nurturing that all-important relationship and by allowing us to recognize that everything in our life is God’s doing.  Our prayer can be one of praise and thanksgiving:  Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil, which you, O Lord, have given me, or, as we hear in Psalm 91 this week, one of trusting entreaty:  Be with me Lord, when I am in trouble; in either case, we have the reassurance of God’s loving kindness:  I will deliver you.  St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans similarly recognizes another means to unite us with God, that of witness or testimony:  if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  

If the Spirit moves you into the wilderness, you go.  And Lent is a kind of wilderness, a period during which we are called to imitate Jesus, following him into the desert of self-denial and sacrifice.  But at the same time, we are also called to embrace the relationship Jesus lived with all of his being, beginning with close attention to the prayer that joins us to God and offering our testimony to the power of his love in our lives.  Lent is an opportunity, a chance to relinquish control to the God who is always faithful, whose love will bring us through any trial or tribulation, whose presence brings us to victory on the cross, and to the joy of rising.

This reflection is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture Class.
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