First Sunday of Lent

The liturgy of the Church celebrates the salvation which Christ has won for us through his cross and resurrection. Whenever we participate in any liturgical act, and above all in Mass, we come face to face, as it were, with the grace of Christ’s saving act. We make our own the fruits of the Saviour’s passion. The point of entry for each one of us into this saving sphere was the sacrament of baptism. The waters of this first and fundamental sacrament became for us the waters of life, cleansing us of the old nature and recreating us in the likeness of the risen Christ. The theme of baptism links our first two readings on this opening Sunday of Lent.

The apostle Peter views the great flood at the time of Noah from a spiritual perspective, understanding it to be a type or foreshadowing of Christian baptism. The destructive waters of the flood represent the power of baptismal waters which destroy sin and evil and set us at rights and at peace before God. These sacramental waters are charged with the power of Christ’s resurrection. They are “divinised”, and their effect is to make of us sons and daughters of the living God. Saint Peter would have us remember that what made all this possible was the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he who was innocent dying for the guilty. Lent is a call to us believers to grow in appreciation of this awesome truth.

We know only too well from experience the daily struggle which the Christian life often entails. Temptations and trials come in so many different forms. We find reassurance in the knowledge that the Son of God was no stranger to the human predicament. The Evangelist Mark records how Christ spent forty days and forty nights confronted by temptation, enticed to follow paths contrary to his Father’s will and design for him. He did not yield and his example continues to inspire us. Beginning with our initiation at baptism, we find our strength for the struggle in the sacraments and liturgy of the Church. We might even consider the season of Lent, just beginning, as a preparation for the renewal of our baptismal promises on Easter Day.

+Michael Campbell OSA
Coadjutor Bishop of Lancaster