By Deacon Richard Hay
“Covenant Relationship”
I want you all to know that I was watching as each of you entered the church. Based on all the clean foreheads, everyone has had the opportunity to at least wash their faces in the last few days since receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday.
Apparently, we have a very hygienic group of parishioners.
In all seriousness though, think about the story of the Ninevites – you remember Jonah and the whale story, right from last month? The people of Nineveh repented by putting on sack cloth and covering themselves in ashes – and I don’t think it was just something on their forehead either.
Today we don’t put on the sack cloth and cover ourselves completely with ashes, but those ashes we received are a representation of offering that type of penance.
Remember, that no matter how long we wore those ashes – our intent this Lenten season is to always be “wearing” those ashes.
Whether your ashes were a smudge, a perfect cross, or anything in between – picture those ashes on your forehead and remember why we received them and why they are so important – as symbols of our repentance and conversion.
As each of us received those ashes, we heard one of two phrases:
“Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
When we hear “Repent and believe in the Gospel” we acknowledge that we are all sinners and imperfect and need God’s forgiveness. We seek forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation because we believe in the Gospel and know that forgiveness and the cleansing of our souls only comes from God – a gift of grace instituted by Jesus through the Apostles. Lent gives us a focused time to prepare for Easter through the disciplines of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving – so that we can understand where we sometimes fall short and pray to improve in those areas.
The other phrase you may have heard, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is a reminder that we are not of this world – that we are intended for much more – that is to spend eternity in joyful praise with God in heaven. No matter how big our house is, how shiny our car might be, or how many other possessions we might have, we will all ultimately return to dust.
Through the Lenten disciplines we can come to realize that we need to do more for others in this life though when it comes to fulfilling God’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.
This first week of Lent can also be pretty daunting as we each decide what our Lent might look like. What we will do differently within the disciplines of Lent. What we might give up or add to our faith lives to grow closer to God in these forty days – to not only build new habits that bring us closer to God but those that will help us to keep building that relationship even after Lent is over.
That brings us to the readings on this first Sunday of Lent and there is plenty of reason to have hope as we enter this penitential season.
Let’s begin with the first reading from Genesis – this is the story of where God establishes a covenant with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature after the flood. In this covenant, God promises to never destroy the earth again with a flood. Ever since, we often see the rainbow in the sky after it rains to remind us of that covenant with Noah.
The flood served its purpose because it cleansed the earth and made all things new again. It overcame the sinfulness that prompted God to bring the flood, but he also had mercy to not end all of humanity – thus He makes the covenant with Noah – the flood waters being like the Holy Spirit that flows into us through our baptisms and all the other sacraments we receive.
Our responsorial psalm today reminds us of the relationship that is part of our covenant with God. It reminds us that the Lord is “love and truth” to those of us who keep that covenant. We hear a call asking the Lord to “make known his paths and to remember us in His kindness”; and an acknowledgement that He “teaches the humble His ways”.
Lent is an opportunity for us to be humble and to learn how our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving can help us grow closer to God and not just assume we are already in a perfect relationship with God. Lent takes work because relationships take work and Lent gives us the opportunity to proclaim that God “is our Savior” in our lives and in that relationship we have with Him.
In the second reading from First Peter, we hear a reference back to the time of Noah and the flood, but now the flood is replaced by our baptism which “saves us” as Peter says. The Holy Spirit poured out for all of us through all the sacraments – which begins of course at baptism.
In Mark’s gospel today there are two distinct story lines – both very short.
First, right after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he went out into the desert for 40 days and was tempted by Satan before he began His public ministry. Those three years of ministry would eventually lead to the new covenant in the blood of Christ which was shed on the cross for all of us. This is also a part of the hope we have in this season of Lent – leading to Easter.
Then, in the second part, after John the Baptist has been arrested, Jesus proclaims the gospel of God when he says:
“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
With that last line, we come back full circle to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of this season of Lent – once again a reminder that we must repent and believe in the Gospel to grow in our relationship with God.
Otherwise, all our efforts during Lent are just checking items off a list. While I am a fan of a good to do list and checking items off of it, that is not how we should approach our faith.
Faith requires relationship and Lent gives us a perfect season to improve our relationship with our God.
