Our First Reading shares the story of the Garden of Eden. If you are like me, you have probably heard this story many times. Hearing it again today, what do you focus on most? Today, for me, the focus is on the verse, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized...” especially in this Lenten season.
There are other lines that I had focused on before, but this one speaks to me now. In my life, I have evolved to the person I am through many sins and transgressions; I am not boastful, but honest of my history. This line makes me reflect on occasions when my eyes were opened. That has happened a few times in my life. Have you experienced your eyes being opened? What did you realize once your eyes were opened?
Our Psalm repeats asking for the Lord’s mercy even though we sinned. This is not an authorization to sin, but a reassurance that, if or when we do sin, God will always be there waiting to forgive us. We need to be sincere in our request in asking for His forgiveness for sinning against Him. We are reminded of His great and eternal love for us and give Him praise and glory. How can I show my love for Him this Lent? What actions can I adjust in my life to illustrate my love for God and my thankfulness for His forgiveness?
Our second reading is very deep and specific to our spirituality. Without the salvation won by our Lord Jesus Christ, death would mean both the end of earthly life and the end of our relationship with God. Now, when we pass from this Earth to life with Him, we are following Jesus’ path of salvation and are delivered from sin and death into righteousness with Him in paradise. When I hear this reading, I cannot help but wonder how difficult it must have been to have faith before Jesus’ time. So many of the teachings prior to Jesus are difficult to understand without His clarification and without His Passion and Resurrection. Are there struggles in my life that I focus too intently on and cannot see His path for me? Perhaps there are times that I could pause this Lent and ask for the gifts of understanding?
Today’s Gospel tells us of Jesus being tempted in the desert for forty days. There is no coincidence that during Lent we have forty days until Easter and then forty days leading up to the Ascension. We fast and abstain from meat and other foods during Lent to perform penance for our sins. We want to personally experience a closeness with Jesus in this time of fasting. How will I initiate changes that will bring me closer to Jesus this Lenten time up to Easter? How will I celebrate Him with others in the next forty days after Easter?
~Ray Martinelli