February 18, 2018: First Sunday of Lent

In the early days of the Church, someone desiring to join would go through a lengthy process of preparation, which would intensify in a 40-day period before Easter, at which the initiation sacraments would happen.

This 40-day period of time has since become the liturgical season of Lent, and the reading and symbols often speak to baptism and what it means to be in relationship with God.

We see baptism as a major theme in the readings.  After flooding the Earth, God establishes a covenant between Himself and all living beings and even the Earth itself, promising never to destroy the Earth again.  St. Peter in the 2nd reading writes about how the flood prefigures baptism, which is not removing dirt from the body physically, "but an appeal to God for a clear conscience."

Lent is our opportunity in the desert space, where we come to understand who we are, to turn away from what is wrong and toward what is right, and what brings us closer to relationship with the God Who loves us.  Even Jesus gives us an example in the temptations He faces in the desert to turn away from sin and toward a right relationship with God.  It's fitting that His first proclamation after finishing His time in the wilderness is a call to turn toward God and grow closer in a relationship to which He invites us with Himself.