February 21, 2021: First Sunday of Lent

After His baptism, Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, for, as the reading in the Gospel of St. Mark describes it, the Spirit "drove Jesus" there.

Even in a barren place, evocative of lifelessness and vulnerability, God was at work.  Jesus strengthened His identity as God's beloved Son in the midst of facing temptations, and in His victory.

So we enter into the desert of the 40 days of Lent once more, which serves as a reflection of this pandemic and how the limitations have made life seem barren at times to varying degrees.  Yet we know God is at work.  In a barren place, we strive for a more authentic existence, seeking to know our God more deeply and to know who we are in God's sight.

We know that God has been at work to save us, going all the way back to the flood in the days of Noah.  Once the flood waters receded, God established a covenant with Noah and all the living creatures, a new order in creation.  As St. Peter writes, the flood prefigured baptism, which saves us now, because it cleanses us on the inside so we are made right in God's sight, and are elevated to right relationship with Him, setting our sights on Heaven.

So truly, knowing our God works to make us right, we turn away from sin and toward Him, because this is the time of fulfillment, and the Kingdom of God is at hand, because Jesus accompanies us, and, even in barren circumstances, is at work.