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First Sunday of Lent (C)

March 09, 2025

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Introit

Collect

Grant, almighty God,
through the yearly observances of holy Lent,
that we may grow in understanding
of the riches hidden in Christ
and by worthy conduct pursue their effects.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Dt 26:4-10

Moses spoke to the people, saying: 4 “When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, 5 you shall make this response before the Lord your God: “‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6 When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, 7 we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 “‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’” And Moses continued, “You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 91:1-2,10-11,12,13,14-15

R/. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Second Reading Rom 10:8-13

Brothers and sisters, 8 what does scripture say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Verse Before the Gospel Mt 4:4b

Gospel Lk 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Catena Nova

Notice where it was that the Spirit led Jesus—not into the city or the market place, but into the desert. Since Jesus wished to entice the devil he gave him his opportunity not only by his own hunger, but also by his choice of place. The devil usually attacks people when he sees them alone by themselves. He does not dare to do so when he sees them together with others. It is for this reason especially that we should frequently meet with one another. If we do not we may become an easy prey for the devil. And so, the devil finds Jesus in the desert, in a trackless wilderness. (St. John Chrysostom)

The very body of the Christian is in a sense a desert when it is not filled with food and cheered with drink…. Then Christ the Lord inhabits the desert of our body—when he has found that our land is desolate because of hunger and parched because of thirst. Then the Savior dwelling in this desert of our body overcomes there all the factions of the devil, and safe and secure from the thoughts of this world he takes it for his habitation, so that from then on we might see heaven and earth within ourselves…. That is to say, we might think of nothing other than the Lord of the heavenly Kingdom and the author of earthly resurrection. (St. Maximus of Turin)

We have within us deeply rooted weaknesses, passions, and defects. This can not all be cut out with one sharp motion, but patience, persistence, care and attention. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that he will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received the force of habit. Only with the passage of time and with fervor will they be conquered. Don't let anything deprive you of hope.
(St. Nectarios of Aegina)

Of what should we be afraid? Our captain on this battlefield is Christ Jesus. We have discovered what we have to do. Christ has bound our enemies for us and weakened them that they cannot overcome us unless we so choose to let them. So we must fight courageously and mark ourselves with the sign of the most Holy Cross. (St. Catherine of Siena)

Jesus goes into the desert, therefore he fasts; therefore he leaves behind everything else that a man needs even for bare existence, so that for this once not just in the depths of his heart but in the whole range of his being he can do and say what is the first and last duty of humankind – to find God, to see God, to belong to God to the exclusion of everything else that makes up human life. And therefore he fasts. Therefore through this cruelly hard act, this denial of all comfort, this refusal of food and drink, through the solitude and abandonment of the desert, through everything else that involves a rejection, a self-denial of the world and all earthly company, through all these he proclaims this fact: one thing only is necessary, that I be with God, that I find God, and everything else, no matter how great or beautiful, is secondary and subordinate and must be sacrificed, if needs be, to this ultimate movement of heart and spirit. (Fr. Karl Rahner)

The greatest temptations are not those that solicit our consent to obvious sin, but those that offer us great evils masking as the greatest goods. (Fr. Thomas Merton)

How often we experience in our own lives, or in our own families, among our friends or neighbours, the pain which arises when the dignity we carry within is not recognized. How many times have we had to cry and regret on realizing that we have not acknowledged this dignity in others. How often — and it pains me to say it — have we been blind and impervious in failing to recognize our own and others’ dignity. Lent is a time for reconsidering our feelings, for letting our eyes be opened to the frequent injustices which stand in direct opposition to the dream and the plan of God. (Pope Francis)

Homily

A wandering Italian was my grandfather (and my grandmother too). Perhaps yours were Irish, or German, Polish. Maybe your father or mother wandered here from Mexico, or Vietnam, or the Philippines. Maybe you have wandered here yourself from Korea, or India, or Honduras. In recent years wanderers have made an unexpected trek from Ukraine, as they have from Afghanastan. But even if your ancestors have been here for generations, from before the Revolution, or forced to come here from Africa, native to this land they were not. While those who are often wandered in trails of tears as their land was taken from them or were forced onto other than ancestral homelands.

So like the Jews of old, we are all a nation of wanderers: in this place we call "America." Here we became a nation, great, mighty, and populous, as the Hebrews first did in Egypt. And for some, though clearly not all, this land flows with milk and honey, a place to prosper and thrive – inflation aside. While others — too many — shared Israel’s later fate and were all too often treated harshly, and afflicted, with hard bondage laid upon them even if few would return from whence they came. (I)

And people who know what it means to wander from an “old country” to a new one — one that likes to think of itself as a “melting pot” — such people should also know what Paul means when he says, There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all nations (II). We should know this better than anyone else. It's the deepest place where the Gospel and "America" might meet – yet so often do not.

For the mottos that inspire us as a nation could be taken as a gloss on Paul's words. Like the one that appears on our coins, from the (soon-to-disappear) copper penny to the silver dollar: E pluribus unum (“From the many, one”). And yet, we are divided as never before. Black from white, rich from poor, MAGA and everyone else. Our national gaps grow wider every day — not to mention our international ones. Some even worry we're close to the same point that rent North from South during the Civil War.

Or take the other motto that appears on every piece of American currency, paper or coin: “In God we trust.” Sounds like Jesus’ response to the devil, doesn’t it?: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’ (G). But does a nation that relies so much on its vaunted wealth really trust in God more than its Gross Domestic Product or the New York Stock Exchange? Or does a nation that stockpiles weapons of mass destruction trust more in its nuclear arsenal than in God? Or does a nation that closes its borders lest its milk and honey flow to others really trust in God for its abundance?

These are all national temptations. And they seduce us with siren songs of security while making us forget where our true greatness lies. Just as Jesus faced choices between bread and the Word of God; between manifest destiny and renouncing claims to superpower; between freedom to do as he pleased with his life and trust in divine providence. Just as Jesus faced those choices, so must we -- and not only as individuals, but as a nation, for the commandments of God were given to the people from the time of Moses onward (cf. I).

If, then, we are truly the sons and daughters of God, we must guard ourselves against such temptations whenever they appear. And as a nation repent whenever we succumb to them: a collective fast from some of our abundance so that others might share the first fruit of the ground (I); a collective prayer that our trust might truly be in God; and collective almsgiving, so that all the kingdoms of the world (G) might be free of their toil, affliction and oppression (cf. I).

Pope Francis has called for as much in his annual Lenten message:

A first call to conversion…comes from the realization that all of us are pilgrims in this life; each of us is invited to stop and ask how our lives reflect this fact. Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone? Am I seeking ways to leave behind the occasions of sin and situations that degrade my dignity? It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father. This would be a good “examination of conscience” for all of us wayfarers.

It means walking side-by-side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded. Let us all walk in the same direction, tending towards the same goal, attentive to one another in love and patience. (January 30, 2025)

And it's in this way we can together bring our gift today, which the priest shall take from your hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God (cf. I). Making the worship we offer pure, and what we confess with our lips sincere, namely that Jesus is Lord (II). Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

Intercessions (Joe Milner; The Sunday Website)

For the Church: that the Spirit will lead us closer to God and help us remain faithful children of God.

For all who are estranged from the Church: that the Spirit will heal their wounds, give them a new understanding, and help them find a welcoming community to support them on their faith journey.

For all who fast during this season, both Christians in observance of Lent and Muslims in observance of Ramadan: that they may grow in their awareness that God is the source and strength of their life.

For all who hunger each day, particularly children: that our hearts may be open to sharing our bounty with all who are in need during this Lenten season.

For all who exercise power: that world leaders will remain committed to the values of human dignity and the common good and be united against falsehood and violence.

For all who are struggling with life: that God will send angels to assist those who have lost meaning and purpose in life.

For healing of racial, ethnic, and religious divisions: that God who is the Lord of all the human family will break down the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding so that we may work together for God’s glory.

For all who are celebrating the Rite of Election or Call to Continuing Conversion: that they may grow in their knowledge of God’s love for them and into greater unity with the Church.

For peace: that God will bring an end to violence in Ukraine, Congo and Israel-Palestine, protect the innocent, preserve human rights and dignity, and free those held hostage.

Lord our God,
you alone do we worship,
only your word gives life.
Sustain your Church on its Lenten journey.
When we walk through the desert of temptation,
strengthen us to renounce the power of evil.
When our faith is tested by doubt,
illumine our hearts with Easter’s bright promise.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)

Offertory Antiphon

Offertory Chant (Orthodox Chant for Great Lent)

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Open to me the doors of repentance, O Life Giver,
for my spirit rises early to pray towards thy holy temple.
Bearing the temple of my body all defiled;
but in Thy compassion, purify me by the loving kindness of Thy mercy.

Now and ever and unto the end of the ages. Amen.

Lead me on the paths of salvation, O Mother of God,
for I have profaned my soul with shameful sins,
and have wasted my life in laziness.
But by your intercessions, deliver me from all impurity.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy and according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgressions.

When I think of the many evil things I have done; wretch that I am,
I tremble at the fearful day of judgment,
but trusting in Thy loving kindness, like David I cry to Thee:

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.

Communion Antiphon

Closing Hymn

Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Sunbeams scorching all the day;
Chilly dew-drops nightly shed;
Prowling beasts about Thy way;
Stones Thy pillow; earth Thy bed.

Should not we Thy sorrow share
And from worldly joys abstain,
Fasting with unceasing prayer,
Strong with Thee to suffer pain?

Then if Satan on us press,
Jesus, Savior, hear our call!
Victor in the wilderness,
Grant we may not faint nor fall!

So shall we have peace divine:
Holier gladness ours shall be;
Round us, too, shall angels shine,
Such as ministered to Thee.

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
Ever constant by Thy side;
That with Thee we may appear
At the eternal Eastertide.

First Reading Dt 26:4-10

Responsorial Psalm Ps 91:1-2,10-11,12,13,14-15

Gospel Lk 4:1-13

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