26/02/2023

We are asked by the Church this first Sunday of Lent to reflect on what we are. It is certain that we are, that we exist. There has been a long period of time before us. Genesis reveals that our first parents chose to listen to Satan and turn away from God. There is a huge question that has faced all mankind since the Fall. Our God is Evergreater. Why did he not crush Satan when he first rebelled?

God respects his Creation. His spiritual beings the Angels were created to be free and out of their choice came Satan and all of mankind's spiritual enemies. This still leaves the question unanswered. We believe that there is nothing greater than God. We have to accept that what we face today is what God wants even though it is beyond our understanding.

Jesus the Son is inspired by the Spirit to leave his friends behind and go to a lonely place to be with his Father and pray in his humanity. He fasts and even though he is one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit his earthly being, man, is attacked by Satan who loses in this Cosmic Struggle. Jesus' body has many more trials and tribulations to undergo before "it is finished".

St Paul, who although a tent maker had spent his life as a fervent Jew in studying the Scriptures before he had been blinded by the Resurrected Christ and perceived the light of God's revelation,  knows that the doom of death brought about by our first parents' wrong choice has been eradicated by God's self chosen humiliation as a man and horrific suffering and death.

The witness for this is the Glory of the Resurrection. This is reality. We can only bow our heads and worship in wonder.

Dear Lord help me to accept my life in your creation for what it is. Help me to close out sin and open my being to your grace which you pour out over all the world. Send your Holy Spirit into the the Structure that is your Body on earth that it may bravely face Satan and help to bring "the sheep" to the sheepfold of the "Good Shepherd. May the constant prayerful help of Mary and all the Saints with you in Heaven, be with us on Earth and with the Holy Souls in Purgatory.