Readings
Genesis 9:8-15
Psalm 25:4-9 1
Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15

Chants

Lent bids us to return to the innocence of baptism. As Noah and his family were saved through the waters of the deluge, we were saved through the waters of baptism, Peter reminds us in today’s Epistle.

And God’s covenant with Noah in today’s First Reading marked the start of a new world. But it also prefigured a new and greater covenant between God and His creation (see Hosea 2:20; Isaiah 11:1-9).

We see that new covenant and that new creation begin in today’s Gospel.

Jesus is portrayed as the new Adam—the beloved son of God (see Mark 1:11; Luke 3:38), living in harmony with the wild beasts (see Genesis 2:19-20), being served by angels (see Ezekiel 28:12-14).

Like Adam, He too is tempted by the devil. But while Adam fell, giving reign to sin and death (see Romans 5:12-14, 17-20), Jesus is victorious.

This is the good news, the “gospel of God” that He proclaims. Through His death, resurrection, and enthronement at the right hand of the Father, the world is once again made God’s kingdom.

In the waters of baptism, each of us entered the kingdom of His beloved Son (see Colossians 1:13-14). We were made children of God, new creations (see 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 4:3-7).

But like Jesus, and Israel before Him, we have passed through the baptismal waters only to be driven into the wilderness—a world filled with afflictions and tests of our faithfulness (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 9,13; Deuteronomy 8:2,16).

We are led on this journey by Jesus. He is the Savior—the way and the truth we sing of in today’s Psalm (see John 14:6). He feeds us with the bread of angels (see Psalm 78:25; Wisdom 16:20), and cleanses our consciences in the sacrament of reconciliation.

As we begin this holy season, let us renew our baptismal vows—to repent and believe the Gospel.

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Pope Benedict XVI
from Angelus, March 5, 2006

Today, the Gospel reminds us that Jesus, after being baptized in the River Jordan and impelled by the Holy Spirit who settled upon him and revealed him as the Christ, withdrew for 40 days into the Desert of Judea where he overcame the temptations of Satan (cf. Mk 1: 12-13). Following their Teacher and Lord, Christians also enter the Lenten desert in spirit in order to face with him the "fight against the spirit of evil".

The image of the desert is a very eloquent metaphor of the human condition. The Book of Exodus recounts the experience of the People of Israel who, after leaving Egypt, wandered through the desert of Sinai for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land.

During that long journey, the Jews experienced the full force and persistence of the tempter, who urged them to lose trust in the Lord and to turn back; but at the same time, thanks to Moses' mediation, they learned to listen to God's voice calling them to become his holy People.

In meditating on this biblical passage, we understand that to live life to the full in freedom we must overcome the test that this freedom entails, that is, temptation. Only if he is freed from the slavery of falsehood and sin can the human person, through the obedience of faith that opens him to the truth, find the full meaning of his life and attain peace, love and joy.

Saint Augustine (354-430)
from Discourse on the Psalms, Ps. 60

"Hear, O God, my cry; listen to my prayer! From the earth's end I call to you as my heart grows faint" (Ps 60[61],2-3). "Earth's end", namely everywhere... So it isn't only one person who is saying these things; and yet, yes it is one person because there is only one Christ whose members we are (Eph 5,30)... He who is calling from earth's end feels faint but is not abandoned. For it is we ourselves, that is, his body, whom the Lord willed to prefigure in his own body...

He represented us in his own person when he willed to be tempted by Satan. In the Gospel we read that our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the desert. In Christ it was you who were tempted since from you Christ took his flesh to give you his salvation, from you he took his death to give you his life, from you he underwent his mockery to give you his honor. So it was also from you he took his temptations to give you his victory. If we are tempted in him, it is in him, too, that we triumph over the devil.

Have you noticed how Christ was tempted but failed to notice that he won the victory? Recognize yourself as being tempted in him, recognize yourself as the victor in him. He might well have prevented the devil from approaching him but if he had not been tempted, how could he have taught you how to triumph over temptation?

So there's nothing surprising about it if, buffeted by temptations, he calls from earth's end, according to this psalm. But why isn't he overcome? The psalm continues: "You will set me high upon a rock»... Let us recall the Gospel: «Upon this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16,18).

So what he wanted to build on the rock was the Church who calls from earth's end. But who has become a rock so that the Church might be built on the rock? Hear Saint Paul telling us: "The rock is the Christ" (1Cor 10,4). Thus it is on him that we are built. And yet see how the rock on which we were built was the first to be buffeted by winds, floods and rain when Christ was tempted by the devil (Mt 7,25). See the unshakeable foundation on which he wished to set you!