Notes from Fr. Jim's Keyboard, February 18, 2024
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The season of Lent is here! May the ashes we received on Ash Wednesday be but an outward sign of our desire to grow closer to God and one another during this Lenten season. Our parish is offering many opportunities for spiritual growth throughout this season; as listed in the bulletin, on our website, and in the Lent brochure mailed to our registered parishioners. Our Sunday Scripture readings during Lent help to focus our goals. Let’s look at today’s readings for some inspiration:
• Our first reading… from the Book of Genesis is about the famous story of Noah and the Ark. The main symbol of the story is not really the ark itself, but the rainbow that symbolizes God’s covenant with Noah and us. A “covenant” is much more than a contract. It is God’s never-ending pledge of love for each of us. But we’re called to do our part as well! This is echoed in the Responsorial Psalm refrain which follows: ”Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth, to those who keep your covenant.”
• Our second reading… from the First Letter of Peter also mentions Noah’s ark. The writer sees spiritual significance in the story, comparing the waters sailed by the ark to the waters of baptism. And how appropriate this insight is, since the early Church emphasized Lent as a time of baptismal renewal, as Christians journeyed with those who are preparing for the nsacrament of baptism. May we keep these folks known as “catechumens” in our prayer this Lent, especially those from our own Parish who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil.
• In today’s Gospel… Jesus goes into the desert for forty days, which prefigures our own Lenten desert of forty days. Emerging from the desert, Jesus proclaims: ”This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.” This refrain heralds the start of our weekend Lenten Masses. How do we seek to be fulfilled in life? Through money, success, power? Jesus offers us a different vision. We are only fulfilled through him, as we strive to put his words into action: “Repent and believe in the gospel.”
Fr. Jim Chepponis