Springtime of Renewal (1st Sunday Lent B)

Lent is from an old English word Lencten meaning “spring”—a season when days are lengthen and all of nature comes alive after the sleep of winter. Lent is a springtime, a period of renewal and growth in the life of the spirit.

Three images—desert, flood, rainbow—in today’s readings will show us why. The “desert” experience brings intimacy with God; the “flood” experience brings conversion and new life; and the “rainbow” experience brings hope and confidence in God’s victory. Let us reflect on these three images and allow our Lenten journey to be as flourishing as the spring.

The “desert” experience brings intimacy with God.  The first image is that of the desert. In today’s gospel (Mk. 1:12-15), we see Jesus, after his baptism and before beginning his years of public ministry, being led by the Spirit “into the desert," where he is tempted by Satan. All throughout the Scriptures, the desert is often referred to as a place of trials and of purification from all idols. The Israelites lived in the desert for forty years in order to be tested and purified of their idolatrous habits. Jesus is also tested in the desert and offered the idols of power, wealth and fame. But he passed all trials by his fidelity to the Father. 

The desert is a place where our illusions of self-sufficiency and comfort fade away. When we are in the desert we quickly realize that we need God. Lent is our desert experience too. For forty days our minds and hearts are trained to be faithful to and intimate with God. The three traditional disciplines of Lent help us towards self-emptying and intimacy with God: Fasting sets us free from self-centeredness; our works of mercy lead us to serve and love our neighbors in need; and the discipline of prayer brings intimacy with God whom we choose to be the center of our lives.

Let us allow this season and its disciplines to lead us into greater intimacy with God. What would represent the desert experience for my journey this season of Lent?

The “flood” experience brings conversion and new life. The second image in today's first and second readings is the flood.  The 40-day flood in Noah’s time was God’s act of washing away sin and evil from the earth in order to forge a new beginning.  That ancient flood of water foreshadowed Christian baptism.  In the second reading (1 Pt 3: 18-22), Peter tells us that we are now saved by a baptismal bath which corresponds to the great flood: the waters of baptism washed away all that is sinful in us and we enter into a new life, a new covenant relationship with God.

Lent is our “flood experience”—our opportunity for repentance and conversion as the Gospel reading today calls forth: “Change your ways and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:15). Our Lenten journey looks forward to the renewal of our baptismal promises on Easter and invites us to accompany those who will receive the gift of new life through baptism.

We ardently pray therefore for the grace of a life-changing repentance and the joyful appreciation of our new life in baptism.

The “rainbow” experience brings hope and confidence in God’s victory. The third image is the rainbow. In the first reading (Gen. 9:8-15), the rainbow is a symbol of God covenant with Noah. We can grant that Noah had completely no idea about the prismatic refraction of light in a rainbow as its scientific explanation, but he did understand its spiritual meaning. The rainbow stands for God’s covenant with him—God’s promise of victory over the destructive power of sin. In Jesus Christ God fulfilled this promise.

Life on earth is difficult. We still experience the oppressive power of sin and the suffering it brings. Lent offers us our “rainbow” experience. Lent helps us anticipate the glorious victory of Christ on Easter Sunday. Lent allows us to remember even in the face of unspeakable sufferings that there is always hope and we can be confident that Jesus, who himself was crucified, will not let us down as He has overcome the destructive power of sin in his resurrection.  

Can I also be a “rainbow” to others who are experiencing defeat in life? Can I share to them my hope and confidence in the victory of God?

Indeed, Lent is a springtime, a season when our spiritual life blossoms as we experience intimacy, renewal, and hope.

Rainbow After the Rain (1st Sunday of Lent B)

There’s a rainbow after the rain. So we say along with the poets.  This poetic solace has done the trick since the time of Noah’s covenant until the dawn of global warming when climate change has apparently altered the rules: There are just more rain now after a downpour.  Luzon had Ondoy a few years ago; and a couple of years later, Mindanao was caught asleep as Sendong’s downpour caused a ravishing flash flood carrying along heavy logs from the mountains of Bukidnon.  

I had a chance to visit the “Tent City” in Cagayan de Oro during the Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao Convention.  Hundreds of families displaced by typhoon Sendong were temporarily relocated at the site. The night before our visit, it rained.  Once more, the families living in the tents were flooded!  When we arrived the following day, some men were digging canals around the area as the clouds were becoming dark again! Shouldn’t these people be given a rainbow to see instead of another dark formation of clouds?

What happened to the covenant made by God with Noah and those who were saved from the great flood?  The first reading today (Gn. 9: 8-15) reminds us of the establishment of the covenant that never again shall a flood devastate the earth.  The rainbow has been designated as the sign of this covenant. Has God forgotten the covenant?

Some people attribute the calamities to the “act of God.”  But biblical faith has proclaimed God’s fidelity.  God is a faithful God.  He remembers and upholds the covenant.  It is humanity, the other end of the covenant, who easily forgets.  We, the people of God, have consistently been unfaithful to Him.  The floods and calamities they bring are not from God but are the direct and inevitable consequences of our recklessness and mindless exploitation of the abundance of God’s creation.  We have become the greedy destroyer of nature and have turned our back to God’s invitation for us to be a responsible steward of the integrity and beauty of creation.

I consider them today’s prophets who defend our environment and call for a radical change in our lifestyle.  Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is a prophet’s voice shouting in the wilderness.  But like all other prophets, today’s prophets continue to experience being brushed aside.  We hear the message and the warning but we don’t truly listen.  This was the same dynamics as in the time of Noah.  People continue with their business-as-usual attitudes.  I’m truly afraid that unless we listen, unless we learn our lessons, unless we change our ways, unless we act collectively and with responsibility, there will no longer be rainbows. There will be just rain. Heavy downpour.  Calamities after calamities. As we are beginning to see in fact.

Lent is a season of repentance.  Once again we hear Jesus’ message in today’s gospel (Mk. 1: 12-15), “Reform you lives and believe in the good news!”  The season of Lent can be for us the time to really examine our lives and to honestly see how we have allowed sin and evil to dominate our decisions and activities. This is a season when we evaluate how much of our ways have contributed to this impending destruction, how much of our greed and our capricious demands have supported an obstinate drive to exploit the earth’s natural resources to the point of destroying her irreversibly.

It’s easier to see now that reform should be both in the personal and social levels.  The change of heart necessarily begins with individual and personal lives.  It cannot happen any other way.  However, salvation involves not just individuals but communities.  We need to reform as a people.  We need to change our ways as a society.  That is why we need to listen to prophets, to read the signs of the times, to discern God’s direction towards salvation.  We need conscientious leaders to galvanize reformed and committed individuals toward responsible change.  And we badly need this soon...  before it’s too late.

Lest we lose hope, we are assured by our readings that God has been and is always victorious against evil and sin in the world.  The 40-day flood in Noah’s time was God’s act of washing away sin and evil from the earth in order to forge a new beginning.  In the second reading (1 Pt 3: 18-22), Peter tells us that we are now saved by a baptismal bath which corresponds to the great flood: the waters of baptism washed away all that is sinful in us and we enter into a new life, a new covenant relationship with God. In the gospel, led by the Spirit, Jesus is tested by Satan in the desert for forty days.  And He is victorious over Satan.

We enter the season of Lent for forty days too.  Let us allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into this desert experience.  Like Jesus at the beginning of his messianic activity, let us be docile to the action of the Holy Spirit who demands an interior preparation for us to enter into a truly life-changing process of reform.  It is the Spirit who saw Jesus through his suffering, death, and resurrection.  It is the same Spirit whom we ought to allow seeing us through the challenging demands of this transforming desert experience.

The ultimate assurance of hope of course is when we look ahead after everything has been said and done, we see the glorious victory of Christ awaiting us and this cosmos.  God does not forget the covenant indeed. The Risen Lord and only He is the definitive and unfading rainbow after the long and heavy rain.