First Sunday in Lent, Cycle
B
Celebrant: As we embrace the sacrifices of Lent, let us present
to God our needs and the needs of the world.
Deacon/Lector:
That the Church may show the
world the way to God through repentance and prayer, we pray to the Lord…
That world leaders may work
together to seek peace and justice for all, we pray to the Lord…
That as God made a covenant
with all living things, so we His people may grow in our respect for life, and
actively protect it, we pray to the Lord...
That those suffering from
illness and old age may have gentle caregivers to attend to them and ease their
pain, we pray to the Lord…
That the members of our parish
family may renew our covenant with God through sacrifice, reconciliation, and
prayer, we pray to the Lord…
That those who have died may
rest in the loving presence of the saints and angels, we pray to the Lord…
Celebrant:
Gracious God, giver of all
good gifts, receive these prayers.
Answer the needs of your people, and keep us in your care,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Bulletin Insert
The cleansing
power of water
Today’s first reading speaks to us of Noah’s Ark. The
flood that God sent upon the world in Noah’s day was a cleansing of evil. Now,
God cleanses us not by floods, but by the waters of baptism, which bring to us a
whole new kind of life: the life of God within us.
Our special efforts in Lent to come closer to God are a response to what has
already happened to us! Because we have received the new life of God, we have to
reform our lives and live as his sons and daughters. We have to become who we
already are. The holy water we use when we come in and out of Church is a
reminder of the cleansing waters of baptism, and a reminder of the new life we
are called to live.
God is a God of
life, and therefore we are the People of Life. This Lent, let’s look for ways to
foster respect for life, especially the sick, the disabled, and the unborn.
Homily Suggestions on Pro-life Themes
Gn 9:8-15
1 Pt 3:18-22
Mk 1:12-15
“This is the time
of fulfillment.” The call to repentance, issued at the start of Lent, is a call
to respond to something that has already happened. The promise of the covenant
after the flood in the days of Noah has been fulfilled in the new and
everlasting covenant of Christ. God has cleansed us by the waters of baptism,
and given us new, eternal life. This is the fulfillment which brings an
obligation: reform your lives, so that they will correspond to the new
life that has been poured into you!
Repentance,
therefore, is not a matter of something imposed from the outside, but rather a
matter of being consistent with a gift already given.
This gift,
essentially, is life. By the new and eternal covenant, renewed in each
Mass, we become, ever more deeply, a people of Life. The repentance we
undertake is expressed in the self-giving that Christ shows us on the altar. We
give ourselves away to foster life in our families, our communities, and the
world.
Putting ourselves
aside to welcome the gift of life in the person of the unborn child is a
particularly urgent aspect of the repentance needed in our nation today. Lent
gives us the opportunity to echo that call: Reform
your lives, and put aside the doubt, fear, and selfishness that would destroy
another human being in the name of “choice.” Reform your lives, and repent of
the silence that keeps you from defending the helpless in your midst. Reform
your lives, and work for the reformation of the laws and policies of the nation,
that they may protect the rights that God has already given to all, born and
unborn. Reform your lives, reject the covenant of death, and live the Covenant
of Life!
