FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

22 FEBRUARY 2026

 

          Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan River, where he heard the Father’s voice, “this is my beloved Son.”  Now, the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tested for forty days, just as his Father had led his ancestors into the desert to be tested for forty years.  They had passed through the waters of the Red Sea.  Now, they complained that they were hungry.  They flunked the first test, because they did not believe that the Lord would provide for their physical needs.  As they continued their journey, they complained to Moses that they were better off in slavery in Egypt.  Where was God in this wilderness?  They flunked the second test.  At Mount Sinai, God gave them Covenant of love.  In Moses’ absence, they worshiped a golden calf and abandoned the God who saved them.  They flunked the third test.

            Now, the tempter tests Jesus in much the same way.  He has fasted for forty days and nights and is famished.  The devil tests him.  If you are really God’s beloved Son, then turn these stones into loaves of bread.  Jesus passes the test by saying that hungering for the Father is more important than satisfying physical hunger.  Then the devil takes him to Jerusalem stands him on the parapet of the temple, the place of God’s dwelling.  The devil tells Jesus to test whether or not he is the Son of God by throwing himself off the highest part of the temple.  He even quotes Scripture, indicating that anyone can quote Scripture to prove a point.  Jesus passes this second test by insisting that no one can put the Lord God, to the test.  Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain, a place of communion with God.  The devil promises to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence if Jesus worships him.  Jesus says to the devil, “Get away, Satan!”  Jesus trusts the Father as his beloved Son, even if that means enduring the agony and horror of the cross.  He passes the third test and begins his public ministry.

            The Spirit has led us into the desert of Lent.  The Spirit must lead me, because I don’t choose Lent!  We have passed through the waters of baptism and have become God’s beloved sons and daughters.  Just as Jesus used his time in the desert to become more convinced that he is God’s only beloved Son, Lent invites us to be more convinced that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters.  Like the ancestors of Jesus in their journey through the desert, we have failed to act like God’s beloved sons and daughters.  The disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving can help us to better live our baptismal promises as we prepare to renew them at Easter.

            In this desert of Lent, the devil will never stop trying to test us. We fail the first test when we make the same mistake as Adam and Eve.  Instead of trusting that God truly loves us as his beloved sons and daughters, the devil wants us to believe that wealth or food or other comforts will satisfy our ultimate hungers, instead of God.  We must remember who we are, and whose we are.  We pass this test by saying, “I am God’s, and that’s enough.”  In the second test, the devil wants us to conclude that if we are faithful and do everything right, God will protect us.  God is with us and loves us as his beloved sons and daughters even when life falls apart and even when we fail.  Finally, the devil wants us to abandon our obedience to our baptismal promises.  He wants us to trade integrity for influence and to seek approval from other people instead of God.  We are the people of God with two things to do: “Worship God, and truly serve him.”

            We spend these forty days in the desert together.  The devil will intensify his testing.  In this desert, the issue is not whether the devil will test us.  The issue is that he will definitely test us and challenge the truth that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters.  We can pass these tests, because Jesus did.  We can emerge together from this desert of Lent to share the victory of Christ over sin and death at Easter, precisely because we are his beloved sons and daughters.

 

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

8 FEBRUARY 2026

 

          Saul of Tarsus came from a major education center for stoic philosophy.  In Tarsus, he studied under the great rabbi Gamaliel and was educated in pharisaic Judaism.  As Saint Paul, he does not come to the Corinthians with those high educational degrees.  Instead, he brings them the person of Jesus Christ and him crucified.  He had encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and brings his experience of the risen Christ “in weakness and fear and much trembling”. Instead of using persuasive words of wisdom in which he had been trained as Saul of Tarsus, he is guided by the Holy Spirit and power. 

            As Saint Paul presents the person of Jesus Christ to the Christian community of Corinth, the does the same to us, the Christian community of Saint Augustine in South Bend.  He tells us to embrace the person of Jesus Christ and to welcome him into our lives as a first priority.  Last Sunday, Jesus spoke to us and spelled out eight different ways for us to make him a part of our lives and be blessed.  That is what the Greek word “blessed” means – to be happy or fortunate.  In living the beatitudes, we place Jesus Christ first.  We are happy when we embrace a poverty of spirit that frees us from being burdened with too much stuff.  We can be happy even when we mourn.  We mourn when we suffer devastating losses.  In pouring out the pain of mourning, we trust that the Lord will keep his promise and console us.  We are happy when we adapt a spirit of meekness and when we hunger and thirst for righteousness (or justice).  We are happy when we show mercy, when we maintain the cleanness of our hearts, and when we act as peacemakers.  Jesus acknowledges that not everyone will embrace these beatitudes and may even take steps to insult and persecute us, as he himself was insulted and persecuted.  But even in persecution, he promises that our reward will be great in heaven.

            Today, Jesus says that living the beatitudes is not a benefit only for ourselves.  Living them affects others.  He uses two metaphors: salt and light.  In the ancient world, doctors did not warn their patients about consuming too much salt.  In the absence of any kind of refrigeration, salt preserved meat.  Throughout the Scriptures, salt symbolized the sealing and preserving of God’s Covenant to meet with the people.  Strangers were given salt as a sign of welcome. 

            We are salt for our world if we continue to witness to the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives, just as Saint Paul did to the Corinthians.  Of course, it is important to continue our ongoing education in the faith.  But it is far more important to show the presence of the Lord in living the beatitudes.  We know his presence when we hear him speak to us in his Word.  We become one with him when he feeds us with his Body and Blood.  Our divided, angry, and hateful world needs plenty of salty people.  When I was baptized as a baby many years ago, the priest placed blessed salt on my lips as a reminder of the importance of living my baptismal promises.

            We can also be light for our world.  The ancient world did not have the ease of electricity that we have.  But even the smallest dwellings had olive oil lamps burning throughout the night to guide old people like me who need a bathroom.  Even the tiniest clay pot had the potential to dispel darkness and provide guidance. 

            Each of us was given a lit candle when we were baptized.  We are light for our world if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us.  Too often, we are tempted to simply dwell in the darkness of our world and curse the darkness with our minds and lips.  The light of Christ dispels that darkness, even in the smallest amounts.  Just as this church was filled with the light of candles at the Easter Vigil, the light of Christ can definitely shine through our community.  We are salt and light, bringing a hope that is desperately needed.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 FEBRUARY 2026

 

          The Prophet Zephaniah encourages his audience to seek various goods, especially justice and humility.  He addresses his people as the “humble of the earth who have observed his law.”  Zephaniah promises that those who practice justice and humility will be part of a remnant who will survive the day of the Lord.  These people will live the good life, marked by simplicity, humility, honesty, peace, and a meaningful relationship with the Lord.

            We celebrated that day of the Lord forty days ago at Christmas.  Today, the Incarnate Word of God who dwells in our midst spells out the various goods required of those who choose to be part of the Kingdom of God.  As Moses spoken from a mountain to announce the Covenant that the Lord had made with his chosen people, Jesus climbs another mountain and takes his seat.  In the ancient world, important messages were given by leaders who had taken the seat of their authority.  He announces nine groups of people whom he addresses as “blessed.”  The Greek word for blessed means “fortunate,” or “happy”.  These beatitudes are the beginning of his famous Sermon on the Mount.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have heard these beatitudes so often that we are not surprised by them.  However, we can only imagine how those who heard these beatitudes for the first time would have reacted.

            In watching the recent series, The Chosen, I saw an interesting take on how people might have reacted.  I was initially skeptical of the Series, because so many fictional additions were added to the actual words of Scripture.  Watching the series out of curiosity, I began to realize what The Chosen was doing.  Those fictional additions help to contemporize the ministry of Jesus Christ and help us to enter it more fully.  The reactions of the twelve caught my attention.  In hearing the beatitudes, the twelve found great comfort and encouragement.  They had already given up everything to follow Jesus, the Messiah.  They had mourned the loss of a former way of life.  Jesus continually was teaching them to be meek, to hunger and thirst for justice or righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, and to be peacemakers.  Jesus taught these values not only with his words, but especially with his actions.  The twelve were already seeing Jesus being persecuted by the religious leaders.  They would be horrified when that persecution would lead to his death on the cross.  They would eventually be persecuted when the Holy Spirit gave them the courage to live and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

            We too are his disciples, and he teaches us the same lesson.  He teaches us that blessedness – or the good life – does not lie in achieving personal success, elevated status, or individual honor.  Rather, living the good life lies in being humble and just, striving to bring forth what which is good for others.

            That is the message that Saint Paul gives to the Corinthians.  He is aware of the arrogance of so many members of the community that is causing division.  He reminds them that the Lord had called them to be disciples not by human standards.  Not many of them had been powerful or of noble birth.  He encourages them to embrace the beatitudes and become humble and just.  If they have encountered success and good fortune, it is because of the Lord working in their midst.

            The Lord has called us to embrace the spirit of the beatitudes.  If we put the Lord Jesus above everything else, then we are truly blessed.  We are truly living the good life.  If we achieve success or elevated status or individual honor, it is because of the Lord working through us.  Like the original twelve, we can thank God when we see ourselves in the company of those nine groups of people.  Saint Paul hits the nail on the head.  In Christ Jesus, we have received wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.