On this first Sunday of Lent, we are reminded of God’s love and concern for His people. God chose a nation for Himself to share His love. God wanted His creation to reverse to the original purpose. Therefore after the fall He worked all things together for the arrival of His Messiah.

We cannot fully understand God. But we could experience His love. Through His love we could experience His amazing work. His heart moves for the lowly and insignificant people. He chose a wandering nation for Himself. It is beautiful to read through the Jewish proclamation of faith, which is the first reading today. The scriptures clearly mention that God Himself guided His people and made them a nation by giving them a land that flows with milk and honey, which denotes abundance and prosperity. Acquiring a land symbolized that they had become a nation with an unique identity. The Messiah of God – the anointed one – came forth through this nation. God invites us to trust Him because nothing is impossible for him.

In the second reading this truth is elaborated more. St. Paul preached to the Romans to believe in Christ Jesus who is the Messiah of God. The message of salvation is that the Lord Jesus who was crucified, died and was placed in a tomb is risen. Jesus is alive, Jesus is risen! This truth needs to be proclaimed. The question is ‘who made it possible’. The Lord Jesus, who became human to be fully man but never left His divinity. No one has power to come back to life (never to die again), but God made it possible. Nothing is impossible for God.
The Gospel proclamation encourages us to live as children ofGod.

The Lord Jesus as a human being was guided to find His true identity as was in the past for the Jewish nation. Who is Christ Jesus? He is the Son of God, who took flesh like all of us. Born of a woman, yet sinless.

His test at the wilderness is the test that we constantly are bat- tling. We become vulnerable in front of our needs; hunger, possessions and status. Temptations may not necessarily appear explicitly. Most often temptations are implicit, we do not know that it is harmful until we are deeply caught up in it. No one decides to beceome an alcoholic within 24 hours, it is a process which may take months or years. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to see the first signs of addiction in our lives. It could be longing for power and prestige, money and fame. We have a model to follow. The Lord Jesus who defeated the enemy as the Son of God, because He discovered His true identity. Let us accept our true identity as children of God, then we will experience that “Nothing is impossible for God”.

Prayer: Abba Father, I am your chilld. Amen.