First Sunday of Lent

Follow this link to read along.

This Sunday we are taken back to the story of Noah, where God poignantly establishes His covenant.  Through God’s divinely parabolic Word, we find a “boat load” of beautiful symbolism!  Noah, descendant from Adam, was living among a very sinful people.  He had found favor with God, and God chose him at the forefront of His plan to prepare the way for His Son.

God establishes a covenant with His people… on an Ark… made of wood… washing away sin with water.  

In the second reading we hear quite directly the connection from Noah to Christ, and the fulfillment of of that covenant made generations before.  We are reminded that this water ” prefigured baptism, which saves you now.”   We also hear about an Ark – a word that would one day also be used to describe a dwelling place for God, a Tabernacle.  And of course, the wood, to which Christ, Himself, was nailed.

Finally, in the Gospel this week, Jesus begins his ministry.  He is first driven to the dessert, tempted by Satan, living among the wild beasts, who had also descended from the Ark of Noah.

Everything had been prepared for this very moment.

“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Disclaimer: This post was finished early and scheduled to automatically post on Sunday. The third commandment was not broken in the creation of this edition of Splendid Sundays =D.