1st Sunday of Lent | Cycle B
Holy Spirit Parish
The GOSPEL for today (Mark 1:12-15) ends with these words from Jesus, “Believe in the Gospel.” (The word Gospel means “Good News.”)
Two questions we could and maybe should have;
- What’s so good about the good news?
- What does it mean to believe in the good news?
Here is my experience… These two questions can so easily slip into the back of my mind… and become less of a factor in how I live. Keeping them in the forefront of my mind by reflecting on them often… they form my life and affect my decisions, my thoughts, my actions.
WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS?
READING 2 (1Peter 13:18-22)
We hear…
-we who were hopelessly lost…with no chance…with no possibility…hopelessly lost…
-have been saved…
-have been made righteous…have been made right with God…
-through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
-undeserved and unearned by us.
-but given to us by Jesus as a free gift of grace.
-that is what is so good about the good news.
READING 1 (Genesis 9:8-15)
-in the first reading we hear about Noah and the flood.
-the flood is a prefiguration of Baptism for us.
-in the water of the flood God…destroyed evil and saved goodness.
-in our Baptism…God “cast out the power of Satan, spirit of evil,
to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness,
and bring us into the splendor of His kingdom of light.”
(words from the Rite of Baptism)
-in Baptism, God moves us from the kingdom of Satan to His kingdom.
-in Baptism we are made children of God and members of His family…
members of one another…brothers and sisters.
-the Sacrament of Baptism is a miracle.
-that is what is so good about the good news.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELIEVE IN THE GOOD NEWS?
-here is a spiritual principle…
“We only really believe that which moves us to action.”
-James, in his letter, tells us “Faith without works is dead.”
-if your faith is not backed up with action it is not faith.
-you can call it faith but is not faith.
-If what we believe is not backed up with action we do not really believe it.
-Life is filled with experiences that teach is about believing and acting on that belief.
Some experiences teach us what to do…some teach us what not to do.
-a light switch…we believe if we flip the switch a light will go on…so we flip the switch.
-a car ignition…we believe if we insert the key and turn it the car will start… so we insert the key and turn it.
-our kitchen stove…we believe if we put our hand on the burner of our kitchen stove we will burn our hand…
so we do not put our hand on the burner of our kitchen stove.
-our shower…
we do not turn on all hot water and jump in…if we do we come out a lot faster than when we jumped in.
we do not turn on all cold water and jump in…we may be able to tough it out a bit…
but it will be uncomfortable…and we will jump out faster than we jumped in.
because of what we believe we turn on just the right amount of hot and cold water
and enjoy a comfortable and I believe a healing experience of a shower.
And so it is with the good news…
if we believe the good news we act on that belief...because we believe we do something…
and because we believe there are things we avoid called sin…
and when we sin…we repent…and return to the life of living the good news.
-believing the good news we capture the opportunities of Lent…we pray…we fast…
we give alms
-because we believe the good news we read scripture and do our best to live it.
-because we believe the good news the community of Church is important to us and we
actively participate as members of the parish.
-because we believe we take advantage of the programs the parish offers.
-because we believe we have concern for those in need and act on that concern.
-because we believe we are servants…making use of the opportunities we encounter to serve.
Our lives are filled with ways we live out what we believe.
Is our faith life filled with ways we live out what we believe?
Remember…we only really believe that which moves us to action.
And Jesus said, “Believe in the gospel.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deacon Jim Thill