Be with me, Lord ~ First Sunday of Lent

First Sunday of Lent

Deut 26:4-10

Ps 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15

Rm 10:8-13

Lk 4:1-13 

"Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble."  These lines from Psalm 91 were sung today as part of the Responsorial Psalm.  How beautifully they fit with the Gospel reading this morning, which is Luke's story of Jesus' temptation by the devil.

Jesus had just spent forty days alone, praying and fasting in the desert where he had been led by the Holy Spirit...  These forty days were a preparation time for Jesus, because he was soon to begin his public ministry.  Jesus was hungry... weak... perhaps at a low point...  The perfect time for Satan to present himself with his promises of food and earthly power...   But as we know, Jesus was not weak of spirit and resolve.  Instead, he rebuked Satan, reminding him that you do not put the Lord, your God to the test.

As we begin our forty days of Lent, we look forward to a period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  We are preparing ourselves to enter into the sufferings of Jesus, his crucifixion, death and finally, to celebrate his victorious Resurrection!

There will be temptations along the way, because temptations come and go in our lives.  Many times we feel too weak to resist them...  We forget that Jesus is there with a helping hand if we can only reach out to grasp it...  Instead, we fall...  But then we remember God's compassion and forgiveness and we come to him in sorrow and contrition and ask for that forgiveness.

Paul brings a message of hope to the Christians of Rome, by reminding them that God raised Jesus from the dead and that no one who believes in him will be put to shame.  This same Lord is the Lord of all... there are no distinctions among believers.  For this we rejoice...

Psalm 91 foretold what Jesus was to endure and how he would be delivered. However, we can also relate to these words ourselves, for they give us hope to go on:

"Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress;
I will deliver him and glorify him."  



 ~ The Temptation on the Mount by Duccio di Buoninsegma, 1255-1319