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First Day of Lent

“Jesus was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.” Mk. 1: 12

The excitement of the Super Bowl is over. “The greatest of them all!” is consistently being used to describe the skill level of Tom Brady and his team.

This game somehow reminded me of a priest friend, now experiencing his well-deserved eternal reward, who was noted for being a soft-spoken, humble, and extremely kind man. He was the type of priest who never tried to grab the spotlight, always deflecting attention away from himself.

Until you talked about football.

One day I discovered that “back in the day”, , he was reportedly a star football player.  

So, I checked with him to find out if this reputation was accurate. As soon as I mentioned the word “football,” his face  “lit up,” and he passionately returned to his “glory days” telling me how he could “do it all”: run, pass, and kick – the three most notable gifts of football achievements.

Then, my quiet, reserved, and humble friend ended his tales of football glory with these triumphant words:

“I was a three-peat!”

The Jesus of Mark’s Gospel today also is a “three-peat”:

A teacher, a preacher, and a healer.  

But, according to Mark’s Gospel, before Jesus ventured into his “three-peat” mission of spreading the good news of God’s immeasurable grace, Jesus first had to undergo a testing in the “desert.” He had to withstand a series of temptations to see whether he would be able to remain a fully committed reflection of his Father, the Face of God in time.

These temptations are the “wild beasts” that today’s Gospel describes – “beasts” fully intent on tearing Jesus away from the mission of grace that he was called to carry out.

And like Jesus, each of us has encountered at least one of these “wild beasts” in our life – the loss of someone dear to us; the endurance of some unexpected illness; the promotion given to someone else; the son or daughter who has drifted away from the faith; the acknowledgement of an addiction in our life; the fear of being unable to pay our bills, the possibility of being attacked by Covid.

We all know, too, just how painful, and compelling and ferocious these monsters can be. They can make it seem like we’re alone in a desert being tortured by “wild beasts.”

What is so difficult about encounters in this “desert” of pain and loss is that we are forced to do battle with these “wild beasts” in our hearts and souls.

Thankfully this is where today’s Gospel, thankfully, reminds us that our story doesn’t end with beasts. It ends with the assurance of “angels” that “ministered to him.”

In other words, God did not leave Jesus alone to fend with the beasts all by himself. God was always present to Jesus in the form of “angels.”

The same is true for each of us. We are not alone. We are not left to fight the “wild beasts” all by ourselves. We have “angels” in our lives, too.

We have each other. We have the community of the Church. We have the Gospels. We have the great sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation. We have our own conscience formed by our parents and our spouses and our whole family tradition.

We have the promise of our God, “Emmanuel,” God “with us” that he is Emmanuel, God “with us” – a God whose overwhelmingly dominant characteristic is mercy.

A God who feels with us, suffers with us, walks with us, and who wrestles beasts with us.

Those same “angels” that ministered to Jesus are always ready to do the same for each one of us.

The entire season of Lent is designed by the Church specifically to help us remember this. It’s also there to encourage each of us to become “three-peats”:

People renowned for teaching the words of incomparable grace that Jesus brings us; people honored for preaching the Good News of mercy and hope to those burdened by “beasts;” people noted for healing those who feel alone in their pain.

The Good News of great joy for each of us will be our ability at the end of our journey on this earth to be able to say loudly and triumphantly along with that priest friend of mine:

“I was a three-peat!”

I taught. I preached. I healed.  
 
Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.

DO YOU WANT TO FAST THIS LENT?
“Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

Fast from worries and have trust in God.

Fast from complaints; contemplate simplicity.

Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

Fast from bitterness; fill your hearts with joy.

Fast from selfishness and be compassionate.

Fast from grudges and be reconciled.

Fast from words; be silent and listen.”
 – Pope Francis

Art by Jim Matarelli 


SISTER RACHEL’S QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“…Some people come out of a storm better and some people come out of a storm bitter. The difference between the bitter and the better is the compass of your heart and the direction that you…Becausе when you have victory, you understand that thе pain was part of the plan to make you greater.
Kirk Franklin (from the song Better Days)

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