Angel Diaz 2-21-12

First Sunday of Lent Cycle B

In this Sundays Gospel we see Jesus being driven to the wilderness by the Spirit where
He remains for 40 days. Here we are at the first Sunday of lent where we are called to
follow Jesus into the wilderness and win over temptation among wild beasts. We now
now that Jesus won over temptation re!ecting all offers from Satan and then angels
ministered to him. It is a call to a clear conscience to re!ect of all things that separates us
from the will of God so we can live a life that proclaims the Gospel" the #ingdom of
God...His $ove for us. We can see the wor in the parish where individuals and groups
wor together to service others in need. It is the %ody of &hrist" the people of God who
we serve" one of us and our identity lays on the fact that we are God's people that we are
that %ody( all of us. We live in a land where our focus is often shifted to individual gain
and wealth growth to benefit the strong and to leave the wea behind. )s we wal into
the wilderness we must remain in prayer" in good communication with God. We should
be fully armed in communion with &hrist. When we repent" and proclaim the Gospel
through our way of life we are called to do what Jesus did" preach the good news to all.
We have obstacles that will mae us forget our identity as people of God. *here could be
a sense of security a safe environment that we create in our minds where change is a
tough word to spell. I remember as a child in +uerto ,ico most of the liturgy that I
attended was a full &hurch and everyone new each other" we spoe the same language
and we had the same customs. )fter some years others came from other countries
including the -.S. Some of the local churches were ased to have some services in
.nglish to address the needs of some parishioners whose primely language was .nglish.
Some long standing parishioners were not necessarily happy but for the most part the
ones that understood their identity as &atholics helped in any way they could even if
they didn't spea .nglish. *he message is clear" our identity as &atholics is not in
!eopardy because we welcome more people into communion with &hrist regardless of
what language they spea or what their appearance is" it is when we re!ect the love that
God has for others when our identity as the whole %ody of &hrist crumbles.
)s we continue our retreat through the wilderness we are never alone" God is always
with us. What is our legal status with God/ Jesus re!ected any identity that would not be
from God's will. We are all his people. )re we 01ocumented2 in the Gospel/ Jesus was
preaching the Gospel" the good news. $ooing at our lives today and remembering
Jesus'....how many times did Jesus denied healing anyone because of where they came
from or what they loo lie/ 3ever. We must remain focus in our faith through the
wilderness" repent and proclaim the Gospel that in the #ingdom of God everyone is
welcome.