Vol. 37 No. 17              FEBRUARY 21, 2010                    (Cycle C)     1st SUNDAY OF THE LENT    You shall worship the Lord, and Him alone shall you serve ENTRANCE ANTIPHON When he calls to me, I will answer; I will rescue him and give him honour. Long life and contentment will be his. PENITENTIAL RITE Jesus too is tempted by the devil like everyone of us, human beings, but he overcomes all his temptations. Like Jesus we too can overcome temptations if we put our trust in God who is the source of our strength. Let us ask the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for all our failures that we may celebrate this Eucharist worthily. I confess... OPENING PRAYER Let us pray: Father, through our observance of Lent, help us to understand the meaning of your Son’s death and resurrection, and teach us to reflect it in our lives. Grant this... FIRST READING (In these verses we have the ritual prescribed by Moses on how the priest has to offer to God the first fruits of the products of the land as a thanksgiving for saving them from the oppression of the Egyptians and leading them to the Promised Land.) A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy    (26:4-10) Moses said to the people, “The priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramaean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Lord, hast given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God.” This is the Word of the Lord PSALM (90) Response: Be with me, O Lord, in my distress. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High and abides in the shade of the Almighty says to the Lord: “My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!” R./ Upon you no evil shall fall, no plague approach where you dwell. For you has he commanded his angels, to keep you in all your ways. R./ They shall bear you upon their hands lest you strike your foot against a stone. On the lion and the viper you will tread and trample the young lion and the dragon. R./ His love he set on me, so I will rescue him; protect him for he knows my name. When he calls I shall answer: “I am with you.” I will save him in distress and give him glory. R./ SECOND READING (Paul considers the tragic events of history as an example for Christians not to indulge in immorality and sin, but to trust in God who gives us strength to overcome all trials.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans (10:8-13) What does scripture say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION (Mt 4:4b) Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. GOSPEL (Being filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is led into the desert and is tempted by the devil. He overcomes the temptations to fame, power and possessions.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke (4:1-13) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you, and ‘on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. This is the Gospel of the Lord   CREED I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead. / I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church, /the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, God our loving Father sent His only Son Jesus to bring us salvation. Jesus, by becoming one with us, even in our weakness, has taught us how to overcome the power of evil. The Holy Spirit enlightens and guides us on the path of truth. Let us now pray for all the graces we are in need of in our lives, saying: Response: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, hear our prayer. 1. That our Pope and all the pastors of the Church may be guided and strength-ened to serve your people with dedication and courage after the example of Jesus our Saviour. R./ 2. That the ordained ministers of Christ in this Year of Priests may be renewed and strengthened to be faithful to Jesus the High Priest and to the people they are called to serve. R./ 3. That our civil leaders may govern the people with selfless love, and respect human life in all its forms, from the moment of conception to natural death. R./ 4. That those who are afflicted by various ailments, problems and painful experiences in life may be healed, strengthened and guided by the power of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection. R./ 5. That this holy season of Lent may teach us a spirit of self-denial and encourage us to be generous and compassionate towards the poor and the needy, the homeless and the imprisoned. R./ (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Our God and Father of all creation, we bring you our prayers and needs. Grant us your grace to live as your children, loving one another both in words and deeds. We ask this... PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, make us worthy to bring you these gifts. May this sacrifice help to change our lives. We ask this... PREFACE    (P 12) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. His fast of forty days makes this a holy season of self-denial. By rejecting the devil’s temptations he has taught us to rid ourselves of the hidden corruption of evil, and so to share his paschal meal in purity of heart, until we come to its fulfilment in the promised land of heaven. Now we join the angels and the saints as they sing their unending hymn of praise: All: Holy, holy, holy... COMMUNION ANTIPHON Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Father, you increase our faith and hope, you deepen our love in this communion. Help us to live by your words and to seek Christ, our bread of life, who is Lord for ever and ever.     LITURGY AND LIFE   All three Scripture readings of today share the same message for our life: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve. The people of Israel wandered in the desert for forty years and finally entered the Promised Land. Moses tells them that God ordained the desert experience “to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments” (Dt 8:2). Today’s First Reading, which is an ancient liturgical formula, gratefully acknowledges that it was God’s grace that brought them safely to the Promised Land: “He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey” (Dt 26:8). In the Gospel from St Luke, Jesus spends forty days in the desert where he too was tested by the devil. It is no coincidence that he answers every onslaught of the devil with a quote from the book of Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:13; 6:16). Jesus went to the desert to spend time in prayer and fasting—to be in the company of his Father. But besides being divine Jesus is also fully human and he experiences temptation just as we do. Apostle Paul, in the passage from the Letter to the Romans, also quotes from Deuteronomy (30:14), as he teaches us that the grace revealed in Jesus Christ is the same grace in the Scripture revered by Israel. He exhorts the people not to indulge in immorality and face destruction. On the other hand, he assures them that “God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it” (Rm 10:13). Often we hear the phrase: I can resist anything except temptation! There is a Chinese proverb which says: You can’t stop birds flying over your head but you can prevent them from nesting in your hair! Temptations are a part of life and we all experience them and we wouldn’t be truly human without them. Jesus came out victorious due to his convictions of who he is, what his mission in life is and what the plan of his Father for him is. It is the power of the Holy Spirit in him (Lk 4:1) that enabled him to have these convictions. Temptation is an ever-present part of human condition. We are often tempted to indulge in greed, lust, food, sex and ambitions. We find ourselves unable to resist the temptations to gossip about others; to put others down in the process of our own way to success. The media advertisements tell us to indulge, to aspire for and achieve anything by any means, even at the cost of others. But, as the Chinese proverb says, we can stop them from nesting in our lives – we can refuse to be mastered by them. Temptations make us stronger and acknowledge the grace of God at work in us. As in the case of the people of Israel, we too face trials of many kinds and proportions. As Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit and, in spite of the trials, came out victorious, if we are led by the same Spirit, we too shall experience victory over all our trials and temptations. Like him we need to have the same convictions: of our identity as the children of God, of our mission of giving glory to God and of God’s plan for each of us. —Fr Joe Eruppakkatt, ssp February  2010 READINGS OF THE WEEK Psalter Week 1 22 Mon (W) THE CHAIR OF ST PETER, (Fst.), 1 Pet 5:1-4; Ps 22; Mt 16:13-19 23 Tue (V) Is 55:10-11; Ps 33:4-5,6-7,16-17,18-19; Mt 6:7-15 24 Wed (V) Jonah 3:1-10; Ps 50:3-4,12-13,18-19; Lk 11:29-32 25 Thu (V) Ester 14:1,3-5,12-14; Ps 137:1-2a,2bc-3,7c-8; Mt 7:7-12 26 Fri (V) Ez 18:21-28; Ps 129:1-2,3-4ab,4c6,7-8; Mt 5:20-26 27 Sat (V) Deut 26:16-19; Ps 118:1-2,4-5,7-8; Mt 5:43-48