1st Sunday of Lent B

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How to look good Naked, Fit Club, Wii Fit, Zumba Weight watchers the list is endless of different ways to get fit and lose weight. It is after all the second national obsession apart from the weather. Whatever we try and do we try and better our lives so that we might be able to live a healthier life. This usually ends in some sort of disaster and we actually seem sometimes to put more weight on rather than to lose it. We can have the same ideas when each year we embark on the Holy season of Lent. But is it more than just trying to better ourselves? Let’s take some time today to explore this.

We hear in today’s Gospel that Jesus went into the desert to prepare himself for his mission ahead.  While there he was tempted by Satan. Marks presentation of this story comes across as very matter of fact. Simply put he went into the desert and prayed, fasted and through these acts came closer to his Father.
We too have to go through the wilderness of our own lives. This wilderness can be a tough place to be. We fight against the terrain of our own lives those places and times that we find the journey hard can be the most rewarding. So there are areas in our lives that need the Holy Spirit flowing through it. Maybe we are in denial about something in our past that needs healing. Maybe there are people in our lives that we need God’s help to forgive or to ask God to forgive them for us. Maybe we are unsatisfied with our prayer life and so want to draw deeper into a relationship with Jesus through prayer. Maybe we want to help the local community by works of Charity: This may be as simple as a little hello or helping hand with the shopping.

Whatever we have decided to do or deciding to do it should have one aim. It’s not to help ourselves like the self help groups but to draw us closer to a relationship with the person of Jesus.

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