First Sunday of Lent
Fr. Francis Di Spigno, OFM,
Pastor
For the past three weeks, we have kept vigil for Pope Francis who has been hospitalized and is being treated for double pneumonia. While he rightly deserves our prayer and our attention, I think he would be the first to tell us not to lose sight of the fact that we are celebrating Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope.
Spes Non Confundit/Hope Does Not Disappoint is the name of the document that declared 2025 a Jubilee year. The title comes from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 5:5: “Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” As way of introduction, Pope Francis wrote, “For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the “door” of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as “our hope.”
He went on to write, “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope.”
That message of hope can only take root in our lives if we are confident in the reason for that hope. In today’s second reading, St. Paul gives us that reason: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That is the cause of our hope, “despite not knowing what the future may bring.”
As we enter into this season of Lent during this Jubilee Year, let us strive to make that hope grow in our lives, in our parish, in our community, in our country, and in our world. Let us grow closer to Jesus and truly become a people of hope despite the fact that the “uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings.” Let us remain grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ and who he is calling us to be, because we know that God, whose “love has been poured into our hearts,” is the foundation of it all.
Today’s Gospel reminds us when Jesus was tempted three times by the devil yet remained faithful to God despite what his body felt, what his thoughts may have told him, or what he may have even desired. Jesus was never seduced by the promises of this world but only by the promises of a faithful God to those who are faithful.
Let us be at peace, rich in faith, steadfast in hope, and love as Jesus loves us.
Happy Lent!
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