"First Sunday of Lent - Safe Haven Sunday!"

"First Sunday of Lent - Safe Haven Sunday!"

God created everything and saw that it was good (Genesis 1). God created Mankind, blessed them, and gave them dominion over all creatures (Genesis 1:27&28). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Basic  scientific research, as well as applied research, is a significant expression of man's dominion over creation. Science and technology are precious resources when placed at the service of man and promote his integral  development for the benefit of all. By themselves however they cannot disclose the meaning of existence and of human progress. Science and technology are ordered to man, from whom they take their origin and development; hence they find in the person and in his moral values both evidence of their purpose and awareness of their limits.” One of many inventions of humanity is the internet, which revolutionized the computer and      communication world. Today our everyday life is so dependent on the internet, but we have to be conscious of the dark side of it.

First Sunday of Lent we are celebrating our first annual Safe Haven Sunday themed Equipping the Family, Safeguarding Children. Every year we will be celebrating this awareness weekend in our Diocese. The Internet provides us with lots of opportunities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored a lot more use of it. Safe Haven Sunday is to remind us there is a dark side to it and it could destroy our life and the life of others. What are the dark sides? There are numerous, but on Safe Haven Sunday we focus on pornography. In 2015, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a pastoral letter, in response to this crisis, called “Create in Me a Clean Heart.” We gave our religious education families a copy of the book Equipped: Smart Catholic Parenting in a Sexualized Culture. Those who would like to have a copy of this book, they are  available at the entrances. This book is published by Covenant Eyes, an organization that provides software to help provide protection and accountability for those who use technology. We cannot avoid the internet, but we can train our children and ourselves to use it wisely. The Lenten season invites us to discover our true selves. So what is the obstacle in our life to discovering our true self?

Pope Francis in his Lenten message invites us to welcome Lent and says that God reminds us that “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex 20:2). Lent is a season of conversion, a time of freedom. Jesus himself, as we recall each year on the first Sunday of Lent, was driven into the desert by the Spirit in order to be tempted in freedom. For forty days, he will stand before us and with us: the incarnate Son. Unlike Pharaoh, God does not want subjects, but sons and daughters. The  desert is the place where our freedom can mature in a personal decision not to fall back into slavery. In Lent, we find new criteria of justice and a community with which we can press forward on a road not yet taken.”

Satan tempted the first Adam amid the beasts in paradise, but he failed. But even though the new Adam tempted the new Adam, Jesus, among the wild beasts, he won the victory. In the new exodus, Jesus was being led by the Spirit into the wilderness and tested for forty days. In the old exodus, the Israelites spent forty years in the desert and were tested. The presence of ministering angels to sustain Jesus in the new Exodus, recalls the angel who guided the Israelites in the desert in the first Exodus. We read in the book of Exodus 23:20, “See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.”

The first Adam’s fall and later the Israelites brought death and alienation. The new Adam, Jesus, through His filial love for the Father, brought forth the new Israel of God. Jesus began the campaign against demons, death, and diseases in the desert, and continues through his proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus trained his disciples on how to overcome the devil.

I am sure everyone has experiences every time you renew our Baptismal promise and try to live it, as the tempter attacks more aggressively than before. Jesus assures us in this Lent that the victory is ours through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We would increase our prayer to grow in the virtue of humility, intensify our giving of alms to detach from our possessions, fast to overcome attachments, and recognize our poverty.

Let us pray for one another that our Lenten observance may prepare us to celebrate the Pascal Mystery and grow in love for God and it may overflow in our families and others around us.