Opening Prayer Series: First Sunday of Lent Year A

Opening Prayer Series:

The Mass: Opening Prayer Series Icon.

 OPENING PRAYER

Opening Prayer Series:

 

The Opening Prayer for the first Sunday of Lent Year A reads as follows:

Let us pray

(that this Lent will help us reproduce in our lives the self-sacrificing love of Christ)

 

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. 

 

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged:

 

1.            What is the self-sacrificing love of Christ?

2.            How may I be able to reproduce it in my life this coming week?

3.            How does my Lenten observance support this goal of self-sacrifice?

4.            What does Christ's death and resurrection mean to me?

5.            How can I reflect its meaning in my life this coming week?

6.            How have I succeeded in my Lenten commitment so far?
          Have I kept to the commitment I set myself or have I already strayed
          away from what I started?

7.            What alterations do I need to make to my Lenten commitment during
          this week? 

8.            What extra supports do I need to ensure progress during the first full
          week of Lent.

 

On the first Sunday of Lent each year, we are given the Gospel of the temptations of Christ. Each of the temptations invite Jesus to be the false Messiah by being the political Messiah, a powerful ruler and to accept human privileges of power, wealth and glory.  Like Jesus, in his humanity, Satan still tempts us. The temptations have many forms and guises but underneath each of them, their purpose is twofold, that is to provide a short-term gain or attraction since Satan's goal is to lead us away from God.

 

The response of Jesus to Satan also needs to be our own. Jesus chooses complete dependence on God, a recognition that God and his will must always come first, a willingness to obey God at any cost.  In effect Jesus states that nothing- not pleasure, not power, not wealth must ever come between us and saving will of God. Jesus does not fool around with temptation but stamps on it decisively. We too need to stamp decisively on the temptations that come our way so that we remain faithful to God.

 

During this first full week of Lent, let us ask God to be merciful to us and pray that when temptation comes our way, we will call on God to assist us to be strong. Let us stand up to Satan and all his works this week. Let us remember our goal- Heaven.