The Ambo: Homilies for the Faithful

Homily: First Sunday of Lent, 2015 “Less Dessert, More Desert” Gospel Reading: Mark 1:12-15 The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,  and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. After John had been arrested,  Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Our readings today are grouped for the first Sunday of Lent, and there is a theme of personal repentance, purification, and obedience. I hope that you use this particular Lenten season to grow closer to God. In the first reading, Noah lives a righteous life, brings his family through salvation, and we have the rainbow as a sign of God’s faithfulness. I love Noah as a great example of a godly husband and father; Noah got no support from the culture about him; he got no support from the schools, from the media, fro...

There is no greater reality in our lives than the fact that Jesus died for us personally, as well as for the sins of the whole world. The cross shows us just how much Jesus cares about people. There were powerful words that Jesus spoke, but none more powerful than his last, uttered upon Calvary’s tree. His last words, possibly little more than a whisper, are what we consider today. And of those seven perhaps none more profound, so filled with meaning, than what we hear in John’s Gospel today. "It is finished." John 19:30 Lest we feel the cross in only one dimension, these words of Jesus cause us to ponder another aspect of the cross. On Good Friday, there is a tendency to emphasize the sense of loss and sorrow and suffering by Jesus on the cross, and not realize that the cross was the greatest triumph ever realized. Lest we forget that today is GOOD Friday, let us listen closely to the dying Master, and  see the victory of the cross. The three words in English a...