Homily on First Sunday of Lent

Heaven or paradise is an another man's favorite world today. If man leaves this world of misery and
goes in search of a world of pleasure, he calls it heaven or a Bliss filled world where everything is
available. But why did this paradise become a future treasure for man? If so, are you saying this was
before? You may ask that.

We can read in the opening book of the Bible, in Genesis, how the garden of Eden became the
forefather's gift that was given to Adam and Eve, be different from heaven?

After God created man, He gave him everything he needed for his happiness. He also gave freedom to
rule over all creation. But he did not own that paradise. Was it not because of his disobedience that
heaven became hell? So he left the beautiful heavenly life and went to hell called as Dessert. Often hell
is considered part of the test and Temptation. Desert or Heaven, What would be your answer if asked
which of these two you want? Most people would answer that would be a Heaven. So, the desert is
considered to be a part of a test house. The garden of Eden became the gift of deception and desert.

Although the desert is not a boon to man, it can be considered a curse. This Lent that we are about to
enter today is a timeline for the desert experience. Our forefathers, the people of Israel, were in the
wilderness for 40 years, as the wages for their sin. Just as Adam received the desert for the wages of
disobedient sin, so the people of Israel receive the desert for the wages of their disobedience. In today’s
gospel passage we see a desert experience of son of God, our Savior. Satan tries to tempt Jesus Christ
after he has spent 40 days in the wilderness. Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God. Because the
same Satan, when he dwelt in a demon-possessed man, recognized that Are you not the son of David,
Have you came to kill us?." Knowing that, he tries to test Jesus as a normal human being. And, it
perseveres, knowing that it will not succeed.

Satan tries to tempt us many times in our lives. But we also obey Satan's word by making the excuse,
"Let's go, let's do, let's try."

When we blame Adam and Eve for their sin, we forget that sin continues by us too. The descendants
who will come after us will call us like Adam and Eve, like the disobedient people of Israel, like the
people of the Old Testament who were not converted by many prophets, and who will not transgress
from our sinful lives. Do we have to prove it?

Satan shows off his work very cleverly. Those who are drunk, those who are addicted to cigarettes, and
those who engage in various sinful activities such as cannabis may have fallen into sin because they did
not realize what the Lord had warned them in their beginning. The Lord warns us in many ways,
through our relatives, through our friends, through our parents. But we close our ears and listen to the
great noise that Satan makes. Without realizing the Lord who speaks softly, we submit to Satan who
speaks with great noise.
Satan, who was greedy for Jesus, obeyed Jesus and ran away, When he said, "Get behind me, Satan!"
We too often say, "get behind me alone, Satan." But, again and again Satan stands behind us and
stimulates our desires. We too are happening to be obedient.

Beloved, this Lent gives a test to our sep life. Giving charity or arms Giving becomes an easy process for
us. Rather prayer and penance become very difficult. Will the resolution we are going to take in these
40 days really lead us to a real conversion? Otherwise, that resolution will be wasted. These 40 days
will be useless for us. What will be our response to Satan?

God bless, Amen

Fr.A. Moses Raja MMI,

Alon, South Sudan.