Sunday Lent I

The First Sunday of Lent marks the Church’s entrance into the desert with Christ. Having begun the penitential season on Ash Wednesday, the faithful now contemplate the Gospel of Our Lord’s forty days of fasting and His temptation by the devil in the wilderness.

The liturgy presents Lent not merely as human effort, but as participation in Christ’s own combat. The Introit traditionally begins, “Invocabit me, et ego exaudiam eum” — “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him” — words that express divine protection amid trial. The Epistle exhorts perseverance in faith, while the Gospel recounts how Christ defeats the tempter through obedience, humility, and fidelity to the Word of God.

This Sunday establishes the spiritual pattern for the entire season: fasting, prayer, and resistance to temptation. The desert is not abandonment, but preparation. Christ’s victory reveals that temptation itself is not sin; rather, it becomes the arena in which fidelity is proven.

The First Sunday of Lent therefore calls the faithful to seriousness and confidence. The Christian life is spiritual warfare, yet it is warfare already won in Christ. Lent begins not in fear, but in disciplined hope — walking with the Lord into the desert so as to rise with Him at Easter.