1st SUNDAY OF LENT

 

Man shall not live by bread alone

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON

When he calls to me, I will answer; I will rescue him and give him honour. Long life and contentment will be his.

PENITENTIAL RITE

Life is a movement, it is growth. In its movement and growth, it can take wrong directions. Lent is a time for reflection and introspection for our spiritual renewal. As we come together on this first Sunday of Lent, let us surrender ourselves to God, ask for the grace of conversion, and beg forgiveness for the times we have given in to temptation. (Pause.)

I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault (All strike their breast) in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray. 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. Grant this...

FIRST READING

(Israel offers gifts to the Lord in thanksgiving for the marvels he worked for them.)

A reading from the book of Deuteronomy (26:4-10)

Moses said to the people, "The priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramaean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Lord, hast given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God."

This is the Word of the Lord

PSALM (90)

Response: Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High and abides in the shade of the Almighty, says to the Lord: "My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!" R.

Upon you no evil shall fall, no plague approach where you dwell. For you has he commanded his angels, to keep you in all your ways. R.

They shall bear you upon their hands lest you strike your foot against a stone. On the lion and the viper you will tread and trample the young lion and the dragon. R.

His love he set on me, so I will rescue him; protect him for he knows my name. When he calls I shall answer: "I am with you." I will save him in distress and give him glory. R.

SECOND READING

(Those who call upon the Lord, believing in the heart will be saved.)

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans (10:8-13)

What does scripture say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, "every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

This is the Word of the Lord

ACCLAMATION (Mt 4:4b)

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

GOSPEL

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke (4:1-13)

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’." And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’." And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you, and ‘on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone’." And Jesus answered him, "It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’." And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

This is the Gospel of the Lord

I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead. / I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church, / the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen.

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL

Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, all of us stand in need of repentance. During this season of Lent, may we become more aware of it. For this let us pray: Response: Lord, have mercy on us sinners.

1. We pray for the entire Church: may she become a community that more and more believes, repents, confesses and grows in holiness. R.

2. We pray for the world community: that it may make good use of the material resources it is blessed with.

R.

3. We pray for those without the strength to overcome temptations to do evil that they may turn toward our loving God. R.

4. We pray for all of us here present that we may fulfil with conviction our Lenten penance so that we may grow in our identity as children of God. R.

Cel: Father, you hear the prayers of those who turn to you in faith and trust: hear these our prayers that our Lenten journey may bring us closer to you and each other. We ask this...

PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS

Lord, make us worthy to bring you these gifts. May this sacrifice help to change our lives. We ask...

PREFACE (P 12)

COMMUNION ANTIPHON

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Let us pray. Father, you increase our faith and hope, you deepen our love in this communion. Help us to live by your word and to seek Christ, our bread of life, who is Lord for ever and ever.

LITURGY AND LIFE

Confronted by evil, Christ’s purity and singleness of heart were concentrated in a radical refusal. Let us try to reconstruct in our minds what happened. What was the meaning of Christ’s No? What must have been the tone of his voice in which it was uttered?

"You, the tempter, want me to betray the hopeless and the outcast. You want me to make my life easy, to misuse my power to dissipate myself in external things. You want me to overthrow everything that makes life worth living. You want me not to be the friend of the oppressed but to feel myself big, powerful and important among the downtrodden. You want me no longer to talk with those who feel themselves alone, to be successful in this pitiable world, not to take upon myself the loneliness of men. You do not want me to cry out into the world: "My God, why hast thou forsaken me." But I have come into the world precisely in order to speak these mysterious words, which will forever be beyond men’s grasp. In this cry I become brother to all. Do you understand now? I do not want success, but human hearts. I want to enter into the barrenness of human existence, I want to break apart its narrowness from within. I want to give a hope unhoped for precisely to those who are wretched and despised. Power does not entice me. I will not turn the world into a conjuring trick. I shall not betray a man who is lost for the sake of a piece of bread. I know my destiny and you know it too. I shall perish. My future is in the Cross. But without this Cross the world would have no hope left. If I did not endure now my hunger—for human love and bodily food—if at this moment I abandoned the mighty things I can see in the wretchedness of human existence, there would be no one left for those for whom I am prepared to lose my indestructible happiness. Therefore I say to you, No."

—Ladislaus Boros

March 2004

CALENDAR

Psalter week 1

1/Mon (V) Lev 19:1-2,11-18; Ps 18; Mt 25:31-46

2/Tue (V) Is 55:10-11; Ps 33; Mt 6:7-15

3/Wed (V) Jona 3:1-10; Ps 50; Lk 11:29-32

4/Thu (V) Est 4:1,3-5,12-14; Ps 137; Mt 7:7-12

5/Fri (V) Ez 18:21-28; Ps 129; Mt 5:20-26

6/Sat (V) Deut 26:16-19; Ps 118; Mt 5:43-48