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The second reading this Sunday is not easy to follow, especially when some of Paul’s sentences are more like paragraphs. But you will notice that he makes several important connections: between sin and death, between Adam and Jesus, and between obedience and disobedience.

Sin, he says, is the cause of death. Of course, everyone is subject to death at some point, even if they haven’t sinned. A less serious sin can be a little “death” when it makes us feel that we are not as close to God as we could be. And sins that we might think are not a big deal, like smoking, can lead to serious health problems.

The connection between Adam and Jesus is not so obvious. Adam was the first to bring sin and death into the world. Jesus is the first to bring forgiveness by his death on the cross. The main difference between them is that Adam disobeyed God, while Jesus was obedient to his Father. Adam reminds me of a child who knows what he is supposed to do, but thinks that he can do the opposite and get away with it.

In the Gospel, Satan can be thought of as trying to get Jesus to do things the easy way. When he tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, he shows Jesus an easy way to feed the people. But Jesus takes a better way, when he feeds us with himself in the Eucharist. The devil says Jesus can throw himself off the temple as a dramatic way to attract followers; Jesus lets himself hang from the cross to draw people to himself. Satan promises the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will only worship him.  But Jesus chose to be crowned with thorns and receive his kingdom when he rose fromthe dead.

-Tom Schmidt

“At the end, we will find ourselves face to face with the infinite beauty of God and be able to read with admiration and happiness the mystery of the universe, which with us will share in unending plentitude. Even now we are journeying towards the sabbath of eternity, the new Jerusalem, towards our common home in heaven.

Jesus says, ‘I make all things new.’ Eternal life will be a shared experience of awe, in which each creature, resplendently transfigured, will take its rightful place and have something to give those poor men and women who will have been liberated once and for all…

In the meantime, we come together to take charge of this home which has been entrusted to us, knowing that all the good which exists here will be taken up into the heavenly feast.”

The First Sunday of Lent: The Gospel tells of Jesus in the desert and the temptations that he has to deal with. At the conclusion of the third temptation, Matthew’s Gospel says: “The Lord your God shall you worship; Him alone shall you serve.” There are so many temptations that pull us away from God. As temptations, at first they may seem to be something to pursue, but we quickly (and at times not so quickly) learn that we have wasted our time and are headed in the wrong direction. The beginning of Lent asks us to look at our own temptations and recognize how strong and deceptive they are. Lent gives us time to deal with them so that we can control them rather than they control us.

I hope that the Lenten booklets that were distributed at Mass last Sunday will be daily source of inspiration as you travel through this season. If you would like something else to accompany you throughout this season, there are more Lenten books on the Book Tables in the lobby of the Parish House.

Best wishes and blessings to our Catechumens who will become our Elect at the Cathedral this Sunday afternoon. Cardinal Dolan will preside at the Liturgy when all of the catechumens in the Archdiocese of New York will move ahead in their journey to the Easter sacraments. Our prayers are with you.

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi will observe
Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 20.

Masses will be celebrated at 8:00, 11:00 AM, 4:30 and 5:30 PM.

No confessions will be scheduled; the church offices, switchboard and St. Francis Adult Education Center will be closed for the day.

“Mary, the Mother who cared for Jesus, now cares with maternal affection and pain for this wounded world. Just as her pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus, so now she grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power.

Completely transfigured, she now lives with Jesus, and all creatures sing of her fairness. She is the Woman, ‘clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.’ Carried up into heaven, she is the Mother and Queen of all creation. In her glorified body, together with the Risen Christ, part of creation has reached the fullness of its beauty. She treasures the entire life of Jesus in her heart and now understands the meaning of all things. Hence,we can ask her to enable us to look at this world with eyes of wisdom.