Lent 1C25: “A springtime of faith” (Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13; 9 March 2025)

A reflection for the first Sunday of Lent, written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA. 

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane

D08 F8NW

9 March 2025

First Sunday of Lent: Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Title: the Springtime of Faith

Welcome

In the month of February, people often observe the increase in daylight. Most likely, someone has said in our hearing, “there’s a great stretch in the evenings.” Our word “Lent” comes from an old English word for spring, “Lenchthen”, an acknowledgement that the days are lengthening and spring has sprung. In other languages, it is expressed differently. The Italian word for Lent is quaresima, from quadragesima, meaning forty. The German word is simply Fastenzeit, literally, a time for fasting. So, the Romance languages tell us how long the season lasts; German tells us what to do; English tells us what is supposed to happen. I’m reminded of a characteristic expression of Brother Roger of Taizé: the springtime of faith. As we know, the journey of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, as we prepare to celebrate once more the great events that give us new life in Christ. 

Topic

Each year, Lent is different simply because we are different. How shall we live this season of grace, so that we may come to Easter refreshed and renewed, having experienced a true spiritual springtime? 

Steps

Spirituality 

In our time, the word spirituality is a kind of buzzword, often in the form “I am not religious but spiritual.” But what does being “spiritual” mean? There are many approaches, of course. A Cistercian monk from Roscrea Abbey, Nivard Kinsella, once gave a definition of Christian spirituality in my hearing and what he said stayed with me. 

“Spirituality is whatever I do to make the Gospel come alive in my life.” 

As a definition, it is perhaps a little on the concise side but still a very useful descriptor. It does not exclude doing “holy things”, such as meditation and prayer and coming to church, but it is by no means confined to them. Christianity spirituality is whatever I do to make the Gospel come alive in my life.  Prayer, common worship, bible reading, service of the neighbour, concrete acts of loving service, care for the environment, works of reconciliation and so on. Naturally, for each one of us, it leads to another question: well, what do I actually do to make the Gospel come alive in my life? Even more concretely, what will I put in place this Lent, our springtime of faith, to make the Gospel come alive in my life? 

Listening 

I hope we all do many things. There is an invitation implied in the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent. In the course of the story of the Temptations, Jesus proclaims: 

‘One does not live by bread alone.’” (Luke 4:4)

These words come from the book of  Deuteronomy, where we read a little more fully: 

…one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  (Deuteronomy 8:3)

If all that were not enough, on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear from St Paul, in the letter to the Romans chapter 10, as follows: 

But what does it say?   “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation.  (Romans 10:8-10)

On the second Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of the Transfiguration. The words which jump off the page for me are: 

“This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 

So, one element of this great season of grace is a renewed “listening” to the Gospel. The story of the Temptation, the reading from Romans, the following Sunday’s Gospel the Transfiguration, all invite us to the same attitude. As part of the Lenten journey, as we mark this springtime of faith, we are all called to a renewed listening, a deep hearing of the word of life. So, how shall I “listen” this Lent?

Luke’s Gospel 

To take this general invitation down from the shelf of the ideal and to bring it into the real world, I have a practical proposal for us to consider. Why not make the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel for this year, your spiritual reading for Lent 2025? I have in mind a double reading. First of all, if you can, read the whole Gospel through in one sitting. A C. of I. friend of mind recently did exactly that on my advice and was amazed by the cumulative effect of the power of the writing. After this first, intense overview, then take some chapters and stories each week for reflection and prayer. On my website, tarsus.ie, I’ve got a reading plan for reading Luke in Lent. A seven-week reading plan will take us to Easter. Who knows? it might even inspire us to take the Acts as spiritual reading for Eastertide. 

Faithful readers will find themselves in the hands of a great spiritual writer, a master story teller. It is no accident that in the tradition, Luke was said to have been a painter. His stories somehow lodge in our hearts and minds because Luke is a very painterly writer. My guess is that if a vox pop were taken, inviting people to name a Gospel story, the grand probability is that most would come from the Gospel according to Luke. 

Conclusion

In summary, Lent is our springtime of faith, a time for renewed engagement, both spiritual and practical, with the Gospel. Spirituality is “whatever I do to make the Gospel come alive in my life.” This description is both wide and practical. As part of “what I do”, I’m proposing a more intense engagement with Luke’s Gospel, making Luke our companion on the road this Lent. Who knows? Perhaps we will find ourselves spontaneously echoing the words of the disciples on the road to Emmaus: 

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”  (Luke 24:32