First Sunday of Lent: Return to the Lord
Each year, on the First Sunday of Lent, the Church brings us into the desert.
In the Gospel, we see Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days of fasting and temptation (cf. Holy Bible, Matthew 4:1–11). Before He begins His public ministry, before the miracles, before the preaching — He enters the desert.
Lent is our invitation to follow Him there.
But what is Lent really for?
It is not a religious self-improvement program. It is not spiritual spring cleaning. It is not simply “giving something up.”
Lent is about conversion.
The word “convert” means to turn around. To change direction. To stop walking away from God and begin walking toward Him again — deliberately, intentionally, wholeheartedly.
The desert reveals what distracts us.
The desert exposes what controls us.
The desert clarifies what we truly love.
When Jesus is tempted, the devil offers Him three things: comfort, power, and glory. In other words — everything except the Cross. And each time, Jesus refuses. He chooses the will of the Father over ease, over recognition, over control.
Lent asks us the same question: What are we choosing?
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not random religious exercises. They are weapons.
- Prayer reorients our hearts toward God.
- Fasting teaches us that we are not slaves to our appetites.
- Almsgiving loosens our grip on possessions and turns us outward in love.
These practices are not ends in themselves. They clear space in the soul so that God can act.
One of the great dangers for Catholics is becoming accustomed to holy things — Mass, Scripture, the Sacraments — without allowing them to change us. Lent interrupts that comfort. It shakes us awake.
The ashes we received were not decoration. They were a reminder: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Lent places eternity before our eyes.
And yet this season is not gloomy. It is serious — but hopeful. The same Lord who leads us into the desert also leads us out. The desert is not where the story ends. Easter is.
But there is no Easter without Good Friday.
There is no Resurrection without repentance.
There is no new life without dying to sin.
This First Sunday of Lent, do not settle for a small Lent.
Do not merely give up oreos.
Ask the Lord:
Where do I need to change?
What is keeping me from holiness?
What must I surrender?
If we enter the desert with honesty, humility, and courage, Easter will not feel routine. It will feel like rescue.
Let us walk with Christ these forty days — not as spectators, but as disciples who intend to be changed.
In Christ,
Fr. Joe