LL_Icon

Lifelong Catechesis

Forming Catholic identity across generations
October 13, 2024
Close
Close
Close

Lent

Forty days before the Triduum, the Lenten season disposes Catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery through prayer and penitential practices.

Sunday Readings and Backgrounds

Previous Next

First Sunday of Lent

Reading I : Genesis 9:8-15

I am setting my covenant with you forever!

  • The first reading is the conclusion of the Noah story. The event takes place after the flood waters had receded.
  • God makes a covenant with Noah and, through Noah, with all creation.
  • For the author's audience, whose world had seemed destroyed through exile, the story of God's covenant with Noah established new hope.

Reading II : 1 Peter 3:18-22

You are saved by your baptisms!

  • The First Letter of Peter uses the imagery of the flood and the covenant with Noah as a symbol of Baptism.
  • This letter was written to encourage Christians in the face of persecution.
  • Today's passage presents Christ's death and resurrection as the true reason for deliverance from sin and death.

Gospel : Mark 1:12-15

Jesus was sent by the Spirit into the desert.

  • The story of the temptation of Jesus is told on the First Sunday of Lent every year.
  • Mark's brief account brings to mind figures and events from the Hebrew Scriptures.
  • After Jesus' baptism, the Spirit who had descended upon him drove him into the desert to be tempted by Satan.  Today's Gospel relates to Baptism and its meaning.