Reading and meditation on the Word of God on the First Sunday of Lent, March 9, 2025

Delivered by Jovanna Dominique Mantara, Falencia Ade from Roh Kudus Church in Labuan Bajo and Father Peter Tukan, SDB from Salesian Don Bosco Gerak in the Diocese of Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Rs psalm 91: 1-2.10-11.12-13.14-15; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13CONFESSION OF FAITH The theme for our meditation on this first Sunday ofLent is: Confession of Faith. What does it mean that we celebrate the FirstSunday of Lent by giving attention to the confession of faith in our meditation?Isn't the confession of faith revealed in the prayer "I believe"always said in our prayers? We are actually directed to return to the situationof being challenged, trapped, tempted, threatened, and accused as sinners. What exactly is the situation like? The challenge and temptationwe face are showing that we are the chosen and consecrated ones. Perhaps thisis just a mere theory or a dead concept that is not embodied in reality. So weshould face the challenge of showing that we are indeed elected. Traps, nomatter what form they take, must take the form of circumstances or experiencesof certain difficulties that make a person doubt his faith. The same is true for a person who is in danger andaccused as a sinner. For example, he is a devout Catholic. He and his familywere forced to renounce their faith. The choice was to leave the Catholic faithin order to be let free. But to keep their faith, they must be excecuted. It ispossible that he and his family chose to be freed from the threat, at the riskto abandon the Catholic faith. A situation like this or any other of that kind isa real experience everywhere in this world. There are so many incidents in this world that put usin the choice of whether to follow God's will in righteousness and goodness, orto follow Satan's temptations and traps just for the comfort and enjoyment ofthis world. This is where God's message from the word of God really demands ourcontinuous and increasingly firm confession of faith. In particular, to anyonewho currently finds himself in this situation, or who has the opportunity toface all kinds of difficult situations, the good advice should be to use theconfession of faith as a reliable weapon. We are taught today that the profession of faith iswhat Moses and the Israel as a nation did, which is to strengthen theiridentity as a chosen people and their confession of faith in God as the savior.Saint Paul affirmed his Christian identity because of his confession of faithin Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation. Every type of life direction,culture, background, ideology and knowledge, recognizes only one Lord JesusChrist. Even the person of Jesus Christ himself faced Satan who tempted him sopowerfully and attractively, Jesus' stand never wavered. He remains the Son ofGod, forever with the Father in heaven.Let us pray. In the name of the Father... O Lord Jesus, helpus to remain strong and complete in our faith in God. Our father... In thename of the Father...