First Sunday of Lent
St. Michael, Overlea; 100th Anniversary of K of C Council 2521 (Gibbons)
February 18, 2024
A Serious Season of Hope and Joy
It is a pleasure to return to St. Michael Parish here in Overlea and to thank Father Hector for his dedicated, energetic, and faithful leadership of St. Michael’s Parish as well as St. Clement Mary Hoffbauer, and Annunciation. Let’s express our deepest thanks to your pastor, Father Hector!
It’s also a pleasure for me to join with my brother Knights of Columbus and their families in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Council № 2521, named for the great James Cardinal Gibbons, the 8th Archbishop of Baltimore. As Supreme Chaplain, I am proud to claim this as my home council.
And how providential that we have gathered on the First Sunday of Lent. While many regard Lent as a dreary season, it cannot be that way with us. Lent is a serious season to be sure, a time we spend with Christ in the desert, but also a time of joy and hope as we witness anew how deeply our Savior loves us and how has opened for us a path to eternal life and eternal joy. This First Sunday of Lent is a case in point as our eyes of faith behold how Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations in the desert, thereby giving us the strength we need to overcome the many temptations we face.
Driven into the Desert
This Gospel scene unfolds just after Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan. Recall that, as Jesus emerged from the water, he was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and the Father’s voice was heard, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” God the Father affirmed that Jesus is his Incarnate Son and poured forth his Spirit upon his human nature by which he would redeem us.
Soon afterwards, the Gospel tells us, “the Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert” and there Jesus stayed for forty days and forty nights – just as we observe the Season of Lent for a period of forty days. What did Jesus do in the desert? He fasted and prayed. There, in the desert, Jesus also experienced the barrenness of our existence. He went into the wilderness of our alienation from God and from one another, symbolized not only by the rugged landscape but by the lurking of wild beasts. It was there, that Jesus poured out his heart in prayer, not merely for himself and for the trials he was about to undergo, but above all for us, those whom he came into the world to redeem. As Lent begins, does not the Lord invite us to journey with him into the desert, laying aside comforts we so often take for granted, and spending time with him in prayer, pouring out our hearts to Our Father in heaven.
But as often happens when we pray, Satan lurks about us, not only to distract us but also to tempt us in ways big and small. So too, for Jesus; the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, that Jesus ‘was tempted in every way that we are yet never sinned’ (Heb 4:15). That did not keep the devil from trying. The devil threw at Jesus everything he had—pleasure, power, and glory— anything and everything to derail Jesus’ mission for the salvation of the world, just as the devil throws at us anything and everything to undermine our faith, to keep us from following Jesus, from loving God and neighbor with all that is within us.
Satan, the deceiver, is subtle, persistent, and persuasive. It is true that God will not let us be tempted beyond our strength, yet we know how weak we are and how prone to sin we can be. And so, we need to cling to Jesus, for only “through him, with him and in him” can we resist the promptings of the devil!
The Deeper Temptation
We are, of course, familiar with the daily temptations that come our way – temptations to indulge our appetites, temptations to assert ourselves at the expense of others, temptations to feed our overweening egos. But let us not forget, on this First Sunday of Lent, the devil’s larger project. He wants to convince us that following Jesus is next to impossible, that we’re not good enough, that the demands of the Gospel aren’t worth it, that the faith might not be true in the first place, and so forth and so on!
. . . Just the way Jesus was tempted. Let’s not assume that Jesus’ temptations in the desert was a “one and done”. The temptation to give up kept coming as Jesus met up with severe resistance in his ministry of preaching the Good News and healing the sick. Think of how the Pharisees and Scribes continually tried to trap him. His very own disciples were slow to believe and one of them betrayed him. Sharing our human nature, sinless though he was, he couldn’t help but dread the baptism of pain and death that awaited him on Calvary. All the while, the devil must have been whispering in his ears, as he whispers in ours, “See, I told you! Your mission will fail! Your Father-God will disown you. Very few have believed in you. Everyone who’s anyone is against you!” If Jesus was tempted in this way, should we, his friends, be surprised that we are sometimes tempted to give up on the whole project of being Christian?… And indeed many of our fellow Catholics and loved ones have done just that.
The Good Shepherd
Jesus the Good Shepherd guides us as we walk through the dark valley of temptation, and he does so by sending us good shepherds to guide, protect, and encourage us – pastors like your own Father Hector and like Blessed Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus. One of the main reasons for his founding the Knights of Columbus was to help the men of his parish to stay close to the Lord and to practice their faith, to keep them from straying into secret societies that were contrary to the faith, or simply giving up their faith amid the hardships of daily life in the late 19th century. Father McGivney’s pastoral love, modeled on that of the Good Shepherd, remains at the heart of the Knights of Columbus – it is a fraternity of Catholic men who support one another in practicing and living their faith – and not superficially, but in a way that goes to the very core of their being. In this way, the Knights help men to be better husbands and fathers, while at the same time serving those in need as if they were serving Christ himself.
How blessed we are that 100 years ago, in this very church, Knights of Columbus Council № 2521 was founded under the leadership of its first Worthy Grand Knight Nicholas J. Herbert. On that occasion, 34 men received the First Degree of the Knights of Columbus, and the rest, as they say, is history – indeed, history in the making. I am grateful to David Price, currently the Grand Knight of Cardinal Gibbons Council, and to all my brother knights and families for the witness of your faith and charity, for your solidarity with one another, for your love for the Church, and for supporting one another in the most important project of life – resisting the devil, following Jesus, and living as a member of his Body, the Church.
May all of us gathered here today share in Jesus’ victory over sin and death, knowing that, “If we have died with [Christ], we shall also live with him; if we persevere with him, we shall also reign with him” (2 Tim 2:12). May God bless us and keep us always in his love!