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Eglise St. Jean Baptiste

Eglise St. Jean Baptiste

The Church is the People of God sharing in Jesus’ ministry of preaching, teaching and healing.

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Eglise St. Jean Baptist
Rectory Address: 184 E 76th St, New York, NY 10021

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  • FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, February 21, 2021
May 25, 2022

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, February 21, 2021

Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste
Sunday, 21 February 2021 / Published in Church Reflections

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, February 21, 2021

REFLECTION

GENESIS 9:8-15 1 PETER 3:18-22 MARK 1:12-15

Here we are marking the First Sunday in Lent. Last year we couldn’t celebrate Ash Wednesday, and we couldn’t celebrate Holy Week. It seems like we’ve been trapped in a year that never ends. The account of Christ in the desert is an appropriate image of what we’ve been experiencing. It has been a year of endless “temptation.”

What the gospel narrates can be applied so easily to us and our experience. “The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert for 40 days, tempted by Satan.”

I personally believe that we’re experiencing a Spirit-directed time of temptation. But we must remember that with the temptation comes God’s grace. We’ve been forced to realize how fragile our health is. At the same time, we’ve been forced to see how fragile our country is. Our time of temptation isn’t over. Covid still rages, and the battle to preserve our democracy continues. We’re still in the desert.

The evangelist adds an important sentence to his account of Christ’s temptation that we need to note: “He was among the wild beasts and the angels ministered to him.”

Here, Mark is recalling Isaiah’s prophecy of universal peace when the lion and lamb will live together in a new world – the kingdom of God. The angels who come to minister to him during his temptation will again minister to Jesus during his final temptation in the garden of Gethsemane as he begins his Passover into the new Eden. Mark is telling us that a

time of temptation always opens up to a time of grace.

This year’s 40 days of Lent are, perhaps, the most important time we’re ever going to experience. Temptations are sent to us to make us strong. We’re being challenged to renew our faith with a vigor and fervor we’ve never imagined. But the Spirit is with us in our temptation. We’re being guided by that same Spirit to open our eyes – to envision, maybe for the first time, the world God intended for us – the kingdom of God. As St. Paul told the Corinthians, “the world as we know it is passing.” May his kingdom come.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I pray your Son’s prayer in a special way today. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” May Christians, and all people of good faith, join together as brothers and sisters united in love for one another. May the sacrifices we make for the good of all help to bring about your reign, your kingdom on earth.

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SCHEDULE OF MASSES
Weekday Schedule
Church opens at 11:30 AM
Mass at 12:00PM
Church closes at 1:00 PM

Saturday Schedule
Church opens at 11:30 AM
Mass at 12:00PM
Church closes at 1:00 PM
Church opens at 4:30 PM
Mass at 5:00 PM
Church closes at 6:00 PM

Sunday Schedule
Church opens at 8:30 AM
Mass at 9:00AM
Mass at 11:00 AM
Mass at 4:00 PM
Church closes at 5:00 PM

After the weekday and Saturday Masses until 1:00 PM and from Noon until 4:00PM on Sunday Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.