Corpus Christi Blog

Our 1st reading and Gospel today are such important and impactful events in salvation history, hopefully you know these stories well. Today I want to try and reveal how these 2 important events are tests and a preparation for us in this season of Lent. So, let me jump right into it.

Our Gospel today is Mark’s version of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. You undoubtedly noticed how short Mark’s version is, and in case you zoned out- it’s already over. Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark doesn’t explain each particular temptation and how Jesus overcomes them; instead, Mark simply and succinctly states: The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for 40 days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild beasts, and the angels administered to him”. So, it is this 1 verse I will preach on, with short tie-ins from the other readings. But before you start getting excited, thinking that because it’s only covering 1 verse then it’ll be a shorter homily- Sorry to get your hopes up, but you have to know me by now, right? This is a short, but such a jam-packed verse, that although I could, I won’t have time to explain the fullness of its meaning in this one homily. But I promise you that I will apply my homily to Lent and our spiritual lives, so hopefully it’ll be well worth your attention and reflection.

from www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/who-we-teach/rite-of-christian-initiation-of-adults/index.cfm

Each year on Holy Saturday during the Easter Vigil, thousands are baptized into the Catholic Church in the United States. Parishes welcome these new Catholics through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). Listed below are some questions and answers about RCIA.

from www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/journey-to-the-foot-of-the-cross-10-things-to-remember-for-lent.cfm

1. Remember the formula. The Church does a good job capturing certain truths with easy-to-remember lists and formulas: 10 Commandments, 7 sacraments, 3 persons in the Trinity. For Lent, the Church gives us almost a slogan— Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving—as the three things we need to work on during the season.

I grew up on a farm in northeast Kansas, where riding horseback to our one-room schoolhouse, taking care of the pigs and cattle, working in fields and spending time with the family came as naturally as breathing. Thanks to my parents’ spiritual leadership, so did prayer. Without the availability of weekday Mass, and only on Sundays when good weather allowed for travel by our pastor and us parishioners, Mom and Dad still deeply impressed upon their six children the importance of the Eucharist, regular Confession, and a daily connection to the source of life, our loving God. We had a simple school of prayer, that is a domestic church, that is, an “intentionally” Catholic home.