On this First Sunday of Lent, we reflect on symbolic significance of 40 days of Lent, in connection to Noah spending 40 days in the Ark during the Great Flood (Genesis 8:6) and Jesus spending 40 days in the Judean desert (Mark 1:13). And, in this Sunday’s Scripture Readings (Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15), the symbolic theme of 40 days of Lent is also associated with Baptism and the Resurrection of the Lord upon his death.
In the Second Reading (1 Peter 3:18-22), Peter
connects the salvific effect of Baptism to God’s saving of Noah’s Ark from the
great flood, which is reflected in the First Reading (Genesis 9:8-15). And, it
is God’s way of love and truth to guide us in His truth and to remember us in
His compassion with His love, as reflected in the Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 25:4-5).
The Gospel Reading (Mark 1:12-15) describes that
Jesus began his public ministry after John the Baptist was out of the public,
having spent 40 days in the desert, among wild beasts, and tempted by Satan but
ministered by angels. And Jesus himself was baptized by John the Baptist before
he was driven by the Holy Spirit to the Judean desert, where he spent 40 days,
before he began his public ministry, proclaiming to repent and believe in the
Gospel.
Noah and his companions in the Ark spent 40 days to
prepare themselves for a renewed life upon the great flood through the covenant
with God, symbolized with rainbow, as reflected in the First Reading (Genesis
9:8-15). And the 40 days of the great flood were the period for the cleansing
of the wickedness of the earth, resulting from our sins, thus renewing the
earth, rather than destroying it (Genesis 6:1-7). As reflected in the refrain of the
Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 25, this is God’s way of love and truth to those
who keep His covenant. Those who keep God’s covenant will be renewed by His
love to His truth, kept in the Ark for 40 days.
So, these Lenten 40 days are for being renewed by God’s love into His
truth, being cleansed of our sinful filth as we open up our heart with
contrition.
As the Gospel Reading (Mark 1:12-15) describes, the
40 days that Jesus spent in the Judean desert, as led by the Holy Spirit, were
to prepare himself for his public ministry, upon being anointed by the Father
with the Holy Spirit though his Baptism (Mark 1:9-11). And, as he began his
ministry in public, he first proclaimed the Gospel of God (Mark 1:14) and called
us to repent and believe in the Gospel (Mark 1:15).
In fact, Jesus’ public ministry, which began with
his proclamation of the Gospel and call for our penance, after spending 40 days
in the desert and having overcome temptations from Satan, was consummated
through his death on the Cross and the Resurrection. This is to bring us to God
(1 Peter 3:18). What is dead on the Cross is his body but it is made alive by
the Holy Spirit with his Resurrection (1 Peter 3:19a). Furthermore, between his
death and resurrection, Jesus reached to those who have been kept in the world
of the dead – to the spirit in prison, namely those deceased (mortal) children
of God, as wiped out by the great flood in the days of Noah (cf. Genesis
6:2,3)(1 Peter 3:19b-20). This is why Peter sees the great flood in the days of
Noah, in particular, the water, as a prefiguration of the Baptism (1 Peter
3:21,) and the water has gained its salvific effects in its cleansing utility
because of the Resurrection (1 Peter 3:22).
Remember, as Jesus’ public ministry began to
consummate through his passion toward death, from his Cross, the blood and
water gushed from his body upon being pierced (John 19:34). And, Jesus
explained to St. Faustina: his blood is to give life to the souls of the
faithful, while the water from his body is to make our souls righteous, out of
the depth of the Divine Mercy (Diary of St. Faustina, 299). So, through the
death of Jesus on the Cross, the water is truly salvific as it comes with the
Blood of Christ to wash us into the eternal blessing (Revelation 7:14; 22:14).
And these 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert among wild beasts, as
ministered by the angels, fending off Satan’s temptations, were ultimately to
prepare for the 3 years of his public ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem, to
make the water truly salvific, in addition to cleansing.
Now, knowing about symbolic meaning
of these 40 days of Lent in connection
to the 40 days of great flood in the days of Noah and the 40 days that Jesus
spent in preparation for our salvation, making it truly effective with the
blood and water gushing out of his body on the Cross, let us humbly submit
ourselves to be baptized by the Divine Mercy: the blood and the water of
Christ.
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