First Sunday of Lent

First Reading: GN 2:7-9; 3:1-7

Psalm: PS 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17

Second Reading:  ROM 5:12-19

Gospel: MT 4:1-11

Homily: 

Six Verbs In Genesis Chapter 3 that Compose the Sequence of Seduction

1. To See – The Woman saw that the tree was good for food – Rebellion always begins as an image in the imagination
2. To Desire – She desired the fruit for gaining wisdom – Unchecked, temptation produces uncontrolled passions
3. To Take – She took some of its fruit – When you act on uncontrolled passions, it no longer stays in the imagination and becomes an act of sin
4. To Eat – And she ate – Sin is internalized in our souls as a fruit is absorbed by the body
5. To Give – She also gave some to her husband – Sin is interpersonal, never private. What we do behind closed doors, even alone, is an interpersonal sin.
6. To Hide – they realized they were naked and they hid – The end result of sin is hiding from God in the church.  We don’t go to church when we are not in communion with God, because we don’t want to face God or the reality that I am in rebellion with myself.