PEACE-LENT 2023: First Sunday of Lent
February 26, 2023: Genesis 2:7-9: 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
Why did God make the tree, if God wanted them never to eat of it?
These top the list of FAQs that arise from today's Word. And this lent we have chosen to look at this reality from the point of view of peace! Reflecting in the light of the questions above and similar others, what stands out in the Word today is the fact that peace is fundamentally a choice! Just yesterday lived through the day that marked one year of war in Ukraine - a folly of a war in the 21st century! Of course, it is not that this is the only war that is on... there are so many war situations and war-like situations all over the world, threatening the local and universal peace! Every individual societies, families and persons are not spared of this lack of peace. Against this background, the Word establishes today three facts:
Fact 1: God chose to gift us with the capacity to choose; yes, Choice is a gift! If we get to see, it is this capacity to choose that is the fundamental element of human dignity. It is freedom and autonomy that define a human person. When they are missing there is a breach of human rights, loss of human dignity and a crisis of very humanity. This is what is happening in many a place today where this freedom and autonomy is not given, or controlled or hunted out. Think about all the discussion on freedom of expression, threat to the whistle blowers, and the stifling of truth that is happening all around the world!
God made us human persons; that involves primarily our capacity to choose! When every thing is prefixed and there is nothing to be done about it, where does the personal capacity of individuals come in? Would it not be merely luck and destiny that is at play? Though at times it may look like it is so, the fact is that we are given with the great gift of choosing, to make of ourselves what we are! When we become aware of it and responsible about it, we are laying the foundation for peace - be it personal or universal!
Fact 2: We choose God because God chose us! God has made a choice to love us and has given us a sign of that love in Christ, in Christ who chose God absolutely! In choosing God, Christ chose to obey. In choosing to obey, Christ chose peace, oneness, serenity... he chose SHALOM! For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son that the world may have life: that is the source of our peace, the unfailing source of our eternal peace!
God created us in a paradise and invites us to that paradise; what we make of our life in between these two is our choice! Can we make this a peaceful journey towards a peaceful eternity? That depends on whether we wish to choose God or not; that rests on whether we are ready to choose peace or not! Choosing peace is choosing God, and that is what Jesus has exemplified in his life!
Fact 3: Choosing peace is choosing God! God invites us to take up our call to choose peace, but that choice is a challenge. It is a challenge because it involves choosing God - choosing to abide by God's Word and not by the popular fads of the world; choosing to remain calm at difficulties and not trying and testing God and God's capacity; choosing to be humble and loving instruments in the hands of God and not trying to play God to the world! This is what we see happening in the event of temptation of Jesus, presented in the Gospel today.
Jesus chose God, and thus he chose peace! The devil had to leave him and the Angels were around to comfort him. That is peace: keeping the devil far away and allowing the angels of the Lord to teach our way. The world does just the opposite today - it keeps anything that is angelic far away, claiming it is too childish and naive; but dares to play with the wiles of the devil so oblivious that it will eventually lead to their damnation, a total loss of peace! The challenge of peace therefore is to make a choice to be authentic come what may, to forego of our ego and put the Other and the others much before me and mine.
Peace is a choice. Realising the gift of choice that we have received from God and choosing God above all, we choose peace! May this season of Lent, the Peace-Lent that we are journeying through, grant us and the whole world, true and lasting peace!