Study of the Readings
Ed. by
Joyce Ann Zimmerman,
et al
• Words, Phrases
• To the point
• First Two Readings
• Experience
Dennis
Hamm, SJ
Through Water and Desert to Life
If the Christmas season reawakened us to the good news of the incarnation, Lent now draws us more fully into its consequences.
John Kavanaugh, SJ
Lent invites us to enter the water and to walk the desert—to stare death itself in the face. Lent focuses on the two dominant symbols of our terror and asks us to pass through them to the other side.
John J. Pilch
Jesus was baptized by John and successfully defended his honor against Satan. When John was arrested, Jesus initiated his ministry, and only then went about recruiting followers for his faction.
Christians must expect is to be tempted by the devil. As Scripture
tells us, we have to be prepared for temptation, for it is written:
“When you enter God’s service, prepare your soul for an ordeal.”
Reginald H. Fuller
The covenant with Noah is distinguished from other Old Testament covenants in that it is made not with Israel only but with the whole of humanity. In this covenant God promises never again to destroy the earth by a flood.