“See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil” (Deuteronomy 30:15)

There is a beautiful passage from the Book of Deuteronomy that summarizes what Lent is all about. It reads:

“See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice, and clinging to Him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

In this passage, the people of Israel are being offered a choice as they enter the Promised Land—a choice to follow God and live, or reject God and face the same death which Adam and Eve chose. Here, the Promised Land is regarded as a physical location that will allow the People of Israel to once again live in communion with God, as had Adam and Eve. For us Christians, the invitation is given to us that we might freely live in communion with God by choosing Christ and living in communion with God through the power of the Holy Spirit within the Church. As the choice of the old Adam broke the communion which once existed between God and humanity, by choosing to be followers of the New Adam—Christ, we are offered life.

In the first reading this Sunday, from the Book of Genesis, we hear how God created the human person to live in communion with Him. We are told: “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). This image of being created from dust, draws us back to Ash Wednesday when we recounted that if it were not for Christ’s Resurrection, we would also return to the dust from which we were made. The breath of God that we hear giving life to Adam is often referred to as the Holy Spirit, which gives Eternal Life and allows the human person to live in communion with God. Placed in the Garden of Eden, to live in communion with God, the human person freely chooses to prefer his/her human will over God’s will and by doing so separated humanity from God and His plan for us to know His blessed presence throughout our journeys.

The rest of Salvation History will be about God’s plan to reconcile humanity back to Himself and to offer the human person that possibility of choosing life. The Psalm speaks to us of God’s mercy and forgiveness. This mercy is always available to those who turn to Christ that they might know His life and be restored to life in the Holy Spirit. The Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, tells us how Christ came in to the world to redeem us all from Adam’s sin. As the first Adam brought death into the world by turning his back on God’s will; Christ, the New Adam, has given us all a renewed opportunity by the life of grace that He has won for us by His life, death and resurrection. As Adam rejected God, we are now given an opportunity to accept God’s will for us by accepting Him who won life for us on the tree of the Cross. The season of Lent offers us a clear choice between life and death; as we are invited to choose Christ and follow His example of doing the will of His Father.

The Lord knows that this choice between good and evil is not an easy one for any of us to make. The influence of the Devil, and the tendency of the human person to choose self, requires that we daily turn to the Lord and allow ourselves to be reinforced by his teaching and sacraments. Because this struggle is not easy, Jesus became a human being to show us how to resist and deal with temptation. He invites us to turn to Him and seek strength in His support and example. From the fourth century, the Gospel that we hear proclaimed this First Sunday of Lent has been associated with the beginning of the Lenten Season and read on this Sunday. As Christ goes into the desert to face the temptations of Satan, it offers us the example of a Savior who knew sin and struggled with it. As Jesus is offered many different ways to feed his appetites and desires, He is constantly reminding us that none of these momentary temptations can truly satisfy the human heart which was made for God. As Jesus responds to the Devil about the inability of the passing things of the world to satisfy, He is really speaking to us. Christ’s three responses to the Devil in the face of the three temptations, offer us some extremely important reminders in the face of our own temptations. This advice is summarized simply in Christ’s own words: 1) “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God;” 2) “Do not put the Lord your God to the test;” and 3) “Worship the Lord you God, and serve only Him.” Perhaps each one of us might think of these three statements in light of our Lenten journeys and ask how they can be applied to our response to the choice which God puts before us between life and death- His will and our own.

In the early Church, when only a minority of persons were baptized, Lent was typically the time when those preparing for Baptism entered into the final stages of their preparation. As their preparation involved a choice to leave the world and join the Church, the period of this preparation was known as the period of Purification and Enlightenment. Over time, as the majority in Christian countries were baptized at birth, the Lenten season became a time for the baptized to turn away from what was keeping them from living their baptismal promises and turn back toward God. Lent continues to be that season of grace in which a choice is put before all to choose life in Christ or to seek death. Whenever we choose our own will over Christ’s, we are choosing that momentarily satisfaction that Jesus in the desert reminded us will pass, and in choosing it, we say “no” to the eternal life and happiness that God offers us in Christ. For all of the baptized this Lenten season brings before us the choice to follow Christ that each one of us is invited to make. To remind us of the importance of this choice, the Church continues to invite those who are not baptized to prepare for the Sacraments of Christian initiation in the Lenten season and to celebrate them at the Easter Vigil. This is also the season when those who have been baptized in another denomination complete their final preparations to renew their baptismal promises and be received into the Catholic Church at Easter.

This Sunday, a number of individuals will celebrate the Rite of Election at the parish’s 11:15 a.m. Mass. As they do so, they will be making that free choice to choose life and follow Christ, that each one of us is also asked to reaffirm as we prepare to renew our baptismal promises at Easter. At the same Mass, others will also come forward and state their intentions to be received into the Church at Easter. Throughout the Lenten season, those who are preparing for baptism will reassert their desire to turn toward Christ and away from false promises and temptations of the world. As they do this, on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent they will come forward to be strengthened by prayers. The readings on these Sundays will be taken from the Gospel of John and will tell the story of the Samaritan women who seeks the living water of life from Christ at the well; the healing of the man born blind; and the raising of Lazarus from the dead. These stories are told in preparation for baptism to remind us of the true life that is to be found in Christ. The story of the Samaritan women, on the Third Sunday of Lent, reminds us of the spiritual thirst that drives all of us to find love. As she speaks of the many loves that she has had—none of which have brought her fulfillment—Christ offers her the love, forgiveness and fulfillment that only He can offer. Through Him, she will never thirst again. The story of the healing of the blind man on the Fourth Sunday of Lent reminds us that we can only see the world and its created reality clearly through the eyes of faith. Without faith, we do not see the true value of created things and the eternal realities that Christ offers us for true life. On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we read about the raising of Lazarus and are reminded that Christ wishes to save us from death and offers us eternal life. This is the life that we are invited to choose as we are called to renew our baptismal promises, with those who will be baptized and received, this coming Easter.

As those who will be baptized and received into the Church will make a clear choice for Christ and the life he offers this Easter, so too Lent is intended to remind us of the choice that is before us. This Lent is a time to ask for a generosity that responds to the gift of life that is freely offered to us. The gift that Christ offers us is intended to set us free to love others as he has loved us. In the Stations of the Cross and by reflecting on Christ’s Passion, we are reminded about what the new Adam has chosen to do so that we might know of His love and the power of the choice before us. As we hear about the temptations that Christ underwent to give us His example of choosing the Father, let us ask ourselves how we are responding to the temptations and choices that we must make. Lent is a graced season to recognize the nature of the choices between life and death that are before us and to seek the grace and mercy of God to be strengthened to choose life. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, those of us who are baptized, are given an opportunity to turn away from the sinful choices that we have made and turn back to God. I would encourage all, who are already baptized, to consider celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a way of turning back to God and preparing for Easter. The parish’s Day of Reconciliation will be on Saturday, March 28, 2026 from 10:00 a.m. till 5:00p.m. There will be more information in the bulletin. If you wish to go to another priest, or celebrate at another time, you may check the Archdiocesan website, to see when other parishes are celebrating their Day of Confession.

This Lent, as He does every day, God puts before us the choice between life and good, death and evil. In freedom, God desires us to choose life and good; to choose His will and be His people. No matter what the decisions that we have made in the past, through His mercy, each day we have a new beginning and possibility to choose God. For many of us, we choose to put this choice off for another day or pretend that it is beyond our ability to do God’s will. On Ash Wednesday, the Second Reading provided some very good advice as to when was the appropriate time for each of us to make this choice for God; as it proclaimed: “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

May God bless all of us this Lent with the grace to choose the life and good God puts before us each day!

Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor, St. Peter’s Church—Toronto, Ontario

This reflection based on the readings for the First Sunday of Lent- Year A: Genesis 2: 7-9, 16-18, 25; 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5:12-19; and Matthew 4: 1-11).

P.S. Please consider giving generously to ShareLife this Lent