The gospel of Mark gives us the shortest account of Jesus's time spent in the wilderness. Mark is the evangelist who is in a hurry to preach the gospel that we are given the briefest details of the time Jesus spent his wilderness time. He is seen in the desert for forty days, where he is tempted by the devil and supported by the angels. He then returns home to Galilee urging people to 'repent and believe in the gospel.'-words used by the minister only a few days ago on Ash Wednesday. The site chosen to inaugurate the mission has a theological meaning. Jesus did not stay in the desert where the Baptist did his work. He did not expect the people to look for him. He lets each one remain in their homes and rooms. He himself moved to meet anyone who needed his understanding and his help. What will I do today, and during this lent, to make the gospel that but more accessible? Am I a barrier to growth?

Very often in cartoons when the hero is faced with a moral dilemma a stereotypical angel appears on one shoulder, while a devil, complete with horns, appears on the other. Jesus is living no cartoon existence, yet he is faced with the reality of evil as the temptations show. These past few years have brought us all pain and upset—we have been brought face to face with the reality of evil. The pandemic has seen the world in the midst of pain and the deepest hurt. We witness every night, on our TV screens, he horror of war in Ukraine and the Holy Land. However, we have also seen so many angels in our lives; angels who have been there to bring the shopping in or being there for us at the end of a zoom chat. Angels have been there for us when we had our wobbles, and who listened to our fears and concerns. Angels are trying to desperately bring food to the starving of Gaza. Angels have taken refugees from Ukraine into their homes. angels are working hard to bring combatants around the table of peace.

As the wilderness experience showed, no matter how deep the evil, the light of God is always much stronger. The founder of the Presentation Sisters, Nano Nagle, found her true faith and vocation when returning home from a night of dancing in Paris. As she was driven through the streets of Paris, as dawn was breaking after another wild night, the Irish socialite saw the poor making their way into church for early morning mass. She wanted a share in that deep faith that enabled people to get up on cold winter mornings before their working day, to meet Jesus in Eucharist. She returned to her native Ireland to begin a ministry of education for the poorest of the poor in the busy port city of Cork. In our own experience of lent we can be the ones who follow Nano's example and point to the life-giving ministry of Jesus. She used a lamp to light her way through the dank and dark slums of Cork. She wanted to be a true Christian missionary and follow the example given by Jesus in the gospel today. He pointed to a radically new society, based on a vision opposed to those which, until then, had been the way people treated each other. It is a relationship between people that is no longer about domination, but service; not the selfish hoarding of goods, the pursuit of self-interest and the race to the top, but the choice to share everything so that no one would be poor; not revenge and the implacable justice of people, but forgiveness and unconditional love for the enemy.

It is a very tall order and I pray that Lent 2024, with all those negative things happening in our nation and the world, brings us all a chance to share the mission of Jesus in a way that will deepen our own faith and help those hurting in these times. We are invited to 'walk the walk' of Jesus, as anyone can just 'talk the talk'. I pray we can say with Venerable Nano Nagle:

NOT WORDS, BUT DEEDS

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Image of Nano Nagle (Public Domain)