Many Hidden Riches to Discover

“That we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects” This phrase is taken from the Collect, or opening prayer, of the Mass for the First Sunday in Lent. The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer evidence of these riches and provide some direction for the worthy conduct which we might adopt in the joyful time, according to Father Larry Gillick SJ, of our opening eyes to see and ears to hear the Good News as Jesus is proclaiming in the Gospel of Mark. The flood  episode of Genesis shows water, often a symbol of life, as a means of death in the destruction and chaos it can cause. Friar Jude Winkler refers to the letter of Peter today as an explanation of how the water of Baptism, our immersion in it, is the means where by the Old Self is put to death and the New Creation rises as the indwelling Spirit is resonant with the Spirit of God. Fr Larry looks at the re-creation of the Old World in the flood of Noah. The people had abandoned intimacy with God. The reordering of the waters of chaos and the proclamation of the Covenant of love and mercy, eternally represented by "God's Bow", is one of the riches we pray to understand. As this powerful Spirit is given place in our being, we can approach understanding of Jesus time of temptation in the wilderness, described in more detail by Matthew and Luke, as the preparation for "worthy conduct" which results from addressing the "wild beasts" of chaos in our lives which take us regularly away from pursuing the effects of the riches hidden in Christ. The grace of God is the "angelic assistance" which empowers us to replace selfishness with selflessness, self gratification with gratifying others, exclusion with inclusion, judgement with mercy and fear with Love.