Texts taken from the “Sulla Tua Parola” Missal January-February 2023

1st Sunday of Lent (A)
1st week, psalter.

FIRST READING

From the Book of Genesis (Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7)
The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man he had formed. The Lord God caused every kind of tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food to grow from the ground, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman: “Is it true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said: ‘You must not eat it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” But the serpent said to the woman: “You will certainly not die! Indeed, God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes and desirable for gaining wisdom; she took some of its fruit and ate it, then she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. - The word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

Original sin consists in humanity's rebellion against God's plan. God would have revealed to Adam and Eve the difference between good and evil, just as he would have communicated to them all the mysteries of life (this is what the tree of life means); they only had to wait for God's ways and receive them with gratitude, as they had done until then with everything else in creation. Original sin is humanity wanting to “do it alone,” refusing dependence, wanting to leave like the prodigal son and build an existence for itself, without God and, indeed, in open rebellion against his commandments. Original sin is pride; the serpent, Satan, is the prince of pride, having risen up against God for this very reason, before Adam. The deception lies in making the tree “good, pleasing and desirable”; these are all divine attributes. Only God, in fact, is good, pleasing and desirable. The humble person accepts what the Lord gives, knowing how to recognize what is needed for eternal salvation, asking for and desiring nothing else, because if one has God, one already has everything.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Rom 5:12-19)
Brothers and sisters, just as through one man sin entered the world and through sin, death, so death spread to all people, because all sinned. Indeed, before the Law, sin was in the world, but sin is not counted when there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command as Adam did, who is a figure of the one who was to come. But the gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one, much more have the grace of God and the gift bestowed through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. Nor is the gift like the result of that one man's sin: the judgment following one transgression brought condemnation, but the gift following many transgressions brings justification. For if, because of the transgression of the one man, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, just as one transgression resulted in condemnation for all people, so one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one man the many will be made righteous. - The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

The apostle Paul's lengthy discussion of original sin can be happily summarized in the final sentence of today's passage: “Through the disobedience of one man all were made sinners, so through the obedience of one man all will be made righteous.” This concept places at the center the unique and indispensable work of Jesus: without him it is impossible to be saved from evil. This news fills us with ineffable joy and makes us love the Lord Jesus even more, because it is true that everything was made with him in mind, but it is also true that everything was saved through him. Adam's sin distanced us from divine grace (Adam was expelled from Eden), but the restoration is even more extraordinary than the state before sin, because now divine life truly pulses in the human person in a state of grace: “Take and eat, this is my body.” God did not say this to Adam, but to us. The life of the redeemed person is truly abundant. How we should love the virtue of obedience, contemplating it in Christ! Let this, then, be the guiding principle: Jesus obeys the Father, I obey Jesus.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 4:1-11)

At that time, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter approached him and said: “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” But he answered: “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city, placed him on the highest point of the temple, and said to him: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘with their hands they will support you, so that you may not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him: “It is also written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him: “All these I will give you, if you fall at my feet and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him: “Be gone, Satan! For it is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. - The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

All the other temptations are represented, in a way, in the Lord's famous three temptations, and for this reason it is important to see how Jesus rejected them, so that we can do likewise. The first is the temptation of sensual gratification: hunger (for food, but also for everything material). Jesus responds that there are things more important than material goods: the word of God and his divine teachings. The second is the temptation of human glory, that is, vainglory: making oneself admired and gaining the approval of the masses. It is the temptation of power. The third is the temptation of possession and wealth: the devil is willing to give Jesus all the wealth of the world (because it belongs to him, he says so himself) in exchange for his worship, that is, for being recognized as “god” in place of the Father. Jesus reaffirms that worship is due only to God and certainly not to other creatures. We therefore respond to these three temptations with brief, firm, confident statements: everything comes from God, and from him I receive bread; from him I receive any recognition from people, but only for the glory of God; and from him I receive everything else, recognizing him as the one Lord. Very simple. If everyone always responded this way, how many fewer troubles there would be in the world!