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FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT 2026

(Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalm 51(50); Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11)

Theme: The Contest He Won, the Eternal Re-clothing We Attained

On Ash Wednesday, we declared the start of the hour of favour, that the Lord has defeated the creators of human challenges and afflictions in this world, thus making way for us to be re-clothed with immortality lost by the first Adam and Eve.

However, we are aware that the prince of darkness, Diabolos, the father of those who cause human suffering, roams our world to regain his victory in the Garden of Eden, using vulnerable men and women distracted by the pursuit of wealth, power, fame, adulation, and self-deification. These individuals are susceptible to the Tempter's schemes and misinterpretations of God’s word regarding their identity and purpose in life.

And so, we might stumble just as Adam and Eve did in Eden, whose rebellion against obedience caused them and us to lose the clothing of immortality and the sense of presence within the divine realm of the Trinity. They were cast into the wilderness of sin and death.

Nevertheless, this favourable Quadragesima season, or the forty-day preparatory period for the commemoration of our redemption, evokes, as St. Paul observed in today’s second reading, the contest between the New Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the father of those responsible for human tribulations. The battleground was the desert, the penitential abode of man and woman. Following the Spirit, our Lord Jesus willingly and obediently accepted the contest to end the reign of the prince of darkness, to overturn the curse on man and woman, and to guide them out of the wilderness to life.

He reminded the enemy that He had not come to showcase His identity; that He was not seeking public recognition; and that He is united with His Father, whose will is supreme. Therefore, He did not nag, cry for food, or crave other gods, as the Israelites did in the wilderness. He paved the way for our hearts to be adorned with modesty and humility; He illuminated our being with the light of truth and justice; and granted us the abilities needed for acts of faith and charity.

Therefore, we are protected by God’s grace to overcome temptations, recover from failures, seek God’s mercy, and remain steadfast in serving Him. Although the first Adam covered us with a loincloth of fear, corruption, and death, the Second Adam re-clothed us with a garment of salvation. That garment guarantees the victory of those who remain in Christ Jesus.