Reflection for the First Sunday of Lent
This year for our Lenten reflections, we will focus on the entrance antiphons for each of the Sundays of Lent. These antiphons belong to the Church’s liturgical heritage and are proper to the Mass to which they belong, setting the tone of the liturgical celebration. Even if your parish does not sing them, they can be fruitfully meditated on before or after the Mass.
Entrance Antiphon for the First Sunday of Lent
“He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will deliver him and honor him,
With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
V: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, and abides in the shade of the Almighty, says to the Lord, “My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust.”
The words of this week’s entrance antiphon come from Psalm 91. The Psalm contains a long list of dangers that the Lord will keep us safe from, followed by God’s own words interjecting at the end. The Mass antiphon consists of these words from God, in which He promises to answer those who call on Him and deliver them from the trials they are facing. This promise can be very comforting to us as God’s children. In an interesting twist, though, the same Psalm is quoted elsewhere in this Sunday’s liturgy by the great Tempter. Satan urges Jesus to throw Himself off the parapet because “it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” To this, Jesus responds that “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
With a single Psalm used in such different ways in one Mass, it brings up the question of how to rely on God with confidence and trust without putting Him to the test. A clue to answering this comes at the beginning of the Psalm (which you might recognize from a popular hymn): “You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in His shadow for life…” In the Psalm, God promises to protect those who dwell with Him and stay close to His side, but, as Saint Thomas Aquinas says in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, the Tempter uses the verse he quotes in a way contrary to the sense of the text. Aquinas asserts, “The Scriptures meant that the just man is protected by the angels in such a way that he does not fall into danger.” But for a man to throw himself into danger intentionally, thinking that He will come to no harm because God will send His angels to protect him, would be folly. In short, the angels will help those who dwell with God to stay by His side and not wander off.
This is great, because dwelling with God and abiding in His shadow is exactly where we want to be. Life, peace, joy, love, and every good thing are found in Him. We know this by faith. But how do we dwell with God? While a small number of us are blessed to literally live in the Lord’s house, abiding with Him Who is Spirit is only really done through spiritual means. We can be sure we are remaining at the Lord’s side when we follow Christ’s way of life as taught to us through Scripture, Tradition, and the Church. In this season of Lent, we are particularly blessed to have very clear guidance about how to follow Christ. The Church unceasingly exhorts us to pray, fast, and give alms. There is no way around it. These three acts are what it means, right now, to dwell in the shelter of the Lord. By doing these things, we can be certain of God’s protection and care, and we will receive His peace and joy.
Temptations will surely come, though. They likely already have. We will probably look around at some point during Lent and think that outside of God’s shadow is really the better place to be. You can eat meat on Fridays out there, and all the chocolate you want! Out there, there is no expectation to spend time in prayer, time that could very well be spent in more exciting ways. Out there, you can keep your well-earned money for yourself, rather than giving it in alms. Further, here in the Church, toward the end of the season, God dies! Yes, it is easy to decide during Lent that at the Lord’s side is not the ideal place to be. But we must remember the wider reality. No one can eat all the chocolate they want, and we can get by without meat on Fridays. And, most importantly, after death, Jesus comes back to life. The Church, in her wisdom, is guiding us through this desert because it is really the path to life. It is the path that our Lord, the King of Heaven, took. But the Church also knows that it won’t always be easy, so it gives us these words of the Entrance Antiphon for this first Sunday of Lent to keep in mind.
We need to call out to God when we are tempted to stray. When you feel like cheating, even just a tiny bit, on that Lenten fast, call on Him. When prayer is a drudgery and you’re tempted to skip it, call on Him. When you’d rather not go out of your way to love that person today, call on Him. It is in these moments, in the midst of temptation, that God will send His angels to care for you, lest you dash your foot against a stone. This is true even outside of Lent. We can call on the Lord whenever we face temptation, throughout the year, and He will answer. That is the promise made in Psalm 91.
During this season of Lent, the Church is particularly clear in its guidance. We can know that by praying, fasting, and giving alms, we are following Christ. Throughout this season, retreat a bit into this shelter of the Lord. Grab on to these clear instructions and gain peace from the confidence that you are abiding with Him. It will not always be easy, but when temptation comes, call out to the Lord. When we call, He will answer. He will deliver us, bring us glory, and grant us eternal life.