Lenten reflection by Archbishop John Hepworth

From the Primate of the TAC, Archbishop John Hepworth

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Two of the most powerful Gospel images confront us on the first two Sundays of Lent.

Christ goes into the Wilderness. There, He is tempted by the Devil. This is the Devil Leader of the Satanic force that sought to supplant God in a titanic heavenly struggle among the first and most powerful of God’s creation – the angelic powers.

God created freedom. If we had not been made free, we could not choose to do good. God risked that we might choose to do evil. Firstly among the angels, and then in our own midst, evil has been chosen.

On that high mountain, where Jesus could see every nation and power on earth, He turned his back on the devil.

In Lent we learn again what strength is needed to turn away from the Power of Darkness and Evil.

The allurement of human power, of the promise of lust fulfilled, the rewards held out by the Evil One in his eternal quest to be worshiped as only God can be worshipped, swirl every day around us.

To turn our backs on such power and allurement is tough, very tough. It is the struggle that the drug addict and the alcoholic face day by day. Each moment of our life is a turning moment.

Only when we show the Devil our back do we realise what turning has done. In turning from the Evil One and all his ways, we find suddenly that we are facing God. The Apostles who went up the high mountain with Jesus saw Him transfigured in the company of saints in glory. They had a glimpse of heaven. And in the presence of heaven they collapsed and hid their faces, like children in a thunderstorm.

It is this turning to God, speaking to God, studying the things of God, that makes our Lent.

And in turning with freshness to the God who confronted our evil and our sinfulness on the Cross, we turn the Church, His crucified Body, towards the moment of Resurrection, and the conquering of the Powers of Darkness.

Lent is the darkness before the dawn. Our Lenten prayer and study point us towards the spot where the first rays of dawn light will appear. Lent is for the transforming of our lives, and the transforming of the Church. May it be a good Lent for each of us.

+John Hepworth