First Sunday of Lent: Grounded in God
Download all Liturgical Resources as a PDF file.
Download all the Eco-Penance Resources as a PDF file.
 Remember, when you bless yourself with holy water this first Sunday and each Sunday of Lent, recall the baptism in Sister Water which brought you into the community of faith, and thank God for the opportunity to offer praise and worship as the human voice of creation.
When you leave the sanctuary, bless yourself with holy water as you go forth to live out Christ’s ministry of life and love in caring for all that God has made.
Liturgical Resources
Liturgy of the Hours
At Mass: For the Assembly
At Mass: Prayers of the Faithful
At Mass: For the Clergy
Bulletin Text
Eco-Penance Resource
Reflecting on the Readings
Prayer
Fasting from Petroleum Products
Almsgiving
Liturgical Resources
Download all Liturgical Resources as a PDF file.
Liturgy of the Hours
Evening Prayer I:
Intercession:
You emptied yourself to share our humanity,
--humble us to share your sacrificial love with all your creatures.
Morning Prayer:
Intercession:
Jesus, you were tempted to satisfy your hunger through earthly power,
--by our submission to God’s sovereignty, heal our relationships with created goods.
Evening Prayer II:
Intercession:
Christ’s wounds have healed us of our sins against you, one another, and the earth,
--may we die to unjust practices and behold a new creation in you.
At Mass: For the Assembly
When you bless yourself with holy water this first Sunday and each Sunday of Lent, recall the baptism in Sister Water which brought you into the community of faith, and thank God for the opportunity to offer praise and worship as the human voice of creation.
When you leave the sanctuary, bless yourself with holy water as you go forth to live out Christ’s ministry of life and love in caring for all that God has made.
At Mass: Prayers of the Faithful
Lector: As Christ emptied himself to share our humanity, may we humbly share his sacrificial love with all of God’s creatures.
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Lector: As Christ resisted the temptations of earthly power, may our imitation of his submission to God’s sovereignty heal our relationships with created goods.
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Lector: By dying to unjust practices that harm the earth, may we behold a new creation. People: Lord, hear our prayer.
At Mass: For the Clergy
CONCLUDING RITE
GREETING
Priest: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
BLESSING: PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE
Priest (or Deacon): Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.
Priest: Lord,
As we leave this place of worship, we bless ourselves with the holy water of our baptism, which brought us into your family. May this water remind us of our call to share your life and love with all of creation.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
People: Amen.
Priest: And may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit,
come upon you and remain with you for ever.
People: Amen.
DISMISSAL
Priest (or Deacon): Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and one another.
People: Thanks be to God.
Bulletin Text
This Lent, Behold a New Creation
The Franciscan Action Network (FAN) invites you to experience renewal in your relationships with God’s creation this Lent. Reflections on the Sunday readings and suggestions for the practice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help prepare for the re-commitment to your baptismal calling at Easter. Sign up to receive the weekly resource by email at www.franciscanaction.org, or view resources at www.franciscanaction.org/lent2010
May this season deepen our joy in reconciliation with God and with all of creation!
Eco-Penance Resources
Download the Eco-Penance Resources as a PDF file.
Reflecting on the Readings
First Reading: Dt. 26:4-10
Psalm 91:1-2,10-11,12-13,14-15
Second Reading: Rom. 10:8-13
Gospel: Lk 4:1-13
Readings are available online here (Courtesy: USCCB).
Today’s selection from Deuteronomy features Moses’ instruction to the priests and to the people about how to approach God. Through baptism, we are a priestly people. Moses reminds his people, and us, that it is the Lord who “gave us this land flowing with milk and honey” (a description of agricultural prosperity) and instructs them to offer the gifts of the land to God: “Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me” (26:9-10).
In Psalm 91, the Lord assures deliverance to those who cling to and acknowledge God’s name (14), calling upon God in their distress. St. Paul confirms the importance of constancy in faith and witness when we call up on the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:8-13). God’s faithful provision invites us to respond with faithfulness to God’s law, as Jesus does when tempted by the devil three times (Lk. 4:1-13). In each of these situations, the call is to offer all we have and are to God, to whom we and all we enjoy belong.
Perhaps we find it difficult to identify with Jesus’ experience of such a direct temptation to betray God in pursuit of earthly needs (turning stones into bread), power and glory (in authority over earthly values), or denial of God’s sovereignty (in demanding that God prove the fulfillment of Ps. 91 according to our terms). Yet we can consider whether our relationships with the elements of our daily lives express Jesus’ commitment to God’s primacy.
In our attitude towards “the products of the soil,” whether those of agriculture or natural resources such as petroleum, do we “set them before the Lord” and “bow down in his presence” (Dt. 26:10), or do we assume an unlimited right to whatever the earth offers? Do we encourage those who cultivate and extract such products and the leaders of nations to recognize that they belong first of all to God? Do we live in action the spirit of generosity and sacrifice so that future generations may experience the abundance of God’s love?
PRAYER
Let us pray [at the beginning of Lent for a spirit of repentance]
(Pause for silent prayer.)
Lord our God,
you formed man from the clay of the earth
and breathed into him the spirit of life,
but he turned from your face and sinned.
In this time of repentance we call out to your mercy.
Bring us back to you
and to the life your Son won for us
by his death on the cross,
for he lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
FASTING from petroleum products
Human ingenuity has developed a wide range of petroleum products beyond fuel oil and gasoline: lubricants, asphalt, cosmetics, paraffin wax and other food additives, and artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and hormones used in industrial agriculture.
 As the rate at which the human community uses petroleum threatens to exhaust its supply, we can reduce our “petroleum footprint” by choosing alternative sources for the products we rely on daily. Besides reducing our energy and transportation consumption, we can choose <<plant-based products>> [click to text in brackets below] for washing our dishes and clothes, use compost and natural methods to fertilize and manage our gardens and support food producers who do so, and seek out lanolin (which comes from wool) as a natural alternative to toxic petro-chemical sprays and degreasers.
Let us pray that, as we continue to recognize the interdependence of all creation, we may become less heavily reliant on petroleum as a source of energy and so many consumer products. May we behold ourselves and our fellow persons not primarily as consumers but as homo sapiens—the species of wisdom—and more and more as homo eucharistia—the species of thanksgiving. May gratitude lead us to a new relationship with petroleum, and may our God-given thirst for wisdom lead us to new ways of sustaining our lives.
[The Seventh Generation company claims that if every household in the U.S. replaced just one 100oz. bottle of 2x ultra petroleum-based liquid detergent with one 100oz. bottle of 2x ultra plant-derived liquid detergent, we could save 466,000 barrels of oil, which would heat and cool 28,600 homes for a year.]
ALMSGIVING 
For the past five years, the Spirituality and Nature Center (SANC) in Alverna Heights has participated in the USDA Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, which provides both technical and cost-sharing assistance to establish and improve fish and wildlife habitat. At SANC, the program has supported the reintroduction of native grasses to 10 acres of land. Sr. Margaret Patrick Fay, OSF oversees the program. The grasslands provide nesting areas for birds and other species and serve as a highly effective “sink” to sequester carbon dioxide. SANC is adjacent to Green Lakes State Park, and Sr. Caryn Crook, OSF is working with their staff to implement similar management practices on SANC land. This spring, SANC is also hosting a workshop on responding to invasive species in aquatic habitats. SANC features facilities for retreats, conferences, and gatherings; runs a summer camp for children; and offers a Franciscan hermitage experience.
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