Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, February 22, 2026

This weekend is the first Sunday of Lent. For the next forty days (not counting Sundays), as we prepare for Easter, we use somber purple vestments which focus us on our sinfulness.

Two scriptural passages establish the importance of the forty-day period of preparation. In Genesis, when the Lord was dissatisfied with the wickedness of human beings, He called to Noah to build an ark and then He sent rain upon the earth for “forty days and forty nights.” In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is led into the desert where He fasted for forty days and then faced the Devil who attempted three times to convince Him to sin.Of course, Jesus stood firm and, after the third attempt, He chased the Devil away.

And so, we also prepare for forty days. First, we prepare by recognizing our sinfulness.That’s what God did before the flood.He looked over the earth and saw a lot of sinfulness. If we are honest with ourselves, we would also see a lot of sinfulness. Once we recognize sin in our lives, we must confront our sins and overcome them. That is what Jesus does in the Gospel passage. He went out into the desert to face the Devil. We don’t overcome anything by running away from it. We have to recognize our demons and then face them. Once we face them, like Jesus did in the desert, we can conquer them.

If we are getting married or having a baby, we prepare. If we have a big test or a big game, we prepare. If we have an important meeting or presentation, we prepare. As we approach the holiest and most important day on the Church calendar, we must also prepare. We cannot joyfully share in the great mystery of Christ’s resurrection unless we have properly prepared by recognizing and confronting our demons.

One way to conquer our demons is to introduce good behaviors into our lives. During Lent, we can pray more, we can do more for others, we can encourage our families to join us in our Lenten journey. We can attend the Stations of the Cross each Friday evening to remind ourselves of the pain that Jesus endured to set us free from sin and darkness, as well as reminding us that, despite our sinfulness, Jesus loves us with perfect, eternal love.

Fr. Mike