For adults preparing for Baptism, Lent is the last stage of a journey that leads to new life through water and the Holy Spirit. For that reason, it is a particular joy for me today to welcome here a group of men and women who, since October, have been preparing to commit their lives to Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism. Today, dear brothers and sisters, you will be formally recognised as the “Elect” – those who have been chosen by God from the beginning and who are now called to Baptism at the Easter Vigil.

We have with us also, another group, already Baptised, who will complete their Christian Initiation through the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. I welcome you and thank you for being with us here in the Cathedral.

 

On any journey, the two most important things are the point of departure and the destination. We have to start from where we are and, during this penitential season of Lent, we are encouraged to recognise both our human frailty (including our sins) and, at the same time, the mystery of God’s love for us.

 

We need to know where we are going. If we lose sight of the destination, we can easily be distracted. Let me give you an example. Last Summer, I walked part of the Way of St. Columbanus in the North of Italy, with a group of young adults from various Dioceses in the West of Ireland. When we started out, we were full of energy, but as time passed, some of us were better able for the heat and the hills than others. At one point, we detoured to visit an old Church, where it was nice and cool in the shade. As we stepped back out into the sun, and faced up a steep hill, there might have been a momentary temptation just to stay where we were for a while longer. But that would not have got us to our destination.

 

Two things made all the difference. The first is that we were walking together and encouraging one another. There were some local people with us who were familiar with the route. The second thing was the destination itself. It was out of sight behind the next mountain but, without ever having seen it, it was “in view”; it was in our hearts. Getting to Mezzano was the focus and then, the following day, there would be another destination, Bobbio, because every point of arrival is also a point of departure.

 

Today, for our Catechumens and Candidates, today is a point of arrival, a stage on the journey. After today, your pilgrimage of faith continues towards the celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter, and then as you live your Christian lives in the community of your parish, and until its final destination in the kingdom of heaven.

 

Jesus has told us that He is the Way. The first Christians were sometimes called “the Followers of the Way”. Our Scripture readings today, on the first Sunday of Lent are challenging. I think they are intended to remind us that being a follower of Jesus is not always easy. To get to our destination, we have to be faithful to our relationship with him of eternal life.

 

The Gospel tells us about a time in the life of Jesus, just after his Baptism, when he was praying in the wilderness and he was tempted. He was filled with the Holy Spirit but, in his humanity, he still experienced his mission as something of a struggle. It is good for us to reflect on the three temptations as they are describe in the Gospel:

• “Turn these stones into bread”. This is really a temptation to prioritise our material needs and to deny the spiritual dimension of our humanity.

• “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down”. This is the temptation to think that, because I am special, I can do what I like. Everyone will think I am wonderful.

• “I will give you all of these kingdoms”. This is the temptation to seek power and excessive profit. There is nothing wrong with wealth or power if they are gained honestly and used for goodness, but often the pursuit of power and wealth involves the abandonment of justice and truth.

 

If you think about your own experience, these temptations experienced by Jesus are the temptations of our own everyday lives. They all add up to the one temptation to put myself first and to think that, with my own cleverness, I don’t need God or his wisdom. We see this very same dynamic in the first reading from Genesis. The sin of the first people has nothing to do with an apple. Finding themselves in paradise, they forget that God is the source of all that they are and all that they have. They are made in the image of God, but their temptation is to think that they are as good as God, and that they know better than God what was good.

 

If there is anyone here who has never been tempted, you can go home now! You don’t need to be here. We have all been tempted, of course. Why should we be surprised, since Jesus, the Holy One was tempted. Jesus answer in the Gospel, and it must also be ours in our moments of struggle, is “Scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone”.

The penance we are called to do particularly in Lent, is like going to the gym. Giving up good things that we like, giving more time to prayer, doing the works of justice and mercy. These all help us to develop spiritual “muscle” so that when we hear the voice of the Evil One in our hearts, we will have strength to resist. We can say, like , and confidence in the Holy Spirit to guide us safely along the way, until we come to the joy of eternal life.

 

Today, I want to say honestly to you who are preparing for Baptism and for Confirmation: following Jesus is not guaranteed to be easy. He died on the cross because he was faithful to the Father who loved Him. Anyone who is a disciple will have to share in his cross, and struggle at times with temptation. It is important not to be discouraged. Temptation is not the same as sin, but even when we do fail, we trust in the mercy of God who has called us, and we get up and start again.

 

It is so important that you are not called to live this discipleship on your own, but as members of a community of faith. That is why we have invited you to go through this time of preparation together, and I want to say a particular word of thanks to Irene Feeney who has coordinated this process all across our two Dioceses of Achonry and Elphin, as well as Maura, Colette, Seamus, Una and Paul and all your sponsors, who have helped to form you in faith.

 

Today also, I call on everyone here present, young or old, who is already Baptised to be faithful to your calling and to support these new disciples by your own witness of a living faith, as they continue on their journey to Baptism and to eternal life.