1st Sunday of Lent

God spoke to Noah and his son, "See I am making a covenant with you and with your

descendants after you; also with every living animal with you: birds, cattle, that is,

with every living creature of the earth that came out of the ark. I establish my

covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, and

never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of

the covenant I make between me and you, and every animal living with you for all

future generations. I set my bow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant

between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow

appears in the clouds, I will remember the covenant between me and you and every

kind of living creature, so that never again will floodwaters destroy all flesh.

Remember how Christ died, once and for all, for our sins. He, the just one, died for the

unjust in order to lead us to God. He died as humans do, but was raised to life by the

Spirit, and it was then that he went to preach to the imprisoned spirits. They were the

generation who did not believe when God, in his great patience, delayed punishing the

world while Noah was building the ark in which a small group of eight persons

escaped through water. That was a type of the baptism which now saves you; this

baptism is not a matter of physical cleansing but of asking God to reconcile us through

the resurrection of Christ Jesus. He has ascended to heaven and is at the right hand of

God, having subjected the angels, Dominations and Powers.

Then the Spirit drove him into the desert. Jesus stayed in the desert forty days and was

tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, but angels ministered to him. After

John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching the Good News of

God. He said, "The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways

and believe the Good News."