The Gospel we proclaim this Sunday offers a simple message, a message that is at both the heart of the liturgical season of Lent and, perhaps even more importantly, the basics of the Gospel: “REPENT!”

As in all things, when we read a passage presented to us in the lectionary from the Holy Gospel, we need to place it into the proper context. If we read this particular passage from the Gospel according to the Evangelist Saint Luke, we might get a bit confused.

The gospel reading presented to us for the First Sunday of Lent is rather familiar to all of us — Our Lord’s temptation in the desert. In fact, in every cycle of the lectionary (recall that the “A” cycle offers us Matthew’s Gospel, the “B” cycle offers us that of Mark, and in the “C” cycle, which we are in this liturgical year, we are reading from the Gospel of Luke), this important event in the life of Jesus the Christ is proclaimed.

No disciple is superior to the teacher, but when fully trained every disciple will be like his teacher. All of us are on a journey, led by the Shepherd, Jesus Christ, as he leads us to the Father’s house.

A few weeks after my installation as Pastor, I received an anonymous gift from a parishioner. My secretary found a package beautifully wrapped with an envelope taped to it with my name on it.

Over the last 12 years of my priesthood and during much of my time as a seminarian, people would ask me about my vocation story. The question would always begin with the phrase, “How did you hear the call?”

I confess that I’ve preached some dreadful homilies. Calling them to mind makes me wince with embarrassment.

I hope I won’t be judged irreverent by suggesting that if Saint Paul hadn’t succeeded as an apostle — which he most surely did — he might have made it as a comedian. Seriously!

First century Corinth was a complicated city, and the same can be said of 21st century Brooklyn and Queens!