Preparing for Lent

by Tammie Stevens

As I prepare for Lent this year, I am reflecting on the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ baptism and 40 days in the desert.

In Mark 1:8 John the Baptist says: “I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”  In the next verse Jesus is baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descends upon him and then drives him into the desert.  I wonder what the relationship is between Jesus being baptized by John and Jesus baptizing us in the Holy Spirit?  I wonder what connection there is between the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism and the Holy Spirit driving him into the desert?

In his 1998 Lenten message John Paul II recalled that in the desert “Jesus gave witness to His complete surrender to the will of the Father. …The season of Lent is a journey of conversion in the Holy Spirit, encountering God in our life. …it is a place of dependence on God, of meditation and of the essential.”

Lord, as I ponder Jesus’ baptism help me reflect on the full meaning and purpose of my Baptism. Reveal to me, in a deeper way, the reality of the grace of the Holy Spirit in my life;
that this grace would drive me to grow in holiness!

Let this 40 days be a time of surrendering our will, leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit. May we be united with Jesus in our dependence on God so that He may reveal what is truly essential for our lives. u