Nigeria, March 9 -- First Sunday of Lent Year C - 9 March 2025.

Reading: Deut. 26:4-10; Responsorial Psalm 91:1-2.10-11.12-13.14-15(R.15b); Rom. 10:8-13 & Gospel Luke 4:1-13.

In the first reading, Moses recounts to the Israelites how their forebears came from Aram and became a great nation through God's help after being ill-treated by the Egyptians. The second reading indicates that God comes through, as a helper and saviour, to those who believe in their hearts and confess the name of Jesus. The Gospel recalls how Jesus, aged 30, prayed and fasted for 40 days and nights ahead of launching his public ministry and was tempted thrice by the devil [but he] resisted. The season of Lent invites us to shun the concupiscence of the eye, the fl...