Gospel (Mk 1,12-15) - At that time, the Spirit pushed Jesus into the desert and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was with the wild beasts and the angels served him. After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and said: «The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; convert and believe in the Gospel."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Last Wednesday, after receiving the ash on our heads, we began together the Lenten pilgrimage towards the Easter of resurrection, the central event of our faith which concerns the salvation of the entire world. It is no coincidence that the biblical page of Genesis that the Holy Liturgy offers us concerns humanity in its entirety. The biblical author reports that, when the flood ended, a rainbow appeared that united the sky and the earth. And it is God himself who gives the interpretation, which concerns her personally. The rainbow “is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living being that is with you, for all future generations”. God places this colored arch as a sign for Himself, as a warning not to forget the peoples of the earth, all the peoples. We are still before the election of Israel. Of course, he would have many reasons to forget about people, given the wars, conflicts, injustices and inequalities that invade the world like a destructive flood. But he continues to reassure us: "when the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant". May this Lent be for all of us, what the rainbow is for the Lord: a time in which we remember the alliance with Him, of His love for us.
Lent actually symbolizes our entire life. This is what the evangelist Mark seems to suggest with his very brief narrative that was announced to us on this first Sunday of Lent. Mark - unlike Matthew and Luke - does not narrate Jesus' temptations in the desert, he only suggests that throughout the forty days Jesus is with the wild beasts who hinder him but also with the angels who serve him. It is as if there are two positions confronting each other: Jesus, the Spirit and the angels on one side and Satan and the wild beasts on the other. It is not the narrative of a moment, but the synthesis of the life of Jesus in the desert of this world. Jesus is driven by the Spirit to enter the desert, notes the evangelist. It is a choice that we could call missionary, spiritual, to bear witness to the love of God in the midst of the forces of evil. Jesus, true friend of men, entered the world to fight the enemy of man, to defeat the one who sows division and who makes this world of ours a desert of love.
But Jesus - suggests the evangelist Mark - defeats the prince of divisions, drives away the beasts of evil that make life bitter. They seem to echo the words of Psalm 91 which assure the psalmist: "the angels will carry you on their hands, so that you do not stumble on a stone. You will trample on lions and vipers, you will crush young lions and dragons” (vv. 12-13). The Lord - as with Jesus in those forty days - gives us his Spirit and his angels are at our side to defeat evil. And his preaching takes up that of John to affirm that the time has come, that the Kingdom of God is near. Yes, there is no more waiting, the time has come: the Kingdom is already among us.
In these forty days, while violence continues to plague the world, the Liturgy of the Church accompanies us and exhorts us to let ourselves be guided by the Spirit, to convert our heart to God, to empty it of fears, coldness, resentment, enmity , of mistrust and fill him with His love. Thus, not only do we get closer to Jesus, but we will also help others to meet him, listen to his gospel and find the path to peace. In this time listening to the Gospel every day is our first task, our first work to grow in love for God and the poor. We know well - we repeat it many times in these pages - that the world changes if our hearts change. Yes, just as sin and complicity with evil always have a sad effect on others, so a new heart that knows how to be moved helps to cleanse the world of violence and wickedness. A good heart makes the lives of many good. And this time is a time of grace to gather around Jesus and let ourselves be involved more generously in his mission: we will feel in our hearts the strength of his Spirit that pushes us to enter with Him into the desert of this world and we too will see the number of angels: by serving the poor and the weak together we defeat Evil and its prince and hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God and its peace.