On this first Sunday of Lent two images from nature dominate. Both can help us understand and enter more deeply into the next six weeks.

The first image is the desert. St Mark tells us that immediately after his baptism and before the start of his public ministry, Jesus was driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit where he was tempted by the devil.

In the Bible the desert is often referred to as a place of testing—a place where we experience our weakness and dependence on God. Food and water are hard to come by, and the emptiness, scorching sun by day and freezing cold at night oppress both the body and mind. In the desert we learn that our self-sufficiency is just an illusion.

When we are in a desert—either a literal one or a figurative one—we learn very quickly that we need God. In many ways the desert is the complete opposite of the Garden of Eden. It is the place of suffering and hardship to which sin inevitably leads us.

The second image comes from the first reading: the flood. In the time of Noah, God sent an abundance of water to cleanse the world of sin. The early Christians saw in the story of the flood a prefiguring of the waters of baptism: a flood of grace that purifies our souls, and brings life to the desert of our sin-damaged hearts.

Desert and flood. Sin and salvation. Our sinfulness and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that brought us salvation.

Between the first reading and the Gospel we have a summary of our whole Catholic Christian faith. We also have the themes that can guide us through our Lenten journey this year.

There is, of course, a third image from nature that figures in today’s readings: a rainbow.

Presumably Noah knew nothing about the refraction of light through droplets of water. But while he might not have known the scientific reason for rainbows, he certainly understood their spiritual meaning.

Rainbows appear when storm clouds and sunlight come together. God chose this as a symbol of his covenant, his promise, that salvation would conquer sin. That promise made to Noah still stands today; as much as the rainbow was a symbol of hope for Noah so it is for us too.

Today’s second reading tells us why we have reason to hope: Christ has suffered, died, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, and he has conquered evil once and for all. 

For us, the crucifix is our rainbow and the cross of Christ is our ark. No storm can ever cancel Christ’s victory over sin and death and no flood can extinguish his love for us.

Have you noticed, whenever we see a rainbow, the very first thing we do is point it out so others can see it too?

This Lent, let’s do the same and point out to others every time we notice Christ shining in our hearts and in the lives of others.