1st Sunday of Lent

For the 1st Sunday of Lent we are challenged to go to the desert with Jesus and face our temptations.

Find helps and reflections for youth and families for the 1st Sunday of Lent readings here. Click on the appropriate year below to see resources, themes, homilies, games, lesson plans, and more.

Mass readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent Year A

• First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7: But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.”
• Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51: Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
• Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19: For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.
• Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11: At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.

Mass readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent Year B

• First Reading: Genesis 9:8-15: See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you
• Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25: Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.
• Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22: In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water.
• Gospel: Mark 1:12-15: The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.

Mass readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent Year C

• First Reading – Deuteronomy 26:4-10: Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me. And having set them before the Lord, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.
• Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 91: Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.
• Second Reading – Romans 10:8-13: The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the word of faith that we preach-, for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved
• Gospel – Luke 4:1-13: Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.