First Sunday of Lent
Readings: Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm 24; 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:12-15
In our first reading God makes a covenant with Noah and with all creation. After the destruction brought by God, furious with sinful humanity, God now promises that he will never again destroy creation by flood. 
The waters sent by God destroyed all that was sinful, and corrupt. What now remains is now at peace with God, it is now in friendship with him. The rainbow is now a symbol of this peace. It is a reminder to God and all creation of the covenant between them. In his epistle St Peter reminds us that Christ, innocent and sinless though he was, died for us, who are sinful. The waters which covered the earth at the time of Noah are see by Peter was a symbol of our baptism, which saves us and gives us new life in Christ. Like the waters of the flood, our baptismal waters destroy in us all that prevent us from being in close relationship with God.
