February 26 th: First Sunday in Lent

Genesis 9:8–17

1 Peter 3:18–22

The first reading is from the ninth chapter of Genesis

Today’s reading is the conclusion to the flood story. Because of human sin, the Lord destroys the earth by flood, saving only Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark. Yet divine destruction gives way to divine commitment. As in the first creation, God blesses humanity and establishes a covenant with all creatures.

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,   9"As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,   10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.   11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."   12God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:   13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.   14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,   15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.   16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."   17God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Here ends the reading

The second reading is from the third chapter of first Peter

As God acted through Christ’s suffering and death to bring us to God, so God acts through baptism to save us from a sinful existence. This spiritual cleansing marks our new life in Christ.

18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,   19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,   20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.   21And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you — not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,   22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Here ends the reading