Anyone who has houseplants knows that in the winter months, they tend to dry out and wilt with the heat of the house. I have a large prayer plant in my bedroom at home that I often forget to water and it was really droopy this week. But it is amazing how a good watering brought it back to its full luster within hours.

This is the image that came to me when I began to reflect on today’s gospel. After Jesus spends forty days in the desert I had a picture of Jesus being like the wilted prayer plant: parched and droopy, exhausted and spent. And St. Matthew tells us that angels came and ministered to him. Indeed He needed someone to take care of him after that experience, however beneficial it was. Like the plants, He was revived by some water, food and some TLC.

We all know that how some harrowing experience leaves us in the same way. And we know what we have to do get ourselves back on our feet: refreshment and a dose of TLC really helps.

Today we celebrate the First Sunday in Lent. Every year this is the season when we bring our spiritual selves before God, admitting how we may be dry and wilted; how we need some nourishment and TLC to refresh our relationship with God and to celebrate His New Life.

When we come before God honestly, HE never fails to provide what we need. During these weeks we hear of God’s promise of a savior at the beginning of the bible; we read how God has kept His promise throughout the centuries; and we see how God remains with us throughout the course of our lives. And of course we continually hear of God’s tender, loving care for us.

So once again during these Lenten days, God’s invites us to bring ourselves to Him in all our weariness and know that God wants to refresh us with his own TLC.