The words "catholic" and "guilt" have often been linked together. Having been raised after the second Vatican Council, I don't have much personal history with the church experience that was said to have appended the word "guilt" to our religion. While the church of my youth was sober and serious and grew more personable and accessible over the years, I don't recall ever being told I should feel guilty about anything in particular.

As we enter Lent, the wonderful season of reflection when we focus on realigning our lives with the love of God, we're reminded of God's promises to protect and preserve us. Today's first reading is about the covenant, or promise, God makes to Noah and to the human community after the flood.

"See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you," God tells Noah. "Never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood."

In today's second reading, Peter writes that the flood of Noah's time "prefigured baptism, which saves you now." Like the covenant of God, baptism is a promise that our sins, however grave, will not have the last word in our lives or in our world. God's love is stronger. God is not out to punish us but to cleanse us and save us.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus launches his ministry after spending 40 days in the wilderness. "Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God," we're told. "'This is the time of fulfillment,' Jesus says. 'The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'"

Jesus' message is very simple: God is here. Turn your attention to God and believe in this wonderful news.

God does not seem to want to make us feel guilty, or to punish us for our mistakes and our sins. God seems interested in giving us a new start, and helping to sustain us on a new path.

Lent is a time when we are called to examine our lives and open our minds and hearts to the promise of God to care for us. Are we open to that promise, or are we determined to care for ourselves as we see fit? Are we willing to believe the good news of God's redemptive love in Christ?

God is ready to impart grace and direction if we are open to receiving it. God is not interested in making us feel guilty, and Lent is certainly not meant to be a celebration of guilt and gloom. Lent is a time to be serious, yes, and to seriously celebrate God's love that is far greater than our fears and failures. We are asked to remember God's promise to Noah and to the world, and to reflect on the fulfillment of this promise in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

Jesus makes it clear that that God does not want to punish us, but to save us, is truly good news. We only have to believe it.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa. He may be reached at bptidings@yahoo.com.