First Reading – Genesis 2: 7 – 9; 3: 1 – 7
Second Reading – Romans 5: 12 – 19
Gospel – Matthew 4: 1 – 11
“ Man shall not live by bread alone, But every word that proceed from the mouth of God”
Lent is primarily the time of intense spiritual preparation for conquering our temptations, using the means Jesus used during his forty days of preparation in the desert for his public life. It is also the time for repenting of our sins and renewing our lives for the celebration of Easter with our Risen Lord who conquered sin and death by his suffering, death and Resurrection. Today’s readings teach us that we are always tempted by the devil, by the world, and by our own selfish interests. So, we need to cooperate actively with God’s grace to conquer our temptations and practice prayer, self-control, and charity.
The first reading, taken from the book of Genesis describes the “Original Temptation” – “You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil.” Adam and Eve were given the possibility of making a choice to live for God, dependent upon and obedient to His will, or to say no to God. The temptation to evil led Adam and Eve to an act of faithlessness and sin. In contrast, today’s Gospel from St. Matthew shows us how Jesus Christ conquered temptation by relying on Faith in God’s Word and authority.
In the second reading, St. Paul describes how the disobedience of Adam, who fell to Satan’s Original Temptation, brought him and us sin, death, and a broken relationship with God. Paul explains that Christ regained for us a right relationship with God by his perfect obedience to God his Father.
Today’s Gospel teaches us how the “desert experience” of fasting, praying, and soul-strengthening enabled Jesus to confront his temptations successfully and then to preach the Good News of salvation. The tempter urges Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. But Jesus rejects that temptation to mistrust His Father by satisfying his own immediate, temporal needs — thus reducing His Divine mission to self-satisfaction! The tempter then suggests that Jesus prove that he is really the Son of God by jumping off the parapet of the Temple. Jesus rejects this as a temptation to act as God’s superior and demand He prove His Trustworthiness! Finally, Jesus rejects the temptation to idolatry, even if worshipping Satan would enrich and empower Jesus with all kingdoms of the world.
We are to confront and conquer temptations as Jesus did, using the means he employed. Every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth, and a position of authority, power, and glory, and to use any means, even unjust or sinful ones, to gain these things. Jesus serves as a model for us in conquering temptations by strengthening himself through prayer, penance, and the active use of the Word of God. Temptations make us more powerful warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. By constantly struggling against temptations, we become stronger. Each time one is tempted to do evil but does good, one becomes stronger. Further, we are never tempted beyond our power. In his first letter, St. John assures us: “Greater is the One Who is in us, than the one who is in the world (1 Jn 4: 4). We may be strengthened by St. Paul’s words in 1 Cor 10:13: “No testing has overtaken you, that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and [God] will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing [God] will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” Hence, during this Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies by prayer (especially by participating in the Holy Mass), by penance, and by meditative reading of the Bible.
We are to grow in holiness by prayer, reconciliation and sharing during Lent: a) by finding time to be with God every day of Lent, speaking to Him in fervent prayer and listening to Him through the meditative reading of the Bible; b) by repenting of our sins daily and asking God’s forgiveness every night at bedtime; c) by being reconciled with God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation; d) by being reconciled with others, forgiving them the hurts they have caused us and asking their pardon for the hurts we have inflicted on them; e) by sharing our love with others through selfless, humble service, almsgiving, and helping those in need; f) by living the Gospel, or the Good News, of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness in our lives, thus bearing true Christian witness.
Lent is the time for the desert experience. We can set aside a place and time to be alone daily with God, a time to distance ourselves from the many noises that bombard our lives every day, a time to hear God’s word, a time to rediscover who we are before God, and a time to say yes to God and no to Satan as Jesus did.