First Sunday of Lent

Commentary of the day
Isaac the Syrian (7th century), monk near Mosul
Ascetical discourses, 1st series, no.85

“Then the devil left him”

Just as desire for the light follows from healthy eyes, so a desire to pray follows from fasting conducted with discernment. When someone begins to fast, he wants to commune with God in the thoughts of his heart. Indeed, the fasting body cannot endure sleeping on its bed the whole night through. When fasting has sealed a man’s lips, he carries out his meditation in a spirit of compunction: his heart prays, his face is serious, evil thoughts depart from him; he is the enemy of lust and vain conversation. Never has anyone been seen who fasts with discernment and is enslaved by evil desires. Fasting with discernment is like a great dwelling place that shelters every sort of good…

For fasting is the command set before our nature from the beginning to keep it from eating the fruit of the tree (Gn 2:17), and it is from this that what deceives us comes forth… This is also what the Saviour began with when he was revealed to the world in the Jordan. For after baptism the Spirit led him into the desert, where he fasted forty days and forty nights.

All who set out to follow him do the same: that is the foundation on which they set the beginning of their combat, since this weapon has been forged by God… And when the devil now sees this weapon in a man’s hand, that enemy and tyrant begins to be afraid. He thinks at once of the defeat inflicted on him by the Saviour in the desert, remembers what happened and his power is broken. He shrivels away at the sight of the weapon given us by the one who leads us into combat. What more powerful weapon is there that so revives our courage in the fight against the evil spirits?

Zenit.org

First Sunday of Lent – Year A – March 5, 2017

March 3, 2017Francesco FolloSpirituality and Prayer

Pixabay.com - Foto-Rabe

Roman Rite

Gen 2,7-9; 3.1 to 7; Ps 51; Rm 5.12 to 19; Mt 4,1-11

Introduction:

At the beginning of Lent, the priest lays the ashes on those who go to Mass. This rite of ashes laid on the head or on the forehead of the faithful has a triple meaning. The first recalls the fragility and weakness of man, who was shaped with soil. The second indicates that the ashes on the forehead or on the head of a Christian are the external sign of those who repent of their evil acts and decide to make a renewed way to the Lord. The third indicates that our being is the result of a burning Encounter. The Christian is one who, gone through the burning fire of the Savior’s Love, is ash, but ash that purifies and fertilizes the world, ash that emanates the warmth of the Creator.

Lent, therefore, is not only sorrow for our sins and an ascetic effort to sharpen the possibilities of the soul, but it is a renewed discovery that “we have freely received and freely we give”.

“Lent helps us in a unique way to understand that our life is redeemed in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus renews our life and makes us sharers in the divine life that introduces us into the intimacy of God and makes us experience his love for us “(St. John Paul II).

Lent is a road that leads to a safe destination: the Easter of Resurrection, Christ’s victory over death.

Lent it is also “a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God “with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus is the faithful friend who never abandons us. Even when we sin, he patiently awaits our return; by that patient expectation, he shows us his readiness to forgive “(Pope Francis, Message for Lent 2017)

From Mercy to Mercy

It is important to remember that the perfection of our being Christian is not accomplished if we say “We have left everything,” but if we say to Christ: “We left everything and followed You.” The Church teaches us to follow this statement making us, every year, go through Ash Wednesday, Lent and Holy Week. In this way our hearts are purified and the joy of Easter appears not to people blinded by the encrustations of sin but to people open to Him, our life, whom we can see because “the pure in heart see God” (Mt 5,8 ).

The ancient Jews left the slavery of Egypt and it took them forty years to get to the Promised Land. We -every year- move through the Lenten journey, so that victory over ourselves may consist in leaving the Egypt of our sin in order to live only in the love of Christ and for Christ. Aided by fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, during Lent we have a special experience of the divine mercy that “cancels, washes and cleanses” (Psalm 50: 3-4) us sinners and transforms us into a new creature who has transfigured spirit, lips, tongue, and heart (Ps 50: 14-19). It is with a pure heart like the one of the children that at Easter we will understand and live the hint of the introduction of Mercy Sunday: “Be reasonable and, like a newborn child, long for the spiritual milk that makes grow towards salvation”. This first Sunday, which was called In Albis Sunday, is now called Mercy Sunday. This was decided by St. John Paul II inspired by Saint Faustina Kowalska, who wrote: “Even if our sins were as black as the night, divine mercy is stronger than our misery. Only one thing is needed: that sin opens at least a little bit the door of your heart … God will do the rest … Everything starts in the mercy of God and in His mercy ends. “

1) Lent: time of mercy and conversion.

Lent is the special time of mercy that lasts forty days and that the Church asks us of live as a spiritual journey of conversion to prepare well for Easter. It consists basically in following Jesus heading straight for the Cross, the height of his mission of salvation and the key that opens to the Resurrection.

Lent is mercy received and shared, not only because we do the recommended works for this period, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, but because with these works we ground ourselves in God converting to him with a contrite heart and a humbled body. In fact, if it is true that it is the man’s stony heart that wants evil, it is equally true that the body often helps it to commit it. On the other hand, we human beings are made of one and the other, and need to unify them in the homage we render to God. The body will have either the joys of eternity or the torments of hell. There is, therefore, no full Christian life nor valid atonement if the body does not bind to the soul.

Moreover, it must be remembered that the principle of true repentance resides in the heart. The Gospel teaches this to us with the narrations of the prodigal son, the woman sinner, Zacchaeus, the publican and St. Peter. It is necessary that the heart forever abandons sin, has a very deep sorrow for it, hates it and flees the occasions to sin.

To indicate this provision of the heart the Bible uses a word that has entered the Christian language and that very well describes the state of the person sincerely repented: Conversion. During Lent, we are invited to exercise repentance of the heart and regard it as the essential foundation of all the characteristic acts of this holy season. However, it would always be an illusory conversion, if it would not add the homage of the body to the internal feelings that conversion inspires. The Savior, on the mountain does not only weep over our sins: He atones them with the suffering of his own body. The Church, His infallible interpreter, warns us that the repentance of our hearts will not be accepted if it is not united to the observance of fast and abstinence.

2) Lent pilgrimage toward and with Christ, source of mercy.

Lent is a privileged time, by which the Church leads us towards Him who is the source of mercy. It is a pilgrimage in which He Himself accompanies us through the desert of our poverty, sustaining us on the journey to the great joy of Easter. This journey is not without tests, and it is for this reason that on the First Sunday of Easter the liturgy makes us meditate on the temptations faced by Christ in the desert.

Like Moses and the people of Israel, Jesus also spent some time in the desert to prove his loyalty and to give a solid foundation to his actions.

However, while the people of Israel in the desert could not resist fatigue and temptation, and failed to be faithful to God, Jesus triumphs over the three temptations: that of bread (How to speak of God to those who have plenty? How to talk of God to those who are hungry?), that of prestige (prestige of science, of money, of irreproachable moral conduct, of good impression, of name and of honor), that of power (where two people meet, a relationship of power arises).

These are tests masked with a promise that wants to remove the Son from the Father. Three times the devil says to Jesus, “If you are the son of God, make …” and three times He replies: “My Father.” Faithful to the love for the Father, Christ resists the three forms of the same temptation: the one of a life constructed independently like that of the first Adam (” You will be like God, knowing good and evil …”) and of a life of confidence and of obedience to God, that of the second Adam. Jesus says: “Thou shalt worship the Lord and worship Him alone”, and at Gethsemane He will say: “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42).

Let’s imitate Jesus in this love for the Father and this path will become a journey behind Him, the Redeemer. In this sequel it helps to consider the example of some characters of the Gospel that St. Gregory of Nazianzus describes in the following way:

“If you are Simon of Cyrene, take the cross and follow Christ.

If you are a thief who will be hang on the cross, namely will be punished, just act as the good thief and honestly acknowledge God, who is waiting for you. He was included among the wrongdoers for you and for your sins, and you should become right and just for him.

If you are Joseph of Arimathea, ask the man who crucified him to give you His body, that is, wear this body and, in doing so, make your own the world’s atonement.

If you are Nicodemus, the night worshiper of God, bury His body and anoint it with the ritual ointment, that is, surround Him with your worship.

And if you are one of the Marys, scatter your tears in the morning. Be the first one to go and see the overturned stone, go to meet the angels, and the very Jesus. This is what it means to become partakers of Christ’s Passover, living well the time of Lent. “

If I wanted to continue this list with people not present in the Gospel, but living the Gospel, I might add: “If you are a consecrated virgin, be like one of the wise virgins awaiting the bridegroom with abundance of oil (indicating loyalty and perseverance) so that the lamp of love does not die down.” The virgin who is consecrated to the Redeemer puts herself definitively on the path of conversion, the constant union with Christ the Bridegroom. With consecration, the belonging to Christ that had begun in Baptism, takes on an appearance of absoluteness and of undivided love, because the heart of the consecrated virgin is now unable to be taken by any other love. Christ is the real treasure, tucked away, the precious pearl for which the person who finds it, sells all that he or she has and buys it (see Mt 13: 44- 46). To God who says: “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called you by name: you are mine” (see Is 43: 1), the consecrated virgin answers: “Here I am” and her life becomes as fruitful as the one of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ and of all humanity.

Before the Patristic Reading I’d like to propose this prayer for Lent

“Make me, O Lord my God, obedient without rebellion, poor without despondency, chaste without decay, patient without murmuring, humble without pretense, cheerful without mirth, mature without heaviness, agile without lightness, fearful of Thee without despair, truthful without duplicity, operator of good without presumption, able to correct others without harshness and to rise them by word and by example, without hypocrisy.”

(St. Thomas Aquinas)

Patristic reading

Saint John Chrysostom ( 344/354 – 407)

Homily XIII. Matthew Chapter 4, Verse 1

Mt 4,1-12

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.”

Then When? After the descent of the Spirit, after the voice that was borne from above, and said, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And what was marvellous, it was of the Holy Spirit; for this, he here saith, led Him up. For since with a view to our instruction He both did and underwent all things; He endures also to be led up thither, and to wrestle against the devil: in order that each of those who are baptized, if after his baptism he have to endure greater temptations may not be troubled as if the result were unexpected, but may continue to endure all nobly, as though it were happening in the natural course of things.

Yea, for therefore thou didst take up arms, not to be idle, but to fight. For this cause neither doth God hinder the temptations as they come on, first to teach thee that thou art become much stronger; next, that thou mayest continue modest neither be exalted even by the greatness of thy gifts, the temptations having power to repress thee; moreover, in order that that wicked demon, who is for a while doubtful about thy desertion of him, by the touchstone of temptations may be well assured that thou hast utterly forsaken and fallen from him; fourthly, that thou mayest in this way be made stronger, and better tempered than any steel; fifthly, that thou mayest obtain a clear demonstration of the treasures entrusted to thee.

For the devil would not have assailed thee, unless he had seen thee brought to greater honor. Hence, for example, from the beginning, he attacked Adam, because he saw him in the enjoyment of great dignity. For this reason he arrayed himself against Job, because he saw him crowned and proclaimed by the God of all.

How then saith He, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”1 For this cause he doth not show thee Jesus simply going up, but “led up” according to the principle of the Economy;2 signifying obscurely by this, that we ought not of ourselves to leap upon it, but being dragged thereto, to stand manfully.

And see whither the Spirit led Him up, when He had taken Him; not into a city and forum, but into a wilderness. That is, He being minded to attract the devil, gives him a handle not only by His hunger, but also by the place. For then most especially doth the devil assail, when he sees men left alone, and by themselves. Thus did he also set upon the woman in the beginning, having caught her alone, and found her apart from her husband. Just as when he sees us with others and banded together, he is not equally confident, and makes no attack. Wherefore we have the greatest need on this very account to be flocking together continually, that we may not be open to the devil’s attacks.

Having then found Him in the wilderness, and in a pathless wilderness (for that the wilderness was such, Mark hath declared, saying, that He “was with the wild beasts”3 ), behold with how much craft he draws near, and wickedness; and for what sort of opportunity he watches. For not in his fast, but in his hunger he approaches Him; to instruct thee how great a good fasting is, and how it is a most powerful shield against the devil, and that after the font,4 men should give themselves up, not to luxury and drunkenness, and a full table, but to fasting. For, for this cause even He fasted, not as needing it Himself, but to instruct us. Thus, since our sins before the font5 were brought in by serving the belly: much as if any one who had made a sick man whole were to forbid his doing those things, from which the distemper arose; so we see here likewise that He Himself after the font brought in fasting. For indeed both Adam by the incontinence of the belly was cast out of paradise; and the flood in Noah’s time, this produced; and this brought down the thunders on Sodom. For although there was also a charge of whoredom, nevertheless from this grew the root of each of those punishments; which Ezekiel also signified when he said, “But this was the iniquity of Sodom, that she waxed wanton in pride and in fullness of bread, and in abundance of luxury.”6 Thus the Jews also perpetrated the greatest wickedness, being driven upon transgression by their drunkenness and delicacy.7

On this account then even He too fasts forty days, pointing out to us the medicines of our salvation; yet proceeds no further, lest on the other hand, through the exceeding greatness of the miracle the truth of His Economy8 should be discredited. For as it is, this cannot be, seeing that both Moses and Elias, anticipating Him, could advance to so great a length of time, strengthened by the power of God. And if He had proceeded farther, from this among other things His assumption of our flesh would have seemed incredible to many.

Having then fasted forty days and as many nights,

“He was afterwards an hungered;9 “affording him a point to lay hold of and approach, that by actual conflict He might show how to prevail and be victorious. Just so do wrestlets also: when teaching their pupils how to prevail and overcome, they voluntarily in the lists engage with others, to afford these in the persons of their antagonists the means of seeing and learning the mode of conquest. Which same thing then also took place. For it being His will to draw him on so far, He both made His hunger known to him, and awaited his approach, and as He waited for him, so He dashed him to earth, once, twice, and three times, with such ease as became Him.

Arlington Catholic Herald

Gospel Commentary Mt 4:1-11

When Jesus was fasting in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, there were no reporters covering the event. We know that the devil, the tempter, made an unfriendly visit. We know that the angels came after that to minister to Jesus. Otherwise, we can expect that Jesus was alone. This brings to mind some questions to ask. When did His desert experience become known to His disciples? What did He do all day out there in the desert?

We know that the Lord Jesus was constantly teaching His disciples. They asked Him to teach them to pray, for example. That is a more compelling topic for new disciples than fasting might be. It is likely, though, that Jesus spoke to them about fasting, about its meaning and its value. In this context it is reasonable to think that He described for them His own “Lent” experience from the days when He was in immediate preparation for His public ministry. In His teaching about fasting and about temptation, Jesus spoke as one like us (in all things except sin) — He experienced real temptation as a free man, like we do. The decisive victory He won over the master tempter’s efforts would have been inspiring for His disciples to hear — as it should be for us, as well.

As busy people, we might find ways to keep our minds off the snacks (particularly the ones we’ve just decided to give up for Lent) by keeping our focus on other things and avoiding the danger zones where they lurk … the Krispy Kreme Zone, for example. Jesus, alone in the desert, would seem to have lots of time on His hands with no way to fill it. People who go on retreat for the first time can find it difficult to know what to do with extra free time. What was Jesus doing all day? He was assuredly not preparing fast-permitted foods. Jesus’ entire life among us was one of total fidelity to the mission His Father gave Him. He was perfectly obedient.

In His desert days, He was on the verge of “going public” with the Good News. We know that the best of the Good News is the fact that He came to offer Himself as a sacrifice for us, for our salvation. In reality, every moment of Jesus’ life was accomplishing His saving mission. In His “free time” in the desert, Jesus was about His Father’s work, He was praying, praising, making petitions on our behalf, and, of course, accomplishing His purpose here — loving unconditionally. These things are realities that kept our Lord busy. These things nourished Him and animated Him in a way that food could not. Perhaps we have experienced something similar by making devout and worthy Holy Communions? The Bread of Life builds up our lives of grace in a way that helps us master our desires for the many things of this world that do not last.

During Jesus’ days in the desert, He felt the pangs of hunger like we do, even more so. Yet, we know that He was finding strength and a better kind of nourishment. The tempter was right to say that Jesus could make the stones become loaves of bread (the best bread ever, with butter melting all over it). The Master at fasting, however, diminishes the edge of the need He felt for food by expressing the reality that He was being nourished in another and better way. We are reminded of His words (which we will hear in two weeks): "I have food to eat of which you do not know” and "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn 4). He said this to His disciples who were concerned that He was not eating. We can imagine that He appeared strong and able, fit and nourished, when He taught them about His way of living, the way of complete trust and obedience to the work His Father sent Him to do.

The tempter came to Jesus at the end of His 40 days and 40 nights when “he was hungry,” the text says. Of course He was. Is it possible that the tempter came at the wrong time? Jesus was physically hungry. He was also at the end of an intense time of prayer during which He was constantly nourished in mind, heart and soul, by the living words that came “forth from the mouth of God.”

We should take heart in the early days of our Lenten journey. The nourishment we really need is ready for us in abundance when we willingly leave aside the many things that fill us up but do not fulfill us. The tempter is vanquished when we know this truth and imitate the example of Jesus’ “Lent.”

Fr. Zuberbueler is pastor of St. Louis Church in Alexandria.

http://www.theworkofgod.org/Devotns/Euchrist/HolyMass/gospels.asp?key=109

Year A - First Sunday of Lent

Jesus fasts for forty days and is tempted by the devil
Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ “
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ “
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ “
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ “
11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. (NRSV)

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
I am the Eternal Word, the Son of God. In my spiritual nature I am pure Spirit. I am also the Son of Mary, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of my Virgin Mother, therefore I have shared human nature and for the sake of your salvation I became a man.

As a man I shared all the weaknesses and temptations of human beings. After my baptism, I was filled with the Holy Spirit and decided to prepare myself for the work I was going to do. I went to the desert to fast and to pray for my mission. Right at the end when I was at my weakest human point the devil appeared to me trying to seduce me with his temptations.

I represented the whole human race in my spiritual struggle with the powerful enemy of souls so that you all would learn a lesson and always draw your wisdom and strength from me. The three enemies of the soul are the flesh, the world and the devil. He tempted me as he tempts everyone but I overcame his temptations. You can also overcome the same way I did.

To the weakness of the flesh, the devil tempted me with bread in order to interrupt my self-denial, my reply to him was “Human beings live not on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” I have taught you everything you need to know, my word will be your wisdom and your strength. Deny yourselves and you will have total self-control against temptation.

The devil tempted me to worship him in exchange for power, glory and riches, I said to Him “You must do homage to the Lord, Him alone must you serve” The first commandment calls to worship God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, but many people neglect God and worship the false gods of the world, therefore becoming victims of the devil.

The devil tempted me to throw myself from a pinnacle of the temple, to which, I replied, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”. Every time you sin, you are doing just that. You are forgetting the damage you are doing to your soul, you are putting the Lord to the test. Therefore don’t put me to the test, avoid sin, do what is good and you will conquer temptations when they come.

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

Archdiocese of Washington

Triumph in Temptation – A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent

Msgr. Charles Pope • March 4, 2017 •

The Gospel today says that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert. Hebrews 4:15 also affirms, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

How exactly a divine person, with a sinless human nature, experiences temptation is somewhat mysterious, and yet the text affirms that He does. A Lenten antiphon from the Breviary teaches that He did this, or allowed this, for our sake: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering (Invitatory Antiphon for Lent). Hence, even without pondering too deeply the mystery of how He was tempted or experienced it, we can still learn what Jesus teaches us about how to endure temptation and be victorious over it. (More on the question of how Christ was tempted is available here.)

Before we look at each temptation, we might learn a few general aspects of what the Lord teaches us in electing to endure temptation.

Temptation and Sin – The fact that the Lord is tempted yet did not sin tells us that there is a distinction to be made between temptation and sin. Too often the very experience of temptation makes us feel sinful, as if we have already sinned, but that is not necessarily the case. Jesus, who never sinned, experienced temptation. Therefore, experiencing temptation is not to be equated with sin. One of the tactics of the devil is to discourage us into thinking that way. Some of our past sins may influence the degree to which we feel tempted, but we need not conclude that we have already sinned, or newly sinned, merely because we are tempted. Rather than to feel shame and run from God, we ought to run to Him with confidence and seek his Help.
Temptation and Scripture – Notice that Jesus responds to every temptation with Scripture. This is not to be equated with proof-texting or pronouncing biblical slogans. Rather, it indicates that Jesus was deeply rooted in Scripture, in the wisdom of the Biblical vision. In rebuking temptation in this way, Jesus is teaching us to do the same. It will not be enough for us to know a few biblical sayings, but to the degree that we are deeply rooted in the wisdom of God’s truth available to us through Scripture and the teachings of the Church, we are able to strongly rebuke unholy, worldly, or fleshly thinking. Half the battle in defeating temptation is knowing instinctively its erroneous vision. Having our minds transformed by the teachings of Scripture and the Church is essential in fighting temptation. Scripture says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). Ephesian 6:17 speaks of the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, with which we are properly armed for spiritual warfare. Thus, we are taught here by the Lord to be deeply rooted in His Word.
Temptation and Strength – Jesus is tempted three times, after which the devil leaves Him. In a certain way, the spiritual life is like the physical life, in that we grow stronger through repeated action. After lifting weights repeatedly, our physical strength increases and we are able to overcome increasingly difficult challenges. It is the same with the spiritual life. An old gospel song says, “Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you, some other to win.” Scripture says, Resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). We need not conclude from this that Jesus needed to be strengthened (He did not) in order to understand that He is still teaching us what we need to do. The battle against temptation is not a “one and you’re done” scenario, but an ongoing battle in which each victory makes us stronger and the devil more discouraged. As we grow stronger, the devil eventually stops wasting his time tempting us in certain areas. At times the battle may weary us, but in the long run, it strengthens us. Jesus illustrates this with his three-fold battle with Satan.

Having review a few general principles, let’s look at the three temptation scenes.

Scene I: The Temptation of Passions – At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Hunger, as a desire, is a passion. It is not evil per se, for without it we would perish. The same is true of other natural desires for things like life, drink, and procreation (sexuality). We have other sorts of passions such as anger, love, joy, aversion, hatred, hope, despair, fear, and courage. Of themselves, these passions are neither good nor bad. Passions become bad only in relation to their object or insofar as we allow them to become inordinate.

Hence there is nothing wrong with Jesus as He experiences hunger. What the devil tries to do is to draw Jesus into the sin of yielding to His hunger and using His power inappropriately. Remember, Jesus had been led into the desert by the Spirit in order to fast and pray. This is His call. His hunger is real and without sin, but now He is tempted to set aside His call and to yield to His hunger in an inappropriate way, by rejecting his call to fast. Jesus is tempted to serve Himself. He obviously has the power to turn stones into bread, so a second temptation is to use His power inappropriately, to gratify and serve Himself rather than to glorify His Father.

What about us? We have passions, too. They are not wrong in themselves, but we can allow them to become inordinate or gratify them in unlawful ways. Remember that we, like Jesus, are called to fast. Our fast is from things like sin, injustice, unrighteousness, sexual impurity, unlawful pleasures, and excessive indulgence. We have it have it in our power to choose to reject our fast and to gratify our desires by rejecting our call to serve God. The devil tempts us to reject our call and to use our power to gratify our passions by lying, cheating, stealing, venting our anger, fornicating, and being gluttonous or greedy.

Jesus has recourse to God’s Word: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus tells Satan that He would rather live and be sustained by the Word than by food; His food is doing the will of His Father.

What about us? Can we say, Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12)? Can we say that God’s Word is more important to us than my desires for satisfaction, sex, self-preservation, popularity, worldly joys, power, prestige, or possessions? Can we say that our strongest desire is for God and the things awaiting us in Heaven and that we will gladly forsake everything for it?

Scene II. The Temptation of Presumption – Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

It is important to trust God, but this is not an invitation to act recklessly. There will come a time when Jesus will throw himself down on the cross with the complete assurance that the Father will raise Him. He has this command from His Father. But now is not that time and Jesus must act to preserve and protect His life so that he can accomplish His full mission.

Presumption is a terrible problem today. Too many people think that they can go on sinning and that there will be, or should be, no consequences. This is true in both worldly and spiritual ways. Too many engage in risky and ruinous behavior and think, “I’ll be OK. I’ll escape. I won’t be a statistic. I won’t get caught. I won’t lose my job.” Many think, “I can use drugs without becoming addicted. I can have evil friends and still stay good and live morally. I can skip school and still get good grades. I can be promiscuous and won’t get a disease or become pregnant. I can drive recklessly and won’t have an accident. I can be disrespectful and still command respect.” In all this people are simply “cruisin’ for a bruisin’.”

Regarding the moral presumptiveness of thinking that no matter what we do, Heaven will still be the result, the Lord warns,

Say not I have sinned, yet what has befallen me? For the Lord bides his time. But of forgiveness be not overconfident adding sin upon sin. … Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day for mercy and justice are alike with him (Sirach 5:4).
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well‑doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart (Gal 6:7).
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7).
But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! (Psalm 81:11)

God clearly warns us that sin sets us on a path that hardens our heart and makes our final conversion increasingly unlikely. In this Lenten season, He is pleading with us to be serious about sin and its consequences. Sin renders us not only unfit for Heaven, but incapable of entering it.

A bad idea – Presuming that everything will be fine is not only a poor strategy, it is a snare of the devil, who seeks to cloud our mind with false hope and unreasonable expectations. Jesus has a very clear message for the devil and for any of us who would engage in presumption: Don’t you dare put the Lord your God to the test in this way. Obey Him out of love, but do not put Him to the test. Yes, presumption is a very foolish idea.

Scene III. The Temptation of Possessions – Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”

Here is the obvious temptation of worldly possessions. Everything, everything, is offered to Jesus in exchange for a little worship of the devil. Tt may seem strange to us that having an abundance of things would be linked to worshiping the devil and forsaking God, but Scripture attests to this connection elsewhere:

Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Matt 6:24).

This is all pretty blunt. We want to have both, but the Lord is clear in rebuking this temptation by insisting that we must serve God alone, adore God alone. The inordinate love of this world causes us to hate God more and more and to bow before Satan in order to get it. Don’t kid yourself. If this position seems extreme to you then you are calling God an extremist. The Lord is warning us that there is a major conflict here that steals our heart. For where a man’s treasure is, there is his heart (Matt 6:21). It is not wrong to desire what we really need to live, but our wants get us into trouble. The desire for riches ruins us and makes God seem as a thief rather than a savior. This is a very severe temptation and Jesus rebukes it forcefully. Him along shall you serve.

We need to beg God for single-hearted devotion to him. The Book of Proverbs has a nice prayer in this regard: Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest in my poverty I steal or in my riches I say “Who is the Lord?” (Prov 30:8-9, gloss)

In the end, temptations are real; we either accept God’s grace to fight them or we are going down. The Lord wants to teach us today about the reality of temptation and how to fight it, by His grace. Remember, the battle is the Lord’s and no weapon waged against us will prosper if we cling to His grace. In the end, the choice is clear: either tackle temptation (by God’s grace) or risk ruination (by Satan’s “ministrations”).

This song says,

“Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you, some other to win. Fight valiantly onward. Evil passions subdue. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Ask the Savior to help you, comfort strengthen and keep you; He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.”

Video

Sunday Gospel Reflections

1st Sunday of Lent
Reading I: Genesis 2:7-9,3:1-7 II: Romans 5:12,17-19

Gospel
Matthew 4:1-11

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
² And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.
³ And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
⁴ But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
⁶ and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
⁷ Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;
⁹ and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

Interesting Details

Testing is done before a covenant, to see whether the other partner will be faithful or not. In the covenant with God, God can test Israel, but Israel should not test God.
Moses (Deut 9:18) and Elijah (1Kgs 19:8) also fasted for 40 days.
First temptation: Israel did not like manna and demanded earthly food (Ps 78:18-20), thus failed the test. Jesus did not fail.
In response to each of the temptations, Jesus quoted Moses' summarizing advice to Israel (Deut 6-8).
In the second temptation, Jesus refused to test God's promise.
"Pay homage" was done by the three magis (Mt 2:2-11), and by the disciples after Jesus' resurection (Mt 28:17).
"Go away, Satan" was also to addressed to Peter when he opposed Jesus' prediction of his passion (Mt 16:21-23). "Satan" means enemy.

One Main Point

Jesus is the obedient Son of God.

God tested Israel in the wilderness for 40 years, and they failed with doubts, complaining, idolatry, disobedience, and testing God back. At the end, Moses urged Israel to learn from their sins and test God no more. Jesus was tested in the wilderness for 40 days. He quoted Moses, obeyed God, did not test God, and thus passed the test and proved to be the true Son of God, worthy of a covenant with God.

Reflections

How would Jesus be after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness? What is the wilderness, the testing ground, in my life?
What are my temptations to test God? How have I responded? How should I respond? What can I do to prepare for future tests?
What is my covenance with God, and how much do I value it?

'Oh! how frightful the account which tale-bearers must render to God! The sowers of discord are objects of abomination in his sight. Six things there are that the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth. The seventh is the man that soweth discord among brethren!'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42).

Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 4
1.	THEN Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.	Tunc Jesus ductus est in desertum a Spiritu, ut tentaretur a diabolo.	τοτε ο ιησους ανηχθη εις την ερημον υπο του πνευματος πειρασθηναι υπο του διαβολου
2.	And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.	Et cum jejunasset quadraginta diebus, et quadraginta noctibus, postea esuriit.	και νηστευσας ημερας τεσσαρακοντα και νυκτας τεσσαρακοντα υστερον επεινασεν
3.	And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.	Et accedens tentator dixit ei : Si Filius Dei es, dic ut lapides isti panes fiant.	και προσελθων αυτω ο πειραζων ειπεν ει υιος ει του θεου ειπε ινα οι λιθοι ουτοι αρτοι γενωνται
4.	Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.	Qui respondens dixit : Scriptum est : Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo, quod procedit de ore Dei.	ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν γεγραπται ουκ επ αρτω μονω ζησεται ανθρωπος αλλ επι παντι ρηματι εκπορευομενω δια στοματος θεου
5.	Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple,	Tunc assumpsit eum diabolus in sanctam civitatem, et statuit eum super pinnaculum templi,	τοτε παραλαμβανει αυτον ο διαβολος εις την αγιαν πολιν και ιστησιν αυτον επι το πτερυγιον του ιερου
6.	And said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone.	et dixit ei : Si Filius Dei es, mitte te deorsum. Scriptum est enim : Quia angelis suis mandavit de te, et in manibus tollent te, ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum.	και λεγει αυτω ει υιος ει του θεου βαλε σεαυτον κατω γεγραπται γαρ οτι τοις αγγελοις αυτου εντελειται περι σου και επι χειρων αρουσιν σε μηποτε προσκοψης προς λιθον τον ποδα σου
7.	Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.	Ait illi Jesus : Rursum scriptum est : Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum.	εφη αυτω ο ιησους παλιν γεγραπται ουκ εκπειρασεις κυριον τον θεον σου
8.	Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,	Iterum assumpsit eum diabolus in montem excelsum valde : et ostendit ei omnia regna mundi, et gloriam eorum,	παλιν παραλαμβανει αυτον ο διαβολος εις ορος υψηλον λιαν και δεικνυσιν αυτω πασας τας βασιλειας του κοσμου και την δοξαν αυτων
9.	And said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me.	et dixit ei : Hæc omnia tibi dabo, si cadens adoraveris me.	και λεγει αυτω ταυτα παντα σοι δωσω εαν πεσων προσκυνησης μοι
10.	Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.	Tunc dicit ei Jesus : Vade Satana : Scriptum est enim : Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies.	τοτε λεγει αυτω ο ιησους υπαγε οπισω μου σατανα γεγραπται γαρ κυριον τον θεον σου προσκυνησεις και αυτω μονω λατρευσεις
11.	Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.	Tunc reliquit eum diabolus : et ecce angeli accesserunt, et ministrabant ei.	τοτε αφιησιν αυτον ο διαβολος και ιδου αγγελοι προσηλθον και διηκονουν αυτω

1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.
2. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. The Lord being baptized by John with water, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be baptized by the fire of temptation. 'Then' i.e. when the voice of the Father had been given from heaven.

CHRYS. Whoever you are then that after your baptism suffers grievous trials be not troubled at that time; for this you received arms, to fight, not to sit idle. God does not hold all trial from us; first, that we may feel that we are become stronger; secondly, that we may not be puffed up by the greatness of the gifts we have received; thirdly, that the Devil may have experience that we have entirely renounced him; fourthly, that by it we may be made stronger; fifthly, that we may receive a sign of the treasure entrusted to us; for the Devil would not come upon us to tempt us, did he not see us advanced to greater honors.

HILARY;The Devil's snares are chiefly spread for the sanctified, because a victory over the saints is more desired than over others.

GREG. Some doubt what Spirit it was that led Jesus into the desert, for that it is said after, The Devil took him into the holy city. But true and without question agreeable to the context is the received opinion, that it was the Holy Spirit; that His own Spirit should lead Him toward that place where the evil spirit should find Him to try Him.

AUG. Why did he offer Himself to temptation? That He might be our mediator in vanquishing temptation not by aid only, but by example.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. He was led by the Holy Spirit, not as an inferior at the bidding of a greater. For we say led, not only of him who is constrained by a stronger than he, but also of him who is induced by reasonable persuasion; as Andrew found his brother Simon, and brought him to Jesus.

JEROME; Led, not against His will, or as a prisoner, but as by a desire for the conflict.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. the Devil comes against men to tempt them, but since he could not come against Christ, therefore Christ came against the Devil.

GREG. We should know that there are three modes of temptation; suggestion, delight, and consent; and we when we are tempted commonly fall into delight or consent, because being born of the sin of the flesh, we bear with us from where we afford strength for the contest; but God who incarnate in the Virgin's womb came into the world without sin, carried within Him nothing of a contrary nature. He could then be tempted by suggestion; but the delight of sin never gnawed His soul, and therefore all that temptation of the Devil was without not within Him.

CHRYS. The Devil is accustomed to be most urgent with temptation, when he sees us solitary; thus it was in the beginning he tempted the woman when he found her without the man, and now too the occasion is offered to the Devil, by the Savior's being led into the desert.

GLOSS. This desert is that between Jerusalem and Jericho, where the robbers used to resort. It is called Hammaim, i.e. 'of blood,' from the bloodshed which these robbers caused there; hence the man was said (in the parable) to have fallen among robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, bearing a figure of Adam, who was overcome by demons. It was therefore fit that the place where Christ overcame the Devil, should be the same in which the Devil in the Parable overcomes man.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. Not Christ only is led into the desert by the Spirit, but also all the sons of God who have the Holy Spirit. For they are not content to sit idle, but the Holy Spirit stirs them to take up some great work, i.e. to go out into the desert where they shall meet with the Devil; for there is no unrighteousness with which the Devil is pleased. For all good is without the flesh and the world, because it is not according to the will of the flesh and the world. To such a desert then all the sons of God go out that they may be tempted. For example if you are unmarried, the Holy Spirit has in that led you into the desert, that is, beyond the limits of the flesh and the world, that you may be tempted by lust. But he who is married is unmoved by such temptation. Let us learn that the sons of God are not tempted but when they have gone forth into the desert, but the children of the Devil whose life is in the flesh and the world are then overcome and obey; the good man, having a wife is content; the bad, though he have a wife is not with that content, and so in all other things. The children of the Devil go not out to the Devil that they may be tempted. For what need that he should seek the strife who desires not victory? But the sons of God having more confidence and desirous of victory, go forth against him beyond the boundaries of the flesh. For this cause then Christ also went out to the Devil, that he might be tempted of him.

CHRYS. But that you may learn how great a good is fasting, and what a mighty shield against time Devil, and that after baptism you ought to give attention to fasting and not to lusts, therefore Christ fasted, not Himself needing it, but teaching us by His example.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. And to fix the measure of our quadragesimnal fast, he fasted forty days and forty nights.

CHRYS. But He exceeded not the measure of Moses and Elias, lest it should bring into doubt the reality of His assumption of the flesh.

GREG. The Creator of all things took no food whatever during forty days. We also, at the season of Lent as much as in us lies afflict our flesh by abstinence. The number forty is preserved, because the virtue of the decalogue is fulfilled in the books of the holy Gospel; and ten taken four times amounts to forty. Or, because in this mortal body we consist of four elements by the delights of which we go against the Lord's precepts received by the decalogue. And as we transgress the decalogue through the lusts of this flesh, it is fitting that we afflict the flesh forty-fold. Or, as by the Law we offer the tenth of our goods, so we strive to offer time tenth of our time. And from the first Sunday of Lent to time rejoicing of the paschal festival is a space of six weeks, or forty-two days, subtracting from which the six Sundays which are not kept there remain thirty-six. Now as the year consists of three hundred and sixty-five, by the affliction of these thirty-six we give the tenth of our year to God.

AUG. Otherwise; The sum of all wisdom is to be acquainted with the Creator and the creature. The Creator is the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the creature is partly invisible, - as the soul to which we assign a threefold nature, (as in the command to love God with the whole heart, mind, and soul,) - partly visible as the body, which we divide into four elements; the hot, the cold, the liquid, the solid. The number ten then, which stands for the whole law of life, taken four times, that is, multiplied by that number which we assign for the body, because by the body the law is obeyed or disobeyed, makes the number forty. All the aliquot parts in this number, viz. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, taken together make up the number 50. Hence the time of our sorrow and affliction is fixed at forty (lays; the state of blessed joy which shall be hereafter is figured in the quinquagesimal festival, i.e. the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost.

AUG. Not however because Christ fasted immediately after having received baptism, are we to suppose that He established a rule to be observed, that we should fast immediately after His baptism. But when the conflict with the tempter is sore, then we ought to fast, that the body may fulfill its warfare by chastisement, and the soul obtain victory by humiliation.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. The Lord knew the thoughts of the Devil, that he sought to tempt Him; he had heard that Christ had been born into this world with the preaching of Angels, the witness of shepherds, the inquiry of the Magi, and the testimony of John. Thus the Lord proceeded against him, not as God, but as man, or rather both as God and man. For in forty days of fasting not to have been hungered was not as man; to be ever hungered was not as God. He was hungered then that the God might not be certainly manifested, and so the hopes of the Devil in tempting Him be extinguished, and His own victory hindered.

HILARY; He was hungered, not during the forty days, but after them. Therefore when the Lord hungered, it was not that the effects of abstinence then first came upon Him, but that His humanity was left to its own strength. For the Devil was to be overcome, not by the God, but by the flesh. By this was figured, that after those forty days which He was to tarry on earth after His passion were accomplished, He should hunger for the salvation of man, at which time He carried back again to God His Father the expected gift, the humanity which He had taken on Him.

3. And when the Tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4. But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

PSEUDO-CHRYS. The Devil who had begun to despair when he saw that Christ fasted forty days, now again began to hope when he saw that he was hungered; and then the tempter came to him. If then you shall have fasted and after been tempted, say not, I have lost the fruit of my fast; for though it have not availed to hinder temptation, it will avail to hinder you from being overcome by temptation.

GREG. If we observe the successive steps of the temptation, we shall be able to estimate by how much we are freed from temptation. The old enemy tempted the first man through his belly, when he persuaded him to eat of the forbidden fruit; through ambition when he said, You shall be as gods; through covetousness when he said, Knowing good and evil; for there is a covetousness not only of money, but of greatness, when a high estate above our measure is sought. By the same method in which he had overcome the first Adam, in that same was he overcome when he tempted the second Adam. He tempted through the belly when he said, Command that these stones become loaves; through ambition when he said, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here; through covetousness of lofty condition in the words, All these things will I give you.

AMBROSE; he begins with that which had once been the means of his victory, the palate; If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves. What means such a beginning as this, but that he knew that the Son of God was to come, yet believed not that He was come on account of His fleshly infirmity. His speech is in part that of an inquirer, in part that of a tempter; he professes to believe Him God, he strives to deceive Him as man.

HILARY; And therefore in the temptation he makes a proposal of such a double kind by which His divinity would be made known by the miracle of the transformation, the weakness of the man deceived by the delight of food.

JEROME; But you are caught, O Enemy, in a dilemma, if these stones can be made bread at His word, your temptation is vain against one so mighty. If He cannot make them bread, your suspicions that this is the Son of God must be vain.

PSEUD-CHRYS. But as the Devil blinds all men, so is he now invisibly made blind by Christ. He found Him hungered at the end of forty days, and knew not that He had continued through those forty without being hungry. When he suspected Him not to be the Son of God, he considered not that the mighty Champion can descend to things that be weak, but the weak cannot ascend to things that are high. We may more readily infer from this not being an hungered for so many days that he is God, than from this being hungered after that time that the is man. But it may be said, Moses and Elias fasted forty days, and were men. But they hungered and endured, he for time space of forty days hungered not, but afterwards. To be hungry and yet refuse food is within the endurance of man; not be hungry belongs to the Divine nature only.

JEROME; Christ's purpose was to vanquish by humility;

LEO; hence he opposed the adversary rather by testimonies out of the Law, than by miraculous powers; thus at the same time giving more honor to man, and more disgrace to the adversary, when the enemy of the human race thus seemed to be overcome by man rather than by God.

GREG. So the Lord when tempted by the Devil answered only with precepts of Holy Writ, and He who could have drowned His tempter in the abyss, displayed not the might of His power; giving us an example, that when we suffer anything at the hands of evil men, we should be stirred up to learning rather than to revenge.

PSEUD-CHRYS. He said not, "I live not' but, Man does not live by bread alone, that time Devil might still ask, If you are the Son of God. if He be God, it is as though He shunned to display what He had power to do; if man, it is a crafty will that His want of power should not be detected.

RABANUS; This verse is quoted from Deuteronomy. Whoso then feeds not on the Word of God, he lives not; as the body of man cannot live without earthly food, so cannot His soul without God's word. This word is said to proceed out of the mouth of God, where he reveals His will by Scripture testimonies.

5. Then the Devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple.
6. And said to Him, If You be the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written, he shall give His Angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.
7. Jesus said to Him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

PSEUD-CHRYS. From this first answer of Christ, the Devil could learn nothing certain whether he were God or man; he therefore betook him to another temptation, saying within himself; This man who is not sensible of time appetite of hunger, if not the Son of God, is yet a holy man; and such do attain strength not to be overcome by hunger; but when they have subdued every necessity of the flesh, they often fall by desire of empty glory. Therefore he began to tempt Him by this empty glory.

JEROME; Took him, not because the Lord was weak, but the enemy proud; he imputed to a necessity what the Savior did willingly.

RABANUS; Jerusalem was called the Holy City, for in it was the Temple of God, the Holy of Holies, and the worship of the one God according to the law of Moses.

REMIG. This shows that the Devil lies in wait for Christ's faithful people even in the sacred places.

GREG; Behold when it is said that this God was taken by the Devil into the holy city, pious ears tremble to hear, and yet the Devil is head and chief among the wicked; what wonder that He suffered Himself to be led up a mountain by the wicked one himself, who suffered Himself to be crucified by his members.

GLOSS.The Devil places us on high places by exalting with pride, that he may dash us to the ground again.

REMIG. The pinnacle is the seat of the doctors; for the temple had not a pointed roof like our houses, but was flat or the top after the manner of the country of Palestine, and in the temple were three stories. It should be known, that the pinnacle was on the floor, and in each story was one pinnacle. Whether then he placed Him on the pinnacle in the first story, or that in the second, or the third, he placed Him whence a fall was possible.

GLOSS. Observe lucre that all these things were done with bodily sense, and by careful comparison of the context it seems probable that the Devil appeared in human form.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Perhaps you may say, How could he in the sight of all place Him bodily upon the temple? Perhaps the Devil so took Him as though He were visible to all, while he, without the Devil being aware of it, made Himself invisible.

GLOSS. He set Him on a pinnacle of the temple when he would tempt Him through ambition, because in this seat of the doctors he had before taken many through the same temptation, and therefore thought that when set in the same seat, he might in like manner be puffed up with vain pride.

JEROME; In the several temptations the single aim of the Devil is to find if He be the Son of God, but he is so answered as at last to depart in doubt; he says, Cast yourself, because the voice of the Devil, which is always calling men downwards, has power to persuade them, but may not compel them to fall.

PSEUD-CHRYS. How does he expect to discover by this proposition whether he be the Son of God or not? For to fly through the air is not proper to the Divine nature, for it is not useful to any. If then any were to attempt to fly when challenged to it, he would be acting from ostentation, and would so belong rather to the Devil than to God. If it is enough to a wise man to be what he is, and he has no wish to seem what he is not, how much more should the Son of God hold it not necessary to show what He is; he of whom none can know so much as he is in Himself?

AMBROSE; But as Satan transfigures himself into an Angel of light, and spreads a snare for the faithful, even from the divine Scriptures, so now he uses its texts, not to instruct but to receive.

JEROME; This verse we read in the ninetieth Psalm, but that is a prophecy not of Christ, but of some holy man, so the Devil interprets Scripture amiss.

PSEUD-CHRYS. For the Son of God in truth is not born of Angels, but Himself bears them, or if he be born in their arms, it is not from weakness, lest He dash His foot against a stone, but for the honor. O you Devil, you have read that the Son of God is born in Angels' arms, have you not also read that He shall tread upon the asp and basilisk? But the one text he brings forward as proud, time other he omits as crafty.

CHRYS. Observe that Scripture is brought forward by the Lord only with an apt meaning, but by the Devil irreverently; for that where it is written, He shall give his Angels charge over you, is not an exhortation to cast Himself headlong.

GLOSS. We must explain thus; Scripture says of any good man, that he has given it in charge to His Angels, that is to His ministering spirits, to bear him in their hands, i.e. by their aid to guard him that he dash not his foot against a stone, i.e. keep his heart that it stumble not at the old law written in tables of stone. Or by the stone may be understood every occasion of sin and error.

RABAN; It should be noted, that though our Savior suffered Himself to be placed by the Devil on a pinnacle of the temple, yet refused to come down also at his command, giving us an example, that whosoever bids us ascend the straightway of truth we should obey. But if he would again cast us down from the height of truth and virtue to the depth of error we should not listen to him.

JEROME; The false Scripture darts of the Devil He brands with the true shield of Scripture.

HILARY; Thus beating down the efforts of the Devil, He professes Himself both God and Lord.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Yet He says not, You shall not tempt me your Lord God; but, You shall not tempt the Lord your God; which every man of God when tempted by the Devil might say; for whoso tempts a man of God, tempts God.

RABANUS; Otherwise, it was a suggestion to Him, as man, that He should seek by requiring some miracle to know the greatness of God's power.

AUG. It is a part of sound doctrine, that when man has any other means, he should not tempt the Lord his God.

THEOD. And it is to tempt God, in anything to expose one's self to danger without cause.

JEROME; it should be noted, that the required texts are taken from the book of Deuteronomy only, that he might show the sacraments of the second Law.

8. Again, the Devil took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9. And said to Him, All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me.
10. Then said Jesus to him, Get you back, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.
11. Then the Devil left Him, and, behold, Angels came and ministered to Him.

PSEUD-CHRYS. The Devil, left in uncertainty by this second reply, passes to a third temptation. Christ had broken the nets of appetite, had passed over those of ambition, he now spreads for Him those of covetousness; He took him up into a very high mountain, such as in going round about the earth he had noticed rising above the rest. The higher the mountain, the wider the view from it. He shows Him not so as that they truly saw the very kingdoms, cities, nations, their silver and their gold; but the quarters of the earth where each kingdom and city lay. As suppose from some high ground I were to point out to you, see there lies Rome, there Alexandria; you are not supposed to see the towns themselves, but the quarter in which they lie. Thus the Devil might point out the several quarters with his finger, and recount in words the greatness of each kingdom and its condition; for that is said to be shown which is in any way presented to the understanding. ORIGEN; We are not to suppose that when he showed Him the kingdoms of the world, he presented before Him the kingdom of Persia, for instance, or India; but he showed his own kingdom, how he reigns in the world, that is, how some are governed by fornication, some by avarice.

REMIG. By their glory, is meant, their gold and silver, precious stones and temporal goods.

RABAN. The Devil shows all this to the Lord, not as though he had power to extend his vision or show Him any thing unknown. But setting forth in speech as excellent and pleasant, that vain worldly pomp wherein himself delighted, he thought by suggestion of it, to create in Christ a love of it.

GLOSS. he saw not, as we see, with the eye of lust, but as a physician looks on disease without receiving any hurt.

JEROME; An arrogant and vain vaunt; for he has not the power to bestow all kingdoms, since many of the saints have, we know, been made kings by God.

PSEUD-CHRYS. But such things as are gotten by iniquity in this world, as riches, for instance, gained by fraud or perjury, these the Devil bestows. The Devil therefore cannot give riches to whom he will, but to those only who are willing to receive them of him.

REMIG. Wonderful infatuation in the Devil! To promise earthly kingdoms to Him who gives heavenly kingdoms to His faithful people, and the glory of earth to Him who is Lord of the glory of heaven!

AMBROSE; Ambition has its dangers at home; that it may govern, it is first others' slave; it bows in flattery that it may rule in honor; and while it would be exalted, it is made to stoop.

GLOSS. See the Devil's pride as of old. In the beginning he sought to make himself equal with God, now he seeks to usurp the honors due to God, saying, If you will fall down and worship me. Who then worships the Devil must first fall down.

PSEUD-CHRYS. With these words he puts an end to the temptations of the Devil, that they should proceed no further.

JEROME; The Devil and Peter are not, as many suppose, condemned to the same sentence. To Peter it is said, Get you behind me, Satan; i.e. follow you behind Me who are contrary to My will. But here it is, Go, Satan, and is not added 'behind Me,' that we may understand into the fire prepared for you and your angels.

REMIG. Other copies read, Get you behind me; i.e. remember you in what glory you were created, and into what misery you have fallen.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Observe how Christ when Himself suffered wrong at the hands of the Devil, being tempted of him, saying, If you be the Son of God, cast yourself down, yet was not moved to chide the Devil. But now when the Devil usurps the honor of God, he is wroth, and drives him away, saying, Go your way, Satan; that we may learn by His example to bear injuries to ourselves with magnanimity, but wrongs to God, to endure not so much as to hear; for to be patient under our own wrongs is praiseworthy, to dissemble when God is wronged is impiety.

JEROME; When the Devil says to the Savior, If you will fall down and worship me, he is answered by the contrary declaration, that it more becomes him to worship Jesus as his Lord and God.

AUG. The one Lord our God is the Holy Trinity, to which alone we justly owe the service of piety. ID. By service is to he understood the honor due to God; as our version renders the Greek word ' latria,' wherever it occurs in Scripture, by ' service' (servitus), but that service which is due to men (as where the Apostle bids slaves be subject to their masters) is in Greek called 'dulia;' while 'hatria,' always, or so often that we say always, is used of that worship which belongs to God.

PSEUD-CHRYS. The Devil, we may fairly suppose, did not depart in obedience to the command, but the Divine nature of Christ, and the Holy Spirit which was in Him drove him thence, and then the Devil left him. Which also serves for our consolation, to see that the Devil does not tempt the men of God so long as he wills, but so long as Christ suffers. And though He may suffer him to tempt for a short time, yet in the end He drives him away because of the weakness of our nature.

AUG. After the temptation the Holy Angels, to be dreaded of all unclean spirits, ministered to the Lord, by which it was made yet more manifest to the demons how great was his power.

PSEUD-CHRYS. He says not 'Angels descended from heaven,' that it may be known that they were ever on the earth to minister to Him, but had now by the Lord's command departed from Him, to give opportunity for the Devil to approach, who perhaps when he saw Him surrounded by Angels would not have come near Him. But in what matters they ministered to Him, 'You cannot know, whether in the healing diseases, or purifying souls, or casting out demons; for all these things He does by the ministration of Angels, so that what they do, Himself appears to do. However it is manifest, that they did not now minister to Him because His weakness needed it, but for the honor of His power; for it is not said that they 'succored Him,' but that they ministered to Him.

GREG; In these things is shown the twofold nature in one person it is the man whom the Devil tempts; the same is God to whom Angels minister.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Now let its shortly review what is signified by Christ's temptations. The fasting is abstinence from things evil, hunger is the desire of evil, bread is the gratification of the desire. He who indulges himself in any evil thing, turns stones into bread. Let him answer to the Devil's persuasions that man does not live by the indulgence of desire alone, but by feeling the commands of God. When any is puffed up as though he were holy he is led to the temple, and when he esteems himself to have reached the summit of holiness he is set on a pinnacle of the temple. And this temptation follows the first, because victory over temptation begets conceit. But observe that Christ had voluntarily undertaken the fasting; but was led to the temple by the Devil; therefore do you voluntarily use praiseworthy abstinence, but suffer yourself not to be exalted to the summit of sanctity; fly high-mindedness, and you will not suffer a fall. The ascent of the mountain is the going forward to great riches, and the glory of this world which springs from pride of heart. When you desire to become rich, that is, to ascend the mountain, you begin to think of the ways of gaining wealth and honors, then the prince of this world is showing you the glory of his kingdom. In the third place He provides you reasons, that if you seek to obtain all these things, you should serve him, and neglect the righteousness of God.

HILARY; When we have overcome the Devil and bruised his head, we see that Angels' ministry and the offices of heavenly virtues will not be wanting to us.

AUG. Luke has not given the temptations in the same order as Matthew; so that we do not know whether the pinnacle of the temple, or the ascent of the mountain, was first in the action; but it is of no importance, so long as it is only clear that all of them were truly done.

GLOSS. Though Luke's order seems the more historical; Matthew relates the temptations as they were done to Adam.

Catena Aurea Matthew 4

Temptation of Christ

mosaic
12th century
Basilica di San Marco, Venice

Information: St. John Joseph of the Cross

Feast Day: March 5

Born: August 15, 1654, Ischia

Died: March 5, 1739

Canonized: 1839, Rome by Pope Gregory XVI

Patron of: Ischiaa

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. John Joseph of the Cross

Feast Day: March 05
Born: 1654 : : Died: 1734

St. John Joseph of the Cross was born at Ischia, Naples in Italy on the feast of the Assumption. He was a young noble, but he dressed like a poor man to be as poor as Jesus had been.

At the age of sixteen, John Joseph entered the Franciscan order so he could live a self-sacrificing life like Jesus. He cheerfully made many sacrifices, slept for just three hours a night and ate very plain food.

John was so well known for holiness that his superiors put him in charge of establishing a new friary before he even became a priest. Later when he was ordained a priest, Father John Joseph became the superior at Santa Lucia's in Naples where he spent most of his long life. He always insisted on doing the hardest work and gladly chose to do the duties that no one else wanted to do.

St. John Joseph had a very loving nature. But he did not try to be the center of attention. Instead of waiting for people to recognize his gifts and reach out to him, he would reach out to others. All the priests and brothers thought of him as a loving father. He greatly loved the Blessed Virgin Mary, and tried to help others love her too.

This good priest loved God so much that even when he was sick, he kept on working. He had the gifts of prophecy (tell the future) and healing, and would swoon into ecstasies (see visions and be unaware of where he was); he was known to levitate (rise from the ground and float in the air) and bilocate (be in two places at the same time).

St. John Joseph died on March 6, 1734, at the age of eighty.

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Sunday, March 5

Liturgical Color: Violet

In 1998, Bl. Pope John Paul II
discussed the importance of the
Sacrament of Penance,
especially during Lent. He said it
is God’s will that all be saved
and through the Sacrament of
Penance we can gain God’s
forgiveness and the inner peace
it brings.

Catholic Culture

Lent: March 5th

First Sunday of Lent

MASS READINGS

March 05, 2017 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (1)

Pease Porridge

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Activities (1)

The Kaleidoscope of Lent

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Prayers (3)

Library (0)

Old Calendar: First Sunday of Lent

The scene of the temptation, which opens the public life of Jesus, declares in the Gospels in a very forceful manner the great change in our lives that He introduces into the world by His work of redemption. Where Adam fell, Christ, the new Head of humanity, triumphs over the power of Satan: at the time of His passion "the prince of this world" will be cast out. The Gospel of the temptation heralds Christ's victory in advance.

By appointing this Gospel for the beginning of Lent the Church proclaims that this victory should be ours also. In us, as all around us, it is Christ's temptation, Christ's struggle, Christ's victory which is prolonged; our effort is His and so is our strength; His will be our victory at Easter.

The Feast of St. Francis of Rome which is ordinarily celebrated today is superseded by the Sunday Liturgy.

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Stational Church

Sunday Readings
The first reading is from the Book of Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 and is about the creation and fall of man.

The second reading is from St. Paul to the Romans 5:12-19. He is speaking of some of the immediate effects of Christian salvation, as brought to mankind by Christ. St. Paul stresses the fact that Christ through his death not only conquered sin but poured out divine grace so abundantly and lavishly on mankind, making them his brothers and therefore sons of God, that there is no comparison between the world redeemed by Christ's death and the world of sin which prevailed up to then.

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 4:1-11. This incident in our Lord's life, his forty days and nights of fasting followed by temptations, has been chosen as a reading for this first Sunday of Lent for our edification and encouragement. Lent is a period of preparation for the central Christian events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Christ, the Son of God in human nature, died the excruciating death of crucifixion on Good Friday, because of the sins of the human race. By this supreme act of obedience to his heavenly Father he made atonement for all our disobediences, and set us free from the slavery of Satan and of sin. In his resurrection his human nature was glorified by God the Father, and in that glorification we are all offered a share and given the right to an eternal life of glory, if we follow Christ faithfully in this life.

For every sincere Christian therefore, who appreciates what Good Friday and Easter Sunday mean for her or him, this period of preparation should be a welcome opportunity. The Church no longer imposes on us any obligatory daily fasting from food, but it urges us to find other means of mortifying ourselves, so as to show that we realize what Christ has done for us and what he has earned for us through his passion, death and resurrection. The example of Christ fasting from food for forty days, should move even the coldest Christian heart to try to do something to make reparation for past negligence and sins. Christ had no sin to atone for; it was for our sins that he mortified himself. We all have much to atone for. If, because of the demands of our present way of life, we cannot fast rigorously as our grandparents did, we can find many other less noticeable, but maybe nonetheless difficult, ways of subduing our human worldly inclinations. Where there is a will there is a way; the willing Christian will find ready substitutes for fasting.

The temptations, to which our Lord allowed himself to be submitted, are for us a source of encouragement and consolation. If our Lord and master under went temptation, we cannot and must not expect to live a Christian life without experiencing similar tests and trials. The three temptations Satan put to our Lord were suggestions to forget his purpose in life--his messianic mission of redemption. He was urged to get all the bodily comforts of life, all the self-glory which men could give him, and all the possessions and power this world has to offer.

Our basic temptations in life are the same: bodily comforts and pleasure, the empty esteem of our fellowman, wealth and power. There are millions of men and women on earth today—many of them nominal Christians—who have given in to these temptations and, are wasting their lives chasing after these unattainable shadows. But even should they manage to catch up with some of them, they soon find out that they are empty baubles. They will have to leave them so very soon.

Today, let each one of us look into his heart and honestly examine his reaction to these temptations. Do we imitate our Savior and leader, and say "begone Satan"? Our purpose in life is not to collect its treasures, its honors or its pleasures. We are here for a few short years, to merit the unending life which Christ has won for us. Would we be so foolish as to swap our inheritance for a mere mess of pottage (see Gen. 25:29-34)?

Lent is a golden opportunity to review our past and make sensible resolutions for our future.

Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

Things to Do:

Begin praying the prayer for the first week of Lent.
Make Pease Porridge (Split Pea Soup) for supper, a traditional dish for Sundays during Lent. Add some diced ham for more flavor and substance.
Today's Gospel speaks of the temptation of Jesus after his forty days' fast in the desert. After you go to Mass, discuss this reading with your children, emphasizing that temptation itself is not a sin, but we must use the Word of God to combat it, as Christ did. Read the Catholic Encyclopedia's explanation of the Temptation of Christ.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Matthew 4:1-11

1st Sunday of Lent

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1)

Today’s readings show us two opposite responses to the temptation to be “like gods” (Genesis 3:5). Our first parents gave in to the serpent’s allure, but Jesus didn’t. He did what we could not do. Facing every temptation that we face, he clung to his Father and remained free from sin.

Sin is appealing, isn’t it? It’s also incredibly deceptive, passing itself off as harmless and maybe even good for us. Imagine how the forbidden fruit must have appeared to Eve—“good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and . . . desirable for gaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:6). But that doesn’t mean fighting temptation is a hopeless cause. This Lent is a time when our lives can change.

What temptations oppress you the most? A tendency toward irritation or resentment? Selfishness? Jealousy? Choose one, and decide to make some headway in just this one area this Lent.

Here’s one of the best ways to do it: think about Jesus in the wilderness, battling hunger and the nagging voice of Satan. Each time he was tempted, Jesus turned to his Father in prayer, even when it was a great effort, even when the truths he clung to felt distant. And his Father didn’t abandon him!

God never turns away from us either. He is always ready to help us. That’s why Lent is such a vital time. It’s our chance to change directions and cling to the Lord and his word. It’s our chance to say no to the temptations we face and turn back to our heavenly Father.

When you do this, it will make a difference in your relationship with God. But it will also change the world. Think about the ripple effects of millions of people turning away from the snares of the devil and welcoming God more deeply into their lives! Come Easter, families will be stronger, and faith will be deeper.

“Jesus, show me what is tempting me, and help me turn back to the Father.”

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Psalm 51:3-6, 12-13, 17
Romans 5:12-19

A Christian Pilgrim

BREAD, GLORY AND POSSESSIONS

(A biblical refection on THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT [YEAR A] – March 5, 2017)

Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9;3:1-7; Psalms: Psalm 51:3-6,12-14,17; Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19

The Scripture Text

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took Him to the holy city, and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give His angels charge of you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord You God.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to Him, “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! for it is written, You shall worship the Lord Your God and Him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. (Matthew 4:1-11 RSV)

Today’s Gospel shows that Jesus was tempted by the devil in three areas, they are “bread”, “glory” and “possessions”.

BREAD. This is the lure of catering to bodily comforts, giving free rein to all our appetites for food, drink, sex, leisure, etc. the easy and comfortable life. It is only natural to want the best if we can get it, and forget about self-denial and discipline. Jesus knew, however, that this was not the way to prepare for the cross, where He would be thirsty, naked and tortured. So Jesus resisted the temptation.

GLORY. Here Jesus was tempted to show off and be spectacular. He could, if He had wanted, put on a dazzling display and the people would have jumped with excitement and applause. He could even convince Himself that it would be good for His cause, for it would have attracted an enthusiastic following.

How often we love to be the center of attention and be popular in the eyes of others. Sometimes this clouds our minds, causing us to say and do foolish things. Jesus had to be in control, for later He would be challenged to come down from the cross and save His life. He would not do that, either. In resisting this temptation, Jesus manifested the divine strength which destroyed our sins.

POSSESIONS. Just imagine all the things that people do for the sake of money. They kill for pay; endure cold, darkness and fear to obtain gold and riches. Soe sacrifice every decent principle to obtain and exalted position. The devil does not truly own the world and could not give it to Jesus. But he could remind Jesus of His freedom to forsake His Father’s will and take possession of the world. Abandoning the Father was tantamount to worshipping the devil and the tough Redeemer told His adversary to get lost. “The devil made me do it”, has no application here.

Today’s Gospel reading causes us to ask: Can Jesus really be tempted? Some would say “no”, for He is divine. Others respond “yes”, for He is human. But one thing is sure. We can be tempted, but when the mind is resolute, evil will flee. Then peace, like a ministering angel, will gently settle within our souls.

Prayer: Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior. Thank You for your victory over the devil! Teach me to recognize my enemy’s strategies and to overcome through faith and trust in You. Amen.

Slideshow of the Gospel

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for March 5, 2017:

“Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” (Ps 51:3) On this first Sunday of Lent, make plans to go to confession as a family sometime during Lent. Frequenting the Sacrament of Penance is a great “practice run” for asking forgiveness from your spouse.