TIPANAN: March 9, 2014 1st Sunday of Lent Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves. But he replied, Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. If you are the Son of God he said throw yourself down; for scripture says: He will put you in his angels charge, and they will support you on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Scripture also says: You must not put the Lord your God to the test. Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. I will give you all these he said, if you fall at my feet and worship me. Then Jesus replied, Be off, Satan! For scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone. Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him. When Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden, Satan was telling them not to accept their condition as creatures of God. Temptation proceeds by making us feel ashamed and inadequate for who we are. Temptation makes us pursue an idolatrous image of ourselves which is at odds with the true dignity and beauty that God has given us. The Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving can help restore us to the right relationship with God that can be destroyed through temptation. The sobriety, generosity and walking in right relationship with God that are typical of Lent restore us to our proper place in creation. They fill us with the peace, freedom and beauty that are integral to our true identity as God’s children The practises of Lent restore us to the freedom, dignity and beauty that temptation tries to destroy We are tempted to renounce our integrity and dignity in order to become the focal points of our own destiny. During Lent the Church asks us to undertake acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are calls to return to the truth and the beauty of our own great dignity, a dignity that is obscured by the deceit that is implicit in all temptation. The sobriety, generosity and walking in right relationship with God that are typical of Lent restore us to our proper place in creation. They fill us with the peace, freedom and beauty that are integral to our true identity. Temptation tries to turn that beauty into ugliness. It seeks to fill us with shame and lead us to unhappiness (Don Fabio). Let us seek the face of God that we may not be deceived by the beauty offered by this world. God has prepared his kingdom for us... Let us look forward and anticipate the life He has promised to us. fr willy ofm
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 23:45:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015