First Sunday of Lent ‘C’

Lent begins with a reflection on the Temptation of Jesus in the desert. The Church assigns temptation stories to the beginning of Lent because temptations come to everybody, not only to Jesus, and we seem almost genetically programmed to yield to them.

The First Reading describes the ancient Jewish ritual of presenting the first fruits and gifts to God during the harvest festival in order to thank Him for liberating His people from Egypt and for strengthening them during the years of their trials and temptations in the desert.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul warns the early Christians converted from Judaism not to yield to their constant temptation to return to the observances of the Mosaic Laws. He reminds them that they will be saved only by acknowledging the risen Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The graphic temptations of Jesus described by Matthew and Luke in their Gospels are dramatic representations of the inner struggle against a temptation that Jesus experienced throughout His public life. The devil was trying to prevent Jesus from accomplishing His mission, mainly through a temptation to become the political Messiah of Jewish expectations, and to use his Divine power to avoid suffering and death.

We need to confront and conquer temptations as Jesus did, using the means He used. Like Jesus, every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth and a position of authority, and is drawn to the use of unjust or sinful means to attain good ends. Jesus sets a model for conquering temptations through prayer, penance and the effective use of the “word of God.” Temptations make us true warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. We are never tempted beyond our power. In his first letter, St. John assures us: “The One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4). During Lent let us confront our evil tendencies with prayer (especially by participating in the Holy Mass), with penance, with the meditative reading of the Bible or following the Stations of the Cross (Fridays) or singing the Bitter Lamentations (Wednesdays).