Temptation....



               The season of Lent is a time to prepare to break forth, spiritually, into new life. We are all tempted. The Gospel of today uses images to show how Jesus was challenged to remain faithful to his Father. We have the very same temptations. The first reading tells us of Israel’s profession of faith. The story of how God intervened to help his people is proof that his love embraces everyone and leads us all along the way to life. WE must never doubt his love even when things are not going well for us. The second reading tells us that our trust in God must be shown by our lives and proclaimed by our words.

               Lent is a kind of little desert. Sometimes life itself takes us into a desert or darkness, and no matter how strong our faith, we will occasionally feel ourselves adrift in darkness. When the pain overwhelms us, we wonder if God is really a God of love. We question his care. We feel alone. In the midst of this desert or darkness, we cry out, “Look at me Lord! Answer me!” (Ps 13:4). The silence that echoes intensifies the darkness. However, do not fear the desert or darkness; Go is at work. We are being prepared for the glory that is soon to be ours.

               Our readings today put things in perspective by reminding us of the worship we owe God, our Creator. They remind us we need more than material things to truly live and to be fully human: it’s not by bread alone that we live. They remind us God must take priority over everything else in our lives for God alone deserves our worship. Just as a matter of history that Alexander the Great, after he had subjugated Rome and Greece, one of his courtiers discovered him one day, on the top of a mountain, weeping. On being asked the cause for his tears, the general confessed he was weeping because there were no more countries to conquer. Yet within a very short time Alexander the Great was lying dead as the result of chronic alcoholism. He could conquer the world but not an evil habit. Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher said, “The greatest enemy to conquer is self.”