In this First Sunday of Lent, we are reminded that TEMPTATION is inevitable in our Christian life, and the Church invites us to reflect on Jesus, the new Adam, and the New Israel. He was tested like the first human beings and like Israel in the desert, but, unlike them, he overcame all temptations in the power of God’s Word. This is a wonderful example for us as we embark on the long pilgrimage toward the dramatic events of the Holy Week and the glory of Easter. Christ’s voluntary self-mortification of forty days’ fast, with its accompanying temptations, was but part of the self-mortification, with its climax on the Cross, which he gladly underwent for our salvation. He did not need to fast in order to keep the inclinations of the body in subjugation, he did not need to allow the insult of temptation. He could have said, “before Satan” at the beginning as easily and as effectively as he said it at the end. But he willingly underwent this humiliation in order to set us an example and to prove to us the infinite love he bears us and the priceless value he sets on our eternal salvation. He became like us in all things, except sin, in order to make it possible for us to become like him -the beloved of his Father- and co-heirs with him in the kingdom of heaven. With this example given us by Christ, no Christian can or should expect to travel the road to heaven with-out meeting obstacles and temptations.
HOLY SPIRIT: INSPIRE US
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