FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

POINTS FOR REFLECTION:

• The Holy Spirit invites Jesus to choose how to carry on his mission:

1. Either to accept the way of the Father: suffering, rejection, cross…
2. Or the way of the Devil: material enjoyment, popularity and power…

• The first temptation (the one of material enjoyment). The devil was like saying: “Jesus, change the stones into bread…” that means: “Jesus, you have the power to do whatever you want… Don’t be fool… Use your power to enjoy yourself… Forget about humankind… Don’t die for them!”
• The second temptation (the one of Popularity). The devil was like saying: “Jesus, throw yourself down from this highest point of the Temple… Angels will protect you, nothing will happened to you… You will be very famous… Television and Newspapers will praise you… Everybody will clap at you…”
•  The third temptation (the one of power). The devil was like saying: “Jesus, I will give you the whole world, if you kneel down and worship me… You will be powerful…” Everybody will be under you…
•  Defeated, the Devil withdrew. The Devil’s main aim was to have Jesus to act by himself, independently from his Father, but Jesus defeated the Devil by an intelligent use of the Word of God. Jesus chose to do his Father’s will. He accepted the call to be God’s Suffering Servant. Now he is ready to begin his mission.
• Every person, like Jesus, is tempted, all the time, by these three temptations:

1. To look for material enjoyment in a selfish and greedy way: not sharing food, drinking to excess, not controlling the sexual instincts, spending money for useless things…
2. To look for glory… To be proud… To tell a lot of lies in order to praise oneself… To be jealous… To be suspicious…  To accuse others in order to make oneself great…
3. To look for power… Not to serve but to be served… To treat others without respect… To struggle in order to be the leader… To low others in order to raise oneself up…

•   The Holy Spirit helped Jesus to resist temptations… The same Spirit will help us if we invoke him…