Fellow Believers in Christ,
Our Church always begins the season of Lent with Jesus in the desert. Jesus was sent there by the Holy Spirit right after his baptism. It was a time to reflect and pray, a time of transition from the workshop to his work of teaching and healing. We all need to go into the desert from time to time. Sometimes the Holy Spirit takes us there by denying to us for a time the joys and consolations that we would like our religion to bring us. Sometimes life itself takes us into a desert, with the loss of a loved one or a job or our health, or a feeling that we’ve lost our purpose. Our faith is really tested during such times. That’s when we wonder whether God still loves us, whether God is still with us. Lent is a kind of little desert, as we are encouraged to temporarily back away from a few of life’s pleasures, pleasures that distract us from reflecting on the more serious side of life. I often minister to people who are dying. It’s not unusual for someone to say to me: “I never thought this would happen to me.” I guess they never thought about what was ahead for us all. Life could be over for any of us tomorrow. Jesus told us he would prepare a place for us in his Father’s home, and he will never reject anyone who comes to him. But we do have the freedom to turn away from him by not following the way he has shown us. That’s what Lent is for, to think and pray about these things.
Today’s gospel, where Jesus refuses to give in to temptation, is contrasted with the first reading where Adam and Eve did give in. Ultimately their sin, like ours, consists in the decision not to trust God when he tells us to do or not to do something. The story of Adam and Eve tells us the source of evil is our decision to give in to temptation, to not trust, to make our own rules, to use the free will which God gave us to say “no” to God. The story shows us that we bring suffering upon ourselves as a result. Did you notice how Jesus always answered the devil with a quote from scripture? It shows how knowing scripture can be a real help to resist temptation. Then again, the devil quoted scripture, too, so we have to know it well.
As we embark on this journey into the desert of self-denial for 40 days and 40 nights, let us in a special way, dear friends, remember those whose lives and persons are perpetually in the deserts of this world!
Fr. Gabriel Wankar
Priest-in-residence