“Tempted by the Devil” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

“Tempted by the Devil” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

First Sunday of Lent

Piety

“The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation

great, strong, and numerous.’” Deuteronomy 26:4-5

What does Scripture say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart —that is, the word of faith that we preach— for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:8-9

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. Luke 4:1-2

Study

The sign outside Immanuel Lutheran Church in Burnside, Iowa, “Lent is not the fuzz in your navel.”

The desert represents a stripping away so as to make the fundamental things appear.

The first step of the Twelve Steps is analogous to staying free from sin, and the First Step is: We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Our First Reading says: 'My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien…” This refers to Abraham or Jacob for their sojourns in Genesis 11.  It speaks of a collective memory and identity, implying a social and ethical dimension--“We” were oppressed in Egypt.

We were oppressed by alcohol or drugs.

We were oppressed by images, greed, indulgence, sin.

Admitting this brings into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago, or longer—if we even remember at all; we can have a selective memory.

Sometimes we are like a train that decided that it was tired of running back and forth on the same boring track. The unhappy train thought of the adventure and excitement it was missing because it had to run on tracks. So, one day she decided to jump the tracks. The result was a horrible crash.

The true nature of sin can be seen in how “live” spelled backward is “evil.”  Evil is anti-life.

The First Reading recounts the trials experienced in the history of the Israelite people not just to remember past oppression but the victory that God did for them.

To fight temptation, one is called to proclaim the history of deliverance.

Such a confession of faith ends with a grateful prayer with gratitude. God brought them to the Promised Land.

We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.

We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.

We will comprehend the word serenity.

Q-What is Jesus’ condition when he encounters the devil?

A-He was at his most vulnerable state when the devil showed up. Jesus teaches us how to handle temptation in times of weakness. 

One solution when feeling weak or vulnerable is to remember Scripture. Jesus said, “One does not live on bread alone...” Jesus was able to resist the devil with the help of Scripture passages he knew so well. In his apostolic exhortation “Catechesis in Our Time,” St. John Paul II wrote, “A certain memorization of the words of Jesus, of important Bible passages...is a real need.” (55).

Memorizing Scripture is one of the most helpful things you can do because the verse written in your heart will help you resist temptation and inform your whole life. What better time to begin memorizing than Lent?

Another solution for temptation is not to dismiss the smaller ones. Most of us can handle absolutely giant, obvious temptations that may entail throwing everything away if we sin in that way. However, as Solomon noted in the Song of Songs 2:15 thousands of years ago, it is the little foxes that eat the vines.

To illustrate: There was once an Englishman who startled the world by going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Amazingly he escaped serious harm. However, he did suffer serious injury several years later. He slipped on a banana peel. That is the way the tempter works. It’s the little things that he most often tries to trip us up.

Action

The Prayer over the Offerings at this Mass asks that we be given “the right dispositions” that our hearts may be disposed to understand the riches of Christ’s treasures.

Lent is the old English word for Spring. It’s not the fuzz in your navel. Amen.