Cycle C - Year I:

17 February 2013 - 1st Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical color: Violet)

Luke 4:1-13

Lead us not into temptation!

We began our Lenten pilgrimage last Ash Wednesday with the imposition of the blessed ashes on our forehead as a sign of humility. And now we are in the first Sunday of Lent.

The Gospel proclamation from St. Luke is about the temptation of Jesus.

We may ask, if Jesus is God then why is he tempted by the devil?

Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, made himself like us in everything except sin, and voluntarily underwent temptation. It was as a man that he was tempted, and it was as a man that he resisted the temptation.

I like to quote from St. J. Escriva to help us with our reflection: "The whole episode is a mystery which man cannot hope to understand -- God submitting to temptation, letting the Evil One have his way. But we can meditate upon it, asking our Lord to help us understand the teaching it contains."

Thus, we can say that Jesus is teaching us that no one should regard himself as incorruptible and proof against temptation. I remember my professor in Moral Theology admonishing us that we should never trust or test our moral capacity to resist sin. So that at the first sign of temptation the best strategy is to run away from it.

By his own experience of being tempted, our Lord wanted to show us the most effective method to use in order to defeat the devil, which are prayers, fasting, watchfulness, knowing by heart the words of God's Scripture, and putting our complete trust in God.

Jesus is the model for new humanity who vanquishes the powers of evil through the Spirit and through obedient faith and trust in God. Through his passion, death and resurrection Jesus overpowered the devil once and for all. And by virtue of Christ's victory we, too, are enabled to overcome all temptations.

In practical life, we are in constant fight with the desire born of our sinful nature. We would rather choose the easy way rather than the prayerful way. But remember that we cannot resist temptation without God's grace. Thus, we must always pray and trust the Lord, not ourselves, for strength to resist temptation before it becomes a sin. For it is not temptation itself that leads us to sin, but the lack of resistance and trust in the Lord for deliverance.

In Holy Mass as we recite the Lord's Prayer, let us ask our heavenly Father to "lead us not into temptation". Let us pray for God's grace to spare us from temptation. And let us ask God for strength so that in our struggle with temptations we will be steadfast against the cunning, deception and lies of the evil one.

St. Paul assures us, "No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it." (1 Cor 10:13).

Today the Church in the Philippines also celebrates National Migrants' Day. Let us pray for all the people on the move, especially Filipinos, that their hard work and sacrifices may be rewarded with happy and loving families, and that with whatever economic blessings they may enjoy, the resist the temptation of losing their faith and their soul.
A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Deo Optimo Maximo!