Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is surprising to me how passive Jesus Christ is in the gospel of the temptations in the desert (Matthew 4: 1-11) on this First Sunday of Lent. He was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit and was tested by the devil. This is the same Spirit that blew life into our first parents, and that guided the prophets throughout salvation history. During this time of Lent we can also be passive and guided by the Spirit and let God direct us. Let God be the driver of the car and be docile to where he wants to take us. We are so used to deciding everything in our lives and to give in Him would be a remarkable change, and you would be surprised at the results.
My experience of one afternoon in the desert close to Mt. Sinai was absolutely breathtaking. I would never have expected it to be so stunning. In this situation of total absence of anything one has to either give in to the comforts of Satan: food, power, and possessions or surrender to the mercy of God. There are no other choices.
Lent should be a time to mimic this absence of comfort, to experience a bit of the desert. We need this time to wake up and give ourselves a hard time so that we can experience the resurrection at Easter. In all the temptations of life Christ is with us; he is the one who fights the devil that tempts us in the same way as we see in the gospel.
What do you do when a crisis comes? Would you quickly jump to the easy remedy or would you wait in silence and privation for the Lord to act. I sense today there is a big temptation that in the midst of a crisis many Christians would also consult the local seer or fortune teller about the coronavirus, or whatever was the threat at the time. They say in Italy alone, even before the virus, there are 100,000 seers in the country, which is a remarkable number for ‘Catholic’ Italy. To me it is a strong sign of faith to see a family with a Downs Syndrome child and then they have more children. Wow, those parents are people of faith!
The devil is very brash in his temptations, especially saying: If you are the Son of God, show me that what you can do! Can you turn these stones into bread or throw yourself from the parapet of the temple? Come on, come on, what can you really do? Of course, if Jesus “shows him” he has already lost.
The one who asks for immediate signs or miracles is testing God. It is a man of poor faith. A person of faith knows the Lord is watching over all our needs and is joyful no matter what God chooses to do or not do. If he grants the miracle that is terrific, and if he does not, he is not destroyed.
In the last temptation Jesus is taken to the top of a high mountain and sees the kingdoms of the world. The Accuser’s gaze is downward and he has the allusion that he is above all others. He has made himself the center of the world and has total autonomy even from God. Here Satan wants to exchange the idols of the world with the best gift in the heart of man: the ability to worship God, and him alone. Satan wants man to forget who he really is, to forget his origin and his destination. But the Spirit tells man not to forget who he really is and to not turn from his inner desire for heaven, even for all the kingdoms of the world.