March 15th 2026. Fourth Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: Jn 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

 

GOSPEL: Jn 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.

He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva,

and smeared the clay on his eyes,

and said to him,

“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” — which means Sent —.

So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbours and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said,

“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “It is”, but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”

He said, “I am.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.

Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.

So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.

He said to them,

“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”

So some of the Pharisees said,

“This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.”

But others said,

“How can a sinful man do such signs?”

And there was a division among them.

So they said to the blind man again,

“What do you have to say about him,

since he opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

They answered and said to him,

“You were born totally in sin,

and are you trying to teach us?”

Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,

he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

He answered and said,

“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

Jesus said to him,

“You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”

He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshipped him.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

 

 

i) The blind man represents all of humanity. We are all wounded and in need of the creative touch of Jesus which brings divine light to the dark parts of our lives.

On this fourth Sunday of Lent, we encounter the theme of rediscovering the light of faith. The passage is taken from John, who, at the beginning of his Gospel, speaks of the true light coming into the world. There is a true light and a false light. In the first reading, we hear of the election of David, who is chosen despite his appearance, despite the fact that his own father does not consider him. God does not see what man sees. Man looks at appearance while God looks at the heart. The second reading speaks of being children of the darkness or of the light. We are called to have a life that springs from the divine light. The Gospel recounts the story of the man blind from birth. According to the Church fathers – Augustine in particular – this man represents humanity in general. People ask why he is blind. We tend to think in terms of cause and effect, we think that this man’s sin is a direct result of some sin or other. Jesus replies with the strange saying that the blindness is not the result of the man’s sins, nor those of his parents, but rather is the case so that the work of God can be manifested. The things that are difficult to understand in life are not amenable to mechanistic explanations; we should ask what God can do in such situations.

 

ii) Jesus touches us with his grace in the wounded parts of our lives. After this encounter, we are sent on our mission to profess the light that we have experienced

Jesus takes clay and saliva and “anoints” (in the Greek text) the man with this mixture in the very place where he is wounded. This mixture of clay recalls the creation of man who was fashioned from clay. What Jesus is doing is an act of creation. Just as this man was born without sight, so too all of us are born with a lack of grace. By means of the pains and sufferings of our lives, we are led to these moments of grace. The man is then told to bathe in the pool of Siloam, which means “sent”. We too are sent on our mission after we encounter the grace of God. In the narrative that follows, the man is challenged by various people who try to take away his faith is Christ. Even though the man is not assisted by his parents, he becomes more and more proficient in defending his faith against his accusers.

 

iii) In this fourth Sunday of Lent, let us realize that the darkness of our lives is a call to open ourselves to the light of God, to open ourselves to his power which can transform our darkness into light. He can take the things of our lives that we have never understood and turn them into a mission, an adventure, a moment of growth.

We too must defend the light of salvation that has entered into our lives. Each one of us would not have remained Christians if we did not have an experience of this divine light. Today it is very easy to leave the Church. If we have remained, it is because we have a reason for doing so. We have experienced grace, gift, mercy. We must confront the challenges and doubts the world puts before us in order to grow. Difficulties are always opportunities for growth. Suffering is not only suffering, it also becomes wisdom if it is accepted. Tribulations are also moments of training and learning. Without tribulation there is no learning. A process of learning like what we see in this Gospel is what can lead to faith in Christ. The true light is the mercy and love that we have received, which comes to touch the most wounded parts of our lives. Then, we are called to defend this light, to defend our experience of grace, to become wise advocates of our faith in this world which has such need of witnesses. In this fourth Sunday of Lent, let us realize that the darkness of our lives is a call to open ourselves to the light of God, to open ourselves to his power which can transform our darkness into light. He can take the things of our lives that we have never understood and turn them into a mission, an adventure, a moment of growth.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

The healing of the blind man in chapter nine of John’s Gospel can best be understood by reading the accounts in chapters seven and eight of Jesus’ presence in Jerusalem during the Festival of Tents (I encourage you to read below Don Fabio’s full account of this important context). During the festival, Jesus makes two pronouncements. Firstly, he invites everyone who thirsts to come to him and drink. Secondly, he declares that he is the light of the world. These two elements, water and light, were essential to the Jewish celebration of the festival, and they are combined in the healing of the blind man. Jesus anoints the man’s eyes with saliva and clay. It is impossible to speak without saliva, so the saliva of Christ clearly represents God’s word. In this image of saliva and clay, we have an unambiguous symbol of creation. In Genesis, God’s word acts on the dust of the earth to create humanity. With the healing of the blind man, Jesus shows that he is completing his creation of this person by bringing him to the light. But the healing is not completed until the man goes to bathe in the pool whose name signifies “sent”. And then the man truly becomes “sent”! He proclaims the good news of his healing and even defends Jesus to the point of being expelled from the Temple. To summarize: each one of us has painful and difficult aspects of his life, just like the man born blind. Jesus wishes to act on these very areas with his word. When we allow Christ to touch these areas, when we bathe in the waters of regeneration (in other words, allow the Holy Spirit to operate in us), then these things are transformed, they are illuminated by the light of Christ, and they become the place where we proclaim the good news of God’s love for us. We discover that the absurd areas of our lives are the very places where we learn to trust, to love. None of us can be said to be truly educated in the faith until we have made peace with the things we have not understood about our lives. We need to discover that those difficult elements in our personal existence were needed in order to encounter the Lord. These things will serve us all our lives to be instruments of the Lord, to be the way of his love, the way of his light. In this way, the “blind” find their sight, whilst whoever thinks he can see, so the Gospel passage tells us, will become blind. Those who are in love with their own interpretations of everything, those who do not accept an alternative reading of their lives, remain blind. 

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly

 March 8th 2026. Third Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

  

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.

“I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the saviour of the world.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

The first reading speaks of a thirst that is satisfied by the Lord in an extraordinary way

In the first reading we hear how the people of Israel began to complain about the thirst they were experiencing in the desert. They had complained earlier about the lack of food. If we examine the text, we discover that it was only three months since they had experienced the wonders of the Lord in bringing them out of Egypt. Despite this, their memories are short and they have lost faith in the providence of God. In the ensuing crisis, Moses fears that he will be stoned if he does not find water soon. The Lord responds by directing them to a rock from which water flows. With this background theme of water and physical thirst we approach the Gospel story, which deals with different types of thirst and different ways to satiate that thirst.

 

God thirsts for us and we thirst for him. This is a story about the encounter between both thirsts

The catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that prayer is the place where the thirst of humanity encounters the thirst of God. But in what sense can God experience thirst? Let us first consider the nature of human thirst. Thirst is a condition that is much more critical than hunger. We become dehydrated much more quickly than we starve. In the kind of desert areas where the history of the Bible revolves, thirst is an issue of acute importance. In the Gospel story, the woman comes to the well looking for water. But she meets Jesus who does not offer her a drink. Instead he asks her for a drink. Then, curiously, he offers her a live-giving water of a completely different kind. If we read the full version of this long Gospel text, then we discover that neither Jesus nor the woman actually drink water during their encounter! The woman leaves her water jar at the well and goes off to tell the townspeople about Jesus. She is now utterly focussed on a different kind of thirst that Jesus has awoken in her.

 

God’s thirst is a thirst to bestow graces upon us

In the first reading, God provides the people with water from a new source. And that is how it is with all of us. God has a different water to give us. But we only discover this water when we are confronted by God’s thirst for us. It was Jesus who asked this woman in the first place to quench his thirst. And what is his thirst? His thirst is the desire to quench our spiritual thirst. The Samaritan woman thinks she has encountered someone who wants something from her, but then she discovers that Jesus is someone who only wants to give. This is an experience that we have one thousand times with God. When it seems that God wants something from us, we discover that what he truly wants is to give. We tend to think that we are doing something for God when we are obedient to him, or when we trust in his name. But it is at that very moment that the Lord is doing something for us.

 

At moments of necessity, we make our own needs absolute. These are the times we should forget our needs, open ourselves to God and obtain satisfaction of a much profounder sort

It often happens that at a moment of critical personal necessity, we tend to become fixated with our own needs, obsessed with our own wants. But if we try to open ourselves to the giving of God at those moments, then we will experience satiation of a dramatic sort. Sometimes these times of desperate necessity can be moments of incredible grace. Jesus utters a phrase in this Gospel that is of great importance: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him and he would give you living water.” Do you really know the gifts that the Lord wants to give? Do you really appreciate the generosity of God? If we knew someone of incredibility creativity and goodness who asked us to come with him on a great adventure somewhere, then we would want to go. That person asks us to go with him, but in reality it is we who benefit from the experience. That is how God is. When God asks us something, it is a request to open ourselves to his generosity. And that is the experience of the Samaritan woman. She was asked by Jesus to open herself to what he wanted to give, and then she encountered the truth.

 

Where do we encounter God in an intimate way? Not in a place but in an attitude that opens itself to the Lord, allowing him to satisfy our deepest thirst.

One of the central lines of this text concerns the place where we encounter and adore God. The Greek work for “adore” contains the word for “kiss”. Adoration entails approaching God with an intimate attitude. Where can we encounter God in an intimate way? This Gospel tells us that we encounter God in such a way not in a place but in an attitude. The thirst of this woman is satiated in an unexpected way and in an unexpected place. The Samaritan woman has a chequered history and perhaps that is why she goes to draw water at the unconventional hour of midday. She has already had five husbands and maybe she wished to avoid the judgemental glances of other women in the town. But now she encounters a husband of a different sort and an intimacy of a new kind. In a blessed moment she makes the transition from being fixated with her own needs to trusting in the Lord who is capable of satisfying all of her deepest longings. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we too, in a blessed moment during this time of Lent, could make the transition from being obsessed with the satisfaction of our own appetites to the condition of trusting in the Lord who only thirsts for our good? If we could open ourselves to the Lord in this way for a moment, then we would begin to encounter him in an intimate manner, in spirit and truth, an encounter of the kiss that the Lord wants to give us, an encounter with our true and deepest spouse, an experience of a food that we have never tasted before, the taste of a water that satisfies the thirst at the core of our being. 

 

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that he is thirsty. But his real thirst is that she would receive life from him, the “living water” that he longs to give each and every one of us. This is how it always is with God. When he asks for something from us - our obedience, our trust - it is only because he wants to give us a thousand times more. In fact, he says to the woman, “If you knew the gift of God . . .” God thirst for us, but where or how can we encounter him? Not in a particular place but with an attitude of trust and intimacy. The story of this woman with her five husbands reveals that she had tried to resolve her incompleteness through relationships that ultimately failed. Following her encounter with Jesus, however, this woman begins to drink from the authentic source of life: relationship with the true God. We need this blessed period of Lent in order to make the same leap of quality ourselves! It is time for us to start seeking the true God, to overcome our fixations with self-referential relationships that do not resolve our existential woes. It is time to give up the useless search for illusory sources of life. These false sources of “life” are generally objects that we accumulate, desires that torture us, or fixations that alienate us from what is good and true. The real God seeks our heart, our spirit, the deepest truth of our being. In short, he wants you and me.

 March 1st 2026. Second Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: Mt 17:1-9

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Mt 17:1-9

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
Jesus charged them,
“Do not tell the vision to anyone
until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Sunday’s Gospel recounts the event of the Transfiguration, while the first reading tells of the call of Abraham. What has the call of Abraham got to do with the Transfiguration of Jesus? Every time God calls us, he wishes us to be transfigured! Peter and Andrew are transfigured into fishers of men. Abraham is transfigured from a sterile old man into the father of a great nation. We too can be transfigured completely by God’s call, but how does it work? “Transfiguration” is not so much transformation as the revelation of the beauty that was already inherent in Jesus. At the event of the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah are present, representing the Law and the Prophets. Adherence to God’s word, fidelity to the life of prayer, is essential to transfiguration! Then the Father says, “Here is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. It is the relationship with the Father that is the source of the light and the beauty of Christ! And it is also the source of our light and beauty. If we immerse ourselves humbly and obediently in God’s word, reflecting on the Father’s love for us, then we too can be transfigured along with Christ. When a woman knows that she is loved by her man, then she becomes beautiful and radiant. We too will become radiant with the light of God if we reflect on the Father’s love for us and humbly adhere to his word. Then our inherent beauty will become manifest.

God’s call is always an act of transfiguration. He is also calling you and me. If we respond we will be transfigured. In the transfiguration of Christ, we see the way in which God is transforming humanity into light and beauty .

The second Sunday of Lent reflects on the Gospel story of the Transfiguration. As we travel the penitential journey that prepares us for Easter, it is important to confront our own ugliness with the hidden beauty of Jesus; it is essential for us to fix our gaze on the true face of Christ, and to say with Peter: “It is good for us to be here!” Interestingly, the first reading recounts the call of Abraham, but what does this have to do with the event of the Transfiguration on Tabor? The word Transfiguration - meta-morphe - indicates a fundamental change in the form of something. When the Lord calls Abraham, he says: “Go forth from your land, away from your kinship and from your father's house, towards the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation and bless you, I will make your name great so that you be a blessing." What the Lord is doing here is announcing the transfiguration of Abraham: he was a sterile old man, but he will become a father of multitudes. And this will be God's work. The phrase "I will make of you ..." is at the centre of every vocation. When Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, he says: "I will make you fishers of men". The call is a work of God and whoever is called is transformed by His power. In the Transfiguration we see that, in Christ, the Father completes His work in humanity: human nature is transfigured into light, into beauty. It is not only the body of Christ that has changed, but it is the human body that is transfigured, and its hidden truth is revealed.

Our transfiguration is achieved by intimacy with God and adherence to the word. Ultimately, it is our relationship with the Father that transfigures us, reveals the secret of our inherent dignity

This process is a journey that requires intimacy with God and contact with the Word – that is why Moses and Elijah appear on the mountain, representing the Law and the Prophets. Furthermore, Jesus' relationship with the Father is revealed: "This is my Son, the beloved". It is in our relationship with the Father, our adherence to the word, that human nature is transfigured. When Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured, they are discovering what is hidden in human nature, what is hidden in each of us. We are with the Lord so that our hidden secret will be revealed: the great dignity we possess as children of God.

Lent gives us the opportunity to unveil the hidden beauty within us. Jesus’ beauty comes from the fact that he knows he is loved by the Father. We too are loved by the Father! If we reflect on that love, then we can permit God to act in our lives, transfiguring us into children of God with immensely fruitful lives.

Through the journey of Lent, each of us has the opportunity to regain possession of his hidden treasure, of his deep spiritual dimension. Through fasting, prayer and almsgiving, we return to the source of our nobility and rediscover ourselves to be beautiful. It should be noted that, on the previous Sunday, Satan questioned the status of Jesus as Son of God - "If you are the Son of God ..." -, but now it is the Father himself who proclaims him as such. "This is my Son, my beloved, in him I am well pleased": this is the hidden light of the Lord Jesus, the love of the Father. But this is also our light since the Father loves us as well. You can see when a woman feels loved by her man: she is bright and radiant. You can see when a child feels loved by his parents: he is stable and free. And you can see when a person knows and feels God's love for himself: he is transfigured, he becomes light and radiates peace. He is free from that veil of doubt that burdens many people; finally he knows that he is wanted, loved, important, precious.

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly

February 22 2026. First Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: Mt 4:1-11

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Mt 4:1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written: One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”

Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”

Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

1. Lent is not a journey of perfectionism, but a journey towards divine sonship

As always, Lent is a long, profound and useful preparation for Easter. Easter is new life, entrance into the Kingdom, the gift of the resurrection, eternal life according to divine sonship. However, Easter is not just at the end of the journey. Along the way, in texts like the one we read on Sunday, we already experience the entrance into new life and the leaving behind of the old. Lent is not about individual perfectionism, but a journey of liberation towards union with God. Ash Wednesday shows us that our point of departure is our weakness and poverty and from this we are invited into the new life of grace that is only possible with God. Traditionally we read the Gospel passage of the three temptations. This is prepared by the first reading telling of the original Fall and humanity’s propulsion of itself along a self-destructive path. Man starts out attempting to be like God but ends up in a state of shame, in a bad relationship with his own body.

 

2.The three temptations are all temptations to reject the fatherhood of God. They take three forms: temptations of the appetites, temptations of the mind, and temptations for material possessions. They correspond to the admonition to love God with heart (appetite), mind and actions (material things).

Why do these temptations have to occur? There is a happy ambiguity in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and English with the term “to prove”. The word means two things at the same time. On the one hand it means to have certainty – proof – of something. On the other hand, it refers to the process of being tested, of being put to the proof. In order to prove something, that something must be proven, tested. Moments of being tested, of being challenged, are important and useful because they cause those things that are inconsistent in our lives to collapse. This fourth chapter of Matthew cannot be understood apart from the baptism of Christ that is described beforehand. Indeed, the verse immediately preceding Sunday’s Gospel recounts the voice of the Father: “Here is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. In the desert, Satan puts this assertion up for discussion, “If you are really the Son of God. . .” This is the form of every temptation. It always calls our sonship into question. “Is God really a father to me?” The three temptations recall the first and greatest of the commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength”. There is that which we desire, that which we think, and that which we do. This is where our sonship plays itself out. This is where the meaning and quality of our lives is located.

 

3. The appetites are at the root of our passions. To live according to bodily desires is infantile and degenerate. God calls us to live according to higher and more noble desires, the desires of children of the Father.

The first temptation concerns the appetites, which are always at the root of our passions according to the great Evagrio Pontico. Our nobility is in great measure based on our appetites. Whoever becomes a slave of his appetites becomes degenerate, infantile. To live (as many do) in order to satisfy the appetites is a complete absurdity. In reality we ought to eat in order to live – the exact opposite. Satan tempts us to transform everything into bread, into compensation, gratification. The true Son of God, however, shows us the way to Easter: we cannot live for such little things. It is not by bread alone that man lives. The word “alone” is very important. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the son realizes that he has a much greater dignity. He sees that eating the food of pigs is so much beneath eating in the house of the father. Lent is not a question of fasting for fasting’s sake, but fasting in order to eat better. It is a question of moving from infantile desires for satisfaction to adult desires, the desires of children of God for true greatness. Children too, and young people, have noble desires, not just desires for entertainment. They long for the heroic, the meaningful, to give themselves in sacrifice. Let us pass to these desires that are typical of the children of God, to turn to God to be nurtured and satisfied! In the Our Father we say, “Give us this day our daily bread”. To live according to God’s providence today and to reject a life lived according to an infantile and immature flitting from one moment of satisfaction to the next.

 

4. The second temptation is that of relying on our mental illusions instead of on the providence of God. The final temptation is to seek our security in material things instead of in the sovereignty of God.

In the second temptation, Christ is taken to a great pinnacle and tempted to force the hand of God. This temptation corresponds to the admonition to love God with our entire mind. How often we are enamoured by an idea or a hypothesis, and we wish to force God to comply with our way of thinking. How often we think that one of our projects will resolve everything, but it was in the end nothing more than our own idea, fatally reliant on our limited perspective. Jesus responds to Satan saying that we do not put God to the test. Instead, we trust him. Too often we intervene in things when what we really need to do is trust and wait for the Lord to act in his own time. The final temptation concerns our fixation with material things, living for our possessions (this corresponds to the admonition to love the Lord with our entire strength, in everything that we do). We enslave ourselves, bowing down to the things of this world. The temptation is to abandon the greatness of our relationship with God in favour of more material security. Jesus replies, “To one only should we bow down. One only merits our adoration and service”. This is an adult act of liberation from the servitudes of this world. What a beautiful time! Through fasting, through prayer (which is our self-opening to the plan of God), and through almsgiving (which subtracts us from the threat of possessiveness), this period transforms itself into the great time of Easter. By means of these three battles, we can become free, free from the dependency on our appetites, free from mental delusions, free from the powers of this world.

 

Alternative homily

 When Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden, Satan was using the same strategy that he would use once again with Jesus in the desert. One of the traps hidden in every temptation is the false idea that fidelity to God is incompatible with fidelity to ourselves. In other words, the idea that obeying God means hurting yourself, curtailing yourself, diminishing yourself. The reality is the exact opposite: sin is the tragic road to self-destruction. Temptation makes us pursue an idolatrous image of ourselves which is at odds with the true dignity and beauty that God has given us. In order to follow that image, we are encouraged to make ourselves the focal point of our lives and the masters of our own destiny. The three temptations of Jesus in the desert share similar characteristics to the temptation in the garden. Through these temptations, Satan tries to tell Jesus that it is ok for the Son of God to exploit objects to satisfy his own needs; he is told that God ought to be ready to facilitate and support his most frivolous decisions; he is assured that possessions and worldly power are a worthy goal in themselves. Temptations such as these alienate us from our true identity as children of God. They make us feel inadequate and dissatisfied with who we are and with what we possess. They make us lose sight of our deepest identity. In place of that identity, they set up a deceitful image of the human being as an absolute in himself, absolute in his individual rights, and in the way he can manipulate things for his own ends. Satan encourages us not to accept our condition as creatures of God. His temptations proceed by making us feel ashamed and inadequate for who we are. The Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help restore us to the right relationship with God that can be destroyed through temptation. The sobriety, generosity and walking in right relationship with God that are typical of Lent restore us to our proper place in creation. They fill us with the peace, freedom and beauty that are integral to our true identity as God’s children.

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly