March 1^st 2020. First Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: Mt 4:1-11

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

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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

Kieran’s summary . . .  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.

The obedience that restores our true identity

Lent is a journey to freedom and truth; the journey involves the struggle described in the text of the three temptations of Jesus in Matthew. This story is prepared for us in Sunday’s liturgy by the first reading recounting the fall of Adam and Eve. 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. The temptations of Jesus use the same strategy used with Eve: Satan tells a lie according to which the affirmation of self is the real urgency. In the first temptation, Satan says: "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread". It would be like saying that the true children of God have the right to manipulate reality; stones cannot remain stones; their existence must be changed to respond to our hunger, therefore they must become loaves of bread. The idea of ​​the second temptation, that of throwing oneself from the top of the temple, is that the true children of God can expect the Lord to go along with their initiatives. Whatever looks like a good plan should be possible, even if it's a jump from the roof. The third temptation concerns the possession, power and splendor of the world: Satan claims that it is beneficial to compromise with evil in order to have power and possessions, perhaps even to achieve things that are “worthwhile”. These temptations assign absolute roles to appetites, projects and possessions. Satan tells us that these ways we can obtain satisfactory results, but we only become slaves to cravings, ideas and things. All this is hidden in the invitation to Eve to make the grotesque attempt to become "like God". This temptation is an escape from reality, it represents an elaborate and desperate process of alienation from ourselves.

Lent is not simply about rules and practices. It restores us to our true identity and brings happiness.

In fact, what should be noted is that Eve, in the end, tries to be different from what she is, and enters into a state of self-deception. Her attempt to be something "more" ultimately leads to shame, to the loss of the happy relationship with oneself, to the loss of one's true identity. Eve is ashamed of being Eve, what a curious thing! During Lent the Church asks us to perform acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These works are real calls to return to the truth and beauty of our dignity, a dignity that is threatened by the deception implicit in every temptation. Sobriety, generosity and walking in the right relationship with God - typical of Lent - bring us back to our true place in the world. They fill us with that peace, with that freedom from ourselves which are integral parts of our true identity. Temptation tries to transform our dignity into pretence, pride and greed. Obedience to God restores us to ourselves. Fasting makes us clear and free from our ego, prayer breaks the pattern of loneliness, almsgiving is a way for us to show love to our brothers and sisters. Lenten practices are not a question of perfectionism or rules, but of happiness.