Christ was led out into the desert for forty days by the Holy Spirit. Right away the number forty should grab our attention. It is a symbolic number that means a sufficiency. The great flood lasted forty days and forty nights, Moses fasted for forty days when he received the Ten Commandments, the people wandered forty years in the desert. The desert experience is also very significant in the gospels. The desert was a place for testing people and nations. Notice that twice Satan begins a temptation by saying, "If you are the Son of God..." Satan hoped to learn a lot about Jesus in the desert, but the Holy Spirit had other plans. Jesus was out there to discover who he was and what he was expected to accomplish.
Lent is our forty days in the desert. It is our time to determine who we are and what we are all about. Like Jesus we will be tempted. His first temptation was to change stones into bread. We have many hungers in our lives as well. We are so blessed that we usually do not hunger for bread. More often it is for things like wealth, power, popularity, or affection that we are starving. This world is full of delights. The first temptation is to leave the desert altogether and return to a more comfortable way of life. Jesus' second temptation was to bow down before Satan. The devil promised so much power. In our lives the temptation is to say that the world is hopeless. Nothing can be done about it. It's too late. We might as well go along with the majority. What difference can one person make? How can we ever know, if we just give up. What great things might God have had in mind for you?
The third temptation for Jesus was to throw himself down from the top of the temple so that angels would save him. From the beginning of time Satan has tried to force God's hand. Don't we do the same? Why doesn't God hear my prayer? Why isn't God doing what I want? Often our prayers are instructions for God. Do we ever seek His desire for us?
At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus was tempted in the desert. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit those temptations clarified Jesus' understanding of his mission and his relationship to the Father. The Holy Spirit can help us make use of this Lent as if it were our desert. We can examine our relationships to God, to one another, and to ourselves. The tools of Lenten discipline are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. They can help us discover how to use our gifts according to the Father's plan for us.
Once again this Lent the parish is distributing Lenten booklets for adults and children. They present scriptural thoughts and reflections to get us thinking about our Lenten journey with the Lord. Please be sure that everyone who can benefit gets one of these booklets. Our Lenten mission, “An Experience of Hope,” preached by Fr. George Knab, OMI, begins this evening at 7 PM. Please join us every night through Thursday evening. The sacrament of Reconciliation will be offered on Tuesday evening.