On Ash Wednesday, we are told to "turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel". Thus is introduced the theme of the penitential season of Lent: conversion.
Conversion means "turning around" - a 180˚ turn, which, when completed, leaves us facing in the opposite direction from where we started. Jesus had no need of conversion. The three temptations mentioned in the Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Lent summarize and recapitulate some of the obstacles on our own spiritual journey toward the faithful living out of our Baptismal promises.
The first temptation concerns material things. After fasting for 40 days, Jesus was hungry. It was surely OK for Him to eat. He refuses to use extraordinary power to fill an ordinary human need. During Lent, we might think about how much time and energy we spend not only fulfilling basic human needs, but looking for, buying and wasting things we don't really need at all. In our consumer culture, it is difficult not to give material things a more prominent place in our lives than they deserve. "Not by bread alone do we live" says Jesus. Not by clothing, shoes, cosmetics or gadgets, either. During Lent we might resolve to pay more attention to our own spiritual needs and to spend what we save in this way to meet the material needs of others. We can never give too freely of ourselves and of our substance to others and to God.
The second temptation concerns power and glory, pride and arrogance. How much of our time, energy and resources do we spend trying to prove to others how important we are, or how loving, beautiful, generous and talented we are? How do we try to manipulate and control others to get them to do what we want? How often do we do even good deeds so that others may see us? These are sins of the spirit, the most dangerous kind because they often infect even the good deeds we occasionally manage to do. During Lent, we might pray for the gift of true humility by which we realize and acknowledge our position as created beings who owe everything we are and all we have to God alone.
The third temptation is to try to make God prove that He is as good as His Word. It is a temptation against faith. We "test" God whenever we try to make Him live up to our expectations instead of the other way around. We test God when we tell Him what we want rather than trying to determine His Will for us. We test God when we decide what is right and wrong rather than to follow God's commandments.
St. Paul reminds us, that "if our lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if we believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, then we shall be saved". During our Lenten journey, let us keep our goal clearly in mind: "to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel". Amen.
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