Last Wednesday, we began the Season of Lent with fasting and the imposition of ashes. Today’s Gospel gives us some of the theology behind this Holy Season. “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (CCC 540). Today we read the exact episode in our Lord’s life when he was led by the Spirit into the desert. “For forty days and forty nights,” he fasted. Being in the desert and fasting – these terms evoke images of desolation. We think of a parched and lifeless land, of deep unsatiated hunger and thirst, of relentless heat in the day and biting cold in the night – not at all positive images! – but the Lord is there, and we are his followers.
Our commemoration of Lent is not merely empty rituals nor external obligations. Like everything in our faith, it is based on a Person, Jesus Christ – hence, we are all called Christians. In the desolation that comes with the fundamental Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we can be sure that the Lord is there; he is with us. We journey through these Forty Days with Jesus, for a deepening of our relationship with him.
Exactly how did Christ spend his forty days in the desert? Not only was it a time of desolation, it was also filled with strong temptations. We can be sure that, as we journey through Lent this year, the enemy will likewise tempt us. The devil will try to distract us from our desire to be one with the Lord. In our commitment to devote more time to prayer, he may suggest a few more minutes browsing through our social media, telling us that it is a harmless and manageable delay. In our commitment to fast, he will suggest that, if we are hungry, a spoonful or two of extra food is not an unreasonable compromise. In our commitment to abstain from meat, a family event or a party at work will fall on a Friday and the tempter will tell us to delay our sacrifice to another day, which we may conveniently forget. In our commitment to give alms, he will make our desire for some item that we really want and have been saving up for seem more urgent now. Our wily enemy will introduce these or some other subtle insinuations, and before we know it, we have set aside our Lenten practices.
The devil’s suggestion to Jesus that he turn some stones into bread does not seem unreasonable. After all, Jesus was hungry. What’s wrong with eating bread? We can see the enemy using this tactic on Eve in today’s first reading. He starts with a suggestion: What’s wrong with eating from the trees in the garden? The temptation is first to introduce a doubt about what God really said. When Eve gives an opening to doubt, the enemy relentlessly exploits his advantage until Adam and Eve disobey God, with catastrophic results for humankind. The enemy will surely try to do the same with us. Is it really necessary to do all these Lenten practices? Did God really tell you to pray, fast, and give alms? These are optional. Besides, they are old-fashioned. And they are just concocted by rigid clergy who are out of touch with modern life. You can come up with other things as an alternative. We take on our Lenten disciplines because we are uniting ourselves with Christ’s desert journey. This is our faith, no matter what alternatives the enemy would like us to consider. We make sacrifices because we love the Lord and we value the sacrifices he has made for us.
In the second reading, St. Paul explains what Christ has done for us. In the disobedience of Adam (cf. first reading), one transgression left us all wounded and prone to sin, under the reign of death. But Jesus Christ took on our wounded nature and restored it. His obedience leads to our justification: “Through the obedience of the one” – that is, Jesus Christ – “the many will be made righteous.” Jesus’ obedience in the desert makes it possible for the many – all of us – to overcome temptation. Jesus’ greatest act of obedience and love is his gift of himself on the Cross, which we will commemorate in the Paschal Triduum of Holy Week. We will celebrate the victory over sin and death which our Savior has won by his sacrifice. Our sacrifices in Lent are paths to share in his victory, already hinted at in his victory over Satan in the desert.
Today’s readings also point to one other Person, the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who led Jesus into the desert and united him in perfect unity with the will of the Father. In the desert, Jesus was hungry, but he was never alone. The same Holy Spirit is leading us through Lent to draw closer to Christ in the desert and to commit ourselves to following him in sacrifice. In praying today’s Psalm, we recall the vital role of the Spirit in our desire for a “clean heart” and a “steadfast spirit”: “A clean heart create for me, O God, / and a steadfast spirit renew within me. / Cast me not out from your presence, / and your Holy Spirit take not from me.”
How have I experienced the desolation that arises during the desert journey of Lent? How will I prepare myself for the many temptations that the devil will suggest to me during the next forty days? What practices help me recognize and reject the subtle tactics of the devil?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 22, no. 3. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.