Luke 4, 1-13:
Sunday, 6th March 2022 (1st T C C C)
There are times in our lives when we have to choose between two options. Deep down inside we know which is the right one, but we find more than enough reasons to choose the other, either because it is more attractive to us, or because it requires less of us, or because it gives us a better image, or because it is less of a sacrifice…. It is the temptation. The Evil One presents us with the other option in such a way that we feel compelled to choose it. We fall into the trap. We allow ourselves to be seduced by the easy, the immediate, the pleasurable.
Like Adam and Eve in paradise. Like everyone throughout history. Well, not everyone. Not Jesus. Although he was like us, felt like us, struggled and suffered like us, he was very clear about what God was asking of him. Jesus was tempted in the way he carried out his mission, to do it “in another way”, more spectacular and better received by the people of his time. But this was not the will of God, who sent him to become a man, like us, to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. His mission was to lead him to the cross, and he sought no other way than to show us that God knows the hardness of this life, and that in difficult moments he asks the best of us. And he listened to his word and not to that of the Evil One. He fought and overcame temptation.
For yet another year, Lent is the opportunity to follow the path that our heart points us to, that the Spirit of God urges us to follow. Let it be the Word of God that shows us the way and gives us the strength and confidence to choose the right one. Let it be a Word that leads us along the paths of PEACE in these days when we need it so much.
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
Does the Word of God guide you?
