Feb. 22, 2015: 1st Sunday of Lent B

Click to hear audio homily
During Lent, a priest went to visit an elderly woman from his church who had just had an operation. As he was sitting there talking with her, he noticed a bowl of peanuts on the table next to the bed. Although he promised himself that he was not going to snack during Lent, he couldn’t resist the temptation and began to eat the peanuts. When it was time for him to leave, he noticed he had eaten all the peanuts. The priest said" I'm sorry I ate all of your peanuts." She replied, "That's okay Father, I already sucked all of the chocolate off of them."

Here is a sobering thought. We will never be free of trials and temptations as long as our earthly life lasts. Therefore, we should always be on our guard against temptations, always praying that our enemy, the devil, who never sleeps but constantly looks for someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8), will not catch us off guard. No one in this world is so perfect or holy as not to have temptations sometimes. We can never be entirely free of them. Many try to fly away from temptations only to fall more deeply into them; for you cannot win a battle by mere flight. It is only by patience and humility that you will be strengthened against the enemy.

This is how temptation works: first we have a thought, followed by strong imagination, then the pleasure and evil emotions, and finally consent. This is how the enemy gains full admittance, because he was not resisted at the outset. The slower we are to resist, the weaker we daily become and the stronger the enemy is against us.

Why does the devil tempt us so often? What’s in it for him? Let’s look at what happened to Jesus. The temptations from the devil came immediately after his baptism. At his baptism, Jesus received a mission from the Father--the mission was to inaugurate the kingdom of God. The temptations he experienced in the desert were an attempt to distort that mission. The Devil tempts us to distort the mission that the Father gives us. Yet, God allows temptations so that we may grow in our virtue to choose good over evil. Every time we overcome temptation, we become stronger spiritually. How can we become saints without temptations?

We should not be discouraged when tempted, but turn in fervent prayer to God. In His infinite goodness and compassion, God will help us in all our needs. Jesus achieved victory over temptation by prayer, fasting, and obedience to the word of God. We too can achieve victory if we endure patiently in the time of temptation or adversity.