“FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, JESUS RETURNED FROM THE JORDAN AND WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE DESERT FOR FORTY DAYS, TO BE TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL.” LK 4:1-13
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Prayer Prompt before reading LK 4:1-13: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.
Today, Jesus teaches us that temptation and sin can be resisted. With each temptation of the Devil in the desert, Jesus teaches us how to resist the Devil’s temptation.
1. With Scripture-read the “Good News” daily to strengthen your faith and gain knowledge of God. The more you keep your eyes set on Truth the stronger you will be to fight Satan’s temptations. To know God is to love God and hate the Devil. “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” MT 12:30 This is our identity as a baptized Christian, love God and reject Satan. Make reading Scripture a habit (do it over and over daily until you can’t live without it).
God’s Word is living and effective. Coming to the Scriptures each day reminds us we are loved by a Father who keeps His promises, saved by a Savior, and guided by the Spirit. This relationship of love is the core of every fiber of our being. They are why we exist, are sustained, and called to love.
2. With Fasting-fasting teaches us to die to self. CCC 2342 says, “Self-mastery is a long and exacting work.” Temperance teaches us to fast. Fasting is fascinating. It sucks, its hard, but when we fast from an appetite our body desires, it is amazing how temperate we become in all areas of bodily pleasure. The reward is joy. We realize we do not have to give into every desire. We have an amazing power within us, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, self-control. This is absolutely necessary since another part of our identity is one of a fallen human nature.
This is one of the best ways to overcome a sinful habit. Fasting is not just for Lent. We are called to fast anytime we are trying to overcome a sinful habit. It is our Christian duty to fast every Friday throughout the year to remind us that Jesus died for us. He gave up His flesh, so we need to give up our flesh (a desire of the flesh). This is one of the least practiced in our modern culture which keeps so many of us in misery and chained to sin and addiction.
3. Humility-recognize that we need God, more importantly His grace. Submit your will to God.
There are only two kinds of people on judgment day, “Thy Will be done” and “my will be done”. –Peter Kreeft
God is big and we are small. Jesus conquered sin and death, we can too if we submit our will to Him, receive His life (grace) in the Sacraments, pray without ceasing, and live a virtuous life.
So, basically Satan is trying to find out who Jesus is. The first temptation is trying to get him to reveal his humanity, the second, his divinity, and third to prove that he is the true Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus is all three, but it is not time to reveal this until his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
St. Augustine explains, “To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul and with all one’s efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence).” 75
CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) 1811 It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ’s gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow his call to love what is good and shun evil. (2015)
We see humanity’s stupidity and ignorance everyday, more importantly we see it in our own lives. We know we are not supposed to sin, but we do it anyway. We love our favorite sins. We have amnesia. Just like the movie “Groundhog Day”, we wake up and keep doing the same thing we did the day before.
If we are really honest with ourselves, our heart is divided. Stop resisting Jesus and give Him your whole heart. Jesus is the answer to the amnesia, to the hopelessness of doing the same thing over even when it is sinful. Free your heart from the chains of sin and live in joy (God).
Upon waking, we must get our minds right and focused on salvation. The goal of Lent is to keep our eyes fixed on the Crucifix as we journey up Calvary hill. Keep the end in mind with our eyes set on heaven with an “Our Father”. Take control of the free gift of life God gave you, make a daily habit of reading the Scriptures to gain knowledge of God and His promise of salvation, fast, be humble, frequent His graces and love. St. Augustine reminds us, “Our hearts will be restless until they rest in Him.”
Today’s challenge: Set an alarm on your phone to spend time with God in the same place at the same time EVERY day, download Laudate app, iPieta app, Hallow app on your phone (or your parents if you don’t have a phone) and use it EVERY day, fast, be humble and give yourself totally to God realizing it is the only way to salvation, an undivided heart. Suffer joyfully as Jesus did on the Cross for humanity!!!!
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will live again!)
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