First Sunday of the Lent

Lent is a pilgrimage of an old man to the new man, from Adam to Jesus. It is a journey of a beloved son, the prodigal son, a return to the father's house, longing to meet the Father who has been waiting for us since creation. The first reading reminds us of the eternal rupture, the death of which God has already warned that man refused to believe it. The evil one who knew human weakness and ignorance decided and struck the man, not by the main door, but by the back door. The devil destroys us particularly when we are week and present the lies in the name of our good. Man believed that he will become like God, capable to distinguish between good and evil. He didn’t understand the price he had to give.

In the incarnation, in Jesus, the new Man is born, an obedient Son, who will give His life for the salvation of the humanity. God restored a new covenant, a new life in His only Son for humanity. Henceforth, being a man, will no longer be considered synonymous with weakness, but the man par excellence will be the image par excellence of God. Man will bear in him the image of God in dignity, and by his holiness that partakes in the divine holiness, he will sanctify himself and through him the humanity.

There, man begins to recognize in confidence and humility not only his limit and his weakness, but also the generosity and mercy of God. He will discover the gift that God has offered in Christ, especially his incarnation, his death and also his resurrection. In His death God offers the resurrection. When man recognizes this gift of God and when he finds himself with his weakness before this goodness of God, it is then that he addresses himself to God in confidence; Have mercy on us, for we have sinned. He will pray,

Give me the joy of being saved;

That the generous spirit sustains me.

Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall announce thy praise

In his human weakness man will discover the divine strength.

We know the temptation of Jesus by heart. Driven by the Holy Spirit, God delivers himself before the evil one to be tempted. The evil one sought the moment when Jesus was weak and struck him when Jesus was hungry. These three temptations cover every kind of temptation. The first is a carnal or charnel temptation, a simple human need, the man before himself. He will do anything to please himself and nourish his will. It is here man applies the liberty and freedom. It is here man refuses to see the need of others. He becomes very much ego centric.  He represents the rich man before the poor Lazar who was hungry and dying. To be liberated from this ego centric self and disproportionate consumeristic world, Jesus offers us the Word of God. We should learn to listen every word which comes from the mouth of God. This is the word of life, the word which liberates the humanity.

The second is a temptation of identity, honour, the man before the other. If you are the son of God, prove to us. Many of us are trying to be another, like to be tiger while remaining cat or trying to be cat while remaining tiger. We have honoured ourselves with many false identity. We are tempted to prove ourselves and establish our identity. Basically, we find difficult to accept ourselves as we are, our limits and weakness. Thus we create lots of problem in our inter-relational behaviours, for us and for others. We are always in conflicts within ourselves.  To overcome this Jesus offers us, 'the recognition of the presence of God. We are children of God. He is there in silence and protecting us without imposing His presence. It is important that we believe in this divine presence and his warmth accompaniment.

And the third temptation is power, the man facing God. An ambitious man. He likes to overpower everything. He likes to know everything. No patience and humility. He likes to climbs up the mountain to measure the sky and deep into the sea to master it. Many at times he fails to see others, particularly those who are in need of him. He goes alone to dominate and manipulate. He refuses to share his knowledge and cognisance. To overcome this temptation, Jesus offers us fidelity, faithful to the will of the Father. Fully anchored in God and in His goodness. A parfait humility and obedience to the divine goodness.

My friends, Like Jesus we are always invited to choose. Everyone has his spiritual struggle and he gives himself the means to fight them. Like Jesus, one must know how to observe, learn to discern and to decide. We certainly need the courage to put them into practice.

Jesus made a journey to the desert animated by the Holy Spirit so that we would make the same journey, from a simple humanity to divinity, from earthly pleasure oriented life  to paradise, a joy and peace oriented life, simple material world to spiritual existence. Jesus has already shown the way. Shall we walk with Jesus?  By walking with Him, shall we learn from Him during this Lent, to situate ourselves as sons of God, able to rely totally on our Father?