March 9, 2025 Homily (1st Sunday of Lent)

March 24, 2025

First Sunday of Lent

Lent begins with a reflection on the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The Church assigns temptation stories to the beginning of Lent because temptations come to everybody, not only to Jesus, and we seem almost genetically programmed to yield to them

Spiritual Training Camp for Lent: Jesus prepared himself for his ministry by a period of fasting, praying, and strengthening himself against temptation.  How will we use the time of Lent for our spiritual training camp?  Lent is a time to practice the use of God’s word as our defensive weapon against temptation.  What spiritual training plans will we put into practice during Lent?  Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are traditional.  Today’s passage from the Gospel might suggest that we spend a few minutes each day in reading Scripture.  Are we trying to live by “bread alone?” We might write a plan for each week of Lent.  Here are some suggestions to get us started:

First Week I will . . . spend some time reading the Gospels or the Psalms.

Second Week I will . . . fast from foods, unhealthy for body and soul.

Third Week I will . . . volunteer at a soup kitchen, thrift shop, or day care center.

Fourth Week I will . . . learn a few lines of Scripture by heart.

Fifth Week I will . . . give clothes, money, or possessions to the poor.

Sixth Week I will . . . participate in Holy Week liturgies

Satan or God?  A priest was ministering to a man on his deathbed. “Renounce Satan!” said the priest. ”No,” said the dying man.  “I say, renounce the devil and his works!” No,” the man repeats.  “And why not, I ask you in the name of all that is holy?”  “Because,” said the dying man, “I want to wait until I see where I’m heading, before I start annoying anybody.”

 We need to be on guard against veiled temptations: Let us remember that even Spirit-filled, sanctified and vibrant Christians are still subject to the Original Temptation of Eve: “You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil” (Gn 3:5).

1) We are tempted to give ourselves godlike status and treat others as our subordinates. Consequently,

2) we resent every limitation of our freedom and vigorously deny the fact that we are dependent on God and on others.

 3) We don’t want to be responsible for the consequences of our choices.

 4) We are also tempted to accomplish honorable goals by less-than-honorable means such as the use of lotteries to help schools, or casinos to provide jobs for Native Americans, thus setting traps for the most vulnerable members of our society. These are veiled temptations to accomplish good ends by bad means. We are also tempted to fraternize with people of questionable character.

 5) Our temptation to adopt pop culture in liturgical services can ultimately lead to trivialization of the worship service.


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