Sunday Gospel Reflection
1st Sunday of Lent
Luke 4:1-13 | March 6, 2022
Wholeness in Faith, in Jesus
by: Carlo S. Dureza
We humans are broken. This is a constant. Nothing in this world can alter our brokenness. We embody a deep-set scourge wherein the inclination to sin resides permanently within our person. We endure a woundedness caused by the evil that has permeated our souls. This saps our strength, exhausts our energies until we fall, that is, until we fall to sin.
Our wounded nature makes us prone to temptation. The devil’s wiles lurk around and within us, waiting to pounce heavily until we are crushed. In the Gospel, the devil brazenly tempted Jesus. However, his machinations were to no avail. This fallen angel failed miserably. It is indeed wonderous to note that though Christ was divine in spirit, He was also human in the flesh like we are. He could have succumbed to Satan, but He did not.
We are not divine like Jesus, but His spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit, our Helper, keeps our Savior alive in our hearts. Yes, we are weak, tempted, and bite at sin’s bait. But as Christians, God’s Spirit is implanted in us by our sonship to Him through the sacrament of Baptism. We can resist the enemy.
As children of the Father, let us put our full trust in Him. May we allow His love to build us, to make us whole. Let us courageously drive out the devil’s temptations with our faith in the risen Lord who redeemed us by His death.
Evil will always attempt to defeat our spirit by tarnishing our relationship with Jesus. It will always try to weaken our faith and shatter our wholeness by enticing us to wickedness by depending on the false and quick pleasures of the passing things of life (turning stone into bread) instead of enriching ourselves with God’s Word alone. It will tempt us to bow to ambition, grandeur, greed, pride, and worldly wealth (worshiping Satan above all), to make God equal to ourselves by putting Him to a test (daring God to prove Himself and His salvation by risking our lives to emptiness), and to become blind to our lowliness before the Lord, doubting Him instead as if He is not the most powerful of all.
May temptation not destroy us and shake our faith in our Lord Jesus. Let us strengthen our faith by inviting God in our lives as He alone can make us whole.
Happy Sunday! God bless!
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Artwork: “Jesus Tempted” by Carl Heinrich Bloch
