Every year we begin Lent with one of the accounts of the temptation of the Lord. The account this year is taken from the Gospel of Luke. Forty is an important number in the Bible. It usually refers to a period of preparation. For example, Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days before he received the Law of God.  When we consider the 40 days of Lent, we focus on preparing for Easter. That is one reason for Lent, but only one. We are also preparing ourselves for the full sharing in Jesus’ Resurrected Life that will take place when we pass from this life to the next. We are preparing for eternal life. That is why during Lent we need to consider our personal battles against evil. As human beings, we will always be confronted with the temptation to do wrong. As long as we have human bodies we are going to be tempted to seek joy in places where the Lord is not found. If you get to the end of the day and can honestly say, “I had no temptations of any kind today,” you should take your pulse. You are probably dead! Jesus himself was tempted to accept the pleasures of the world rather than remain united to the Father. One of the problems we have, though, is that we live in a society that gives little weight to temptation. Instead, it suggests that whatever we do is acceptable as long as, supposedly, no one gets hurt. This is the lie that claims that there is such a thing as a victimless crime. Many of us buy into an additional lie of society that it is psychologically unhealthy to deny yourself. This is not true. When we fall for this psycho babel temptation, we are really saying that doing evil is a good thing. We are falling for the initial temptation of the devil in Genesis. “Do it and don’t worry about God. It’ll be good for you.” Taken to its logical conclusion, this is also saying that there should be no morality of any kind or level in society. Everybody should do whatever they want whenever they want to do it. People should not have to live together in a way that respects each other and their Creator. Of course, we could decide that others should follow the laws of morality, as long as we are not held to the same moral principals. In which case we condemn ourselves to hypocrisy. Society also tries to convince us that human beings are too weak to combat temptation. This leads some parents to insult their children by expecting them to behave like animals when they become teenagers, or leave home for college. These are the parents who provide alcohol for the Teen’s parties or give their children the opportunity for sexual immorality, or put their daughters on birth control because, they argue, “They are going to have sex anyway.” These parents are basically saying that their children cannot resist temptation, so they provide the temptation for them. They don’t consider the fact that when parents facilitate sin, they carry a deeper guilt than their children for the sin and have more for which they will need to answer to God. I often tell the young people that they are not animals, that they have the dignity of being sons and daughters of God. They have the right to demand that others respect their dignity. We have the power to resist sin, to defeat the temptation. But we have to want to resist it. We have to be determined to do the Will of God. Jesus was determined to do the will of the Father. It is great, wonderful, that so many people approach the sacrament of penance during Lent. Along with the forgiveness of sin, and perhaps even as important, the sacrament of penance strengthens our resolution to avoid sin. So, how determined are we to live the Life of the Lord? Do we really want to fight off temptation? Do we really want to be healed? These are the deep questions we ask ourselves at the beginning of Lent. We pray for strength during Lent, strength not just to fight off evil, but to want to fight it off •AE

Fr. Agustin will be out of town this weekend. He will resume his regular schedule on Saturday March 12, 2022. St. Dominic Catholic Church will continue in its regular Mass schedule both weekdays and weekends.

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Primer Domingo de Cuaresma (Ciclo C)

El relato de las tentaciones de Jesús no es un episodio cerrado, que acontece en un momento y en un lugar determinado. El evangelista advierte que «el demonio se marchó hasta otra ocasión». Las tentaciones volverán en la vida de Jesús y en la de sus seguidores. Quizá por esto mismo los evangelistas colocan el relato antes de narrar la actividad profética de Jesús. Sus seguidores han de conocer bien estas tentaciones desde el comienzo, pues son las mismas que ellos tendrán que superar a lo largo de los siglos, si no quieren desviarse de él. En la primera tentación se habla de pan. Jesús se resiste a utilizar a Dios para saciar su propia hambre: «no solo de pan vive el hombre». Lo primero para Jesús es buscar el reino de Dios y su justicia: que haya pan para todos. Por eso acudirá un día a Dios, pero será para alimentar a una muchedumbre hambrienta. También hoy nuestra tentación es pensar solo en nuestro pan y preocuparnos exclusivamente de nuestra crisis. Nos desviamos de Jesús cuando nos creemos con derecho a tenerlo, y olvidamos el drama, los miedos y sufrimientos de quienes carecen de casi todo En la segunda tentación se habla de poder y de gloria. Jesús renuncia a todo eso. No se postrará ante el diablo que le ofrece el imperio sobre todos los reinos del mundo: «Al Señor, tu Dios, adorarás». Jesús no buscará nunca ser servido sino servir. También hoy se despierta en algunos cristianos la tentación de mantener, como sea, el poder que ha tenido la Iglesia en tiempos pasados. Nos desviamos de Jesús cuando presionamos las conciencias tratando de imponer a la fuerza nuestras creencias. Al reino de Dios le abrimos caminos cuando trabajamos por un mundo más compasivo y solidario. En la tercera tentación se le propone a Jesús que descienda de manera grandiosa ante el pueblo, sostenido por los ángeles de Dios. Jesús no se dejará engañar: «No tentarás al Señor, tu Dios». Aunque se lo pidan, no hará nunca un signo espectacular del cielo. Solo hará signos de bondad para aliviar el sufrimiento y las dolencias de la gente. Nos desviamos de Jesús cuando confundimos nuestra propia ostentación con la gloria de Dios. Nuestra exhibición no revela la grandeza de Dios. Solo una vida de servicio humilde a los necesitados manifiesta su Amor a todos sus hijos. El verdadero poder, es el servicio, como tanto nos ha repetido el Santo Padre Francisco ¿estamos dispuestos a caminar por ahí? • AE