March 10, 2019 1st Sunday of Lent 1st Reading: Dt 26:4–10 2nd Reading: Rom 10:8–13 Gospel: Lk 4:1–13
Jesus was now full of Holy Spirit. As he returned from the Jordan, the Spirit led him into the desert where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. He did not eat anything during that time, and in the end he was hungry. The devil then said to him, “If you are son of God, tell this stone to turn into bread.” But Jesus answered, “Scripture says: People cannot live on bread alone.” Then the devil took him up to a high place and showed him in a flash all the nations of the world. And he said to Jesus, “I can give you power over all the nations and their wealth will be yours, for power and wealth have been delivered to me and I give them to whom I wish. All this will be yours provided you worship me.” But Jesus replied, “Scripture says: You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.”Then the devil took him up to Jerusalem and set him on the highest wall of the Temple; and he said, “If you are son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: God will order his angels to take care of you and again: They will hold you in their hands, lest you hurt your foot on the stones.” But Jesus replied, “It is written: You shall not challenge the Lord your God.” When the devil had exhausted every way of tempting Jesus he left him, to return another time.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Temptation is not a sin until the tempter succeeds in getting the person to react with malice. One actually has a choice. He can remain righteous if, steadfast in his faith, he manages temptation meritoriously. Jesus shows us how.
While he was fasting for forty days in the desert the devil came to tempt him three times. The devil started with things that didn’t appear sinful. Turning stones into bread, for example is not bad. But when the devil suggested it to Jesus, Jesus turned it down. By turning it down Jesus is telling us that it is never safe to transact with the devil. Even good things coming from the devil ultimately scathe the soul. One can never trust the devil. Give him a square inch and he will run away with a hectare.
The best way to manage temptation is to cut the devil to the quick. The idiom “cut someone to the quick” literally means slicing the flesh of someone through the underlying layers of flesh, or to the bone. No ifs and buts. Skin the devil alive at the earliest opportunity. The devil will fight back, of course, because he is powerful. But when we pray and fast as Jesus did, we are armed with the sharpest knives to slice his flesh to the bone! –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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