St. Norbert's Church - Sunday Reflections

Christ is tempted in the desert. The account of Saint Luke gives us an understanding of the types of temptations which Jesus experienced. They are the same temptations that you and I experience from time to time. When someone offers us an easy way to have food to eat, rather than using our own energies to obtain our daily bread, it is tempting. So many people today get addicted to gambling in some form or another, always hoping to win and no longer have to work.

Other people want to be well known and admired by others. All we have to do is look at the cult of popularity in much of modern culture. Sometimes the popular people really don't do much, but they gain a following and young people want to be like them. This also can be a temptation. Is it wrong? Not necessarily. It depends on what the person does with such popularity. Few seem to follow any moral values.

The last temptation is the strongest. It invites Jesus to show others that He is God. This is not the way of the Lord. Today we find a similar kind of temptation in looking for miracles. All of us want miracles. When we see someone we love suffering, we would like to have a miracle. When we ourselves need something, we would like to have a miracle. When we don't get a miracle, sometimes we no longer believe in God or we think that God does not love us.

Our faith is not about having enough food, about having the admiration of others or about receiving miracles. Our faith is about believing in a God who loves us, the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The first reading today is from the Book of Deuteronomy. It speaks to us about the purpose of Lent: giving praise to God for all His creation and for all that He has done in our lives. In Lent we must take the time to understand all that He has done for us. As we begin to understand His love for us and His saving acts in our personal lives, we will worship Him with joy and gladness.

The Letter to the Romans gives us a deeply important teaching today: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So often we get concerned about our unworthiness, our sinfulness, our lack of faithfulness to God. These are indeed good concerns. At the heart of our faith is believing in God and asking Him to change us. We are so often completely powerless in our own lives because of habits that we have acquired over the years and because of situations in which we find ourselves and don't know how to get out of them. We can call on the Lord and He will save us�but always in His time frame.

The Gospel returns us to the temptations of Christ. Jesus was truly tempted because He is truly human like us in all things except sin. Thus we can have confidence that He understands us.

May this Lent bring us deeper into the mysteries of Jesus Christ our Lord and help us deepen our faith also in His holy Church. May we know the presence of Christ in our personal lives and call upon Him with confidence.