Gospel: Mark
1:12-15
The
Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty
days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to
him.
After
John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: This
is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe
in the gospel.
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Reflection:
What is
the purpose of temptation/s? It’s to test a person’s endurance against Satan
and his accompanying offer of attractive sin/s. Many of us fall prey to this temptation
because we are spiritually weak and this is primarily caused by our not being always
wired with God. This is the only reason why we fall into temptation: Our
missing or weak connection with God.
What made
Jesus survive His forty days temptation in the wilderness by Satan? It was His
close connection with God. Jesus achieved this connection with God through His
prayerful life. This is the reason why Jesus survived His own test of temptation
by the devil in the desert. Jesus was tempted by the devil three times and He
subsequently rejected it also three times.
Gold is
purified by severe fire to eliminate its impurities we humans are also purified
through temptations to make us pure and worthy before God. We are made more
worthy before the eyes of God once we are able to pass through and defeat
temptations.
As we go
through our own forty days journey this lent we will not obviously be brought
by satan to the desert like what he did with Jesus. But certainly satan will also be at our side
every once in a while he would try to temp us to sin against God and our
fellowmen.
Let us
not give-in to satan’s temptation no matter how attractive for when we succumb
to it we sin and we distance ourselves from the love of God. The devil is very
creative and devious he will do everything to make us sin. The devil will
sugarcoat sin so that we would bite upon it and if we succumb our very life
would now be in trouble for we would be under the devil’s control already.
Some of
us would say to avoid the temptation of the devil is to already defeat it. No,
for when we avoid temptation we are only prolonging our own agony and
connection with the devil. Let us stare the devil and his temptation in the eye and when we are eyeball to eyeball
already let us reject him by our rock solid faith in God.
How do
you defeat your own temptation/s? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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