Reflection for March 5, First Sunday of Lent; Matthew 4:1-11

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test." Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve."

Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

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Reflection:

Do you fight temptation when it comes to you or you allow it to conquer you?

Thinking that he would be able to temp Jesus the devil said: "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." Jesus rebuked the devil and said in reply, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Jesus was in control even if he was hungry. Relating this with the many temptations that comes to us, how easily do we loss control of our minds and values when we are tempted by  the devil? We have to remember that we begin to commit sin the moment we allow the devil to temp us.  

On the second temptation: how often do we dare God to do this and that for us so that we would believe in Him. We should not dare test God, we simply have to believe even without seeing what we believe for it is an  indication of steadfast faith.  

The third temptation is towards material things like money and material possessions. Isn’t that sometimes we worship money? Money per se doesn't make us sin; it’s our greed for money that transforms us to become sinful.

During this lent we will surely be encountering many temptations from the devil. We simply have to refuse every temptation that the devil dangles before us no matter how attractive. Otherwise we allow the devil to control us and that is very dangerous. – Marino J. Dasmarinas