1st Reading, Deut. 26: 4 - 10; 2nd Reading, Rom. 10: 8 - 13; Gospel, Luke 4: 1 - 13
Dear brothers and sisters,
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).
BEWARE OF THE ANTICS OF THE DEVIL
Today's Gospel (Lk. 4:1-13) is the account of Jesus Christ's temptation by the Devil after He fasted for 40 days. The Devil did not tempt Him with the things that He didn't need. He was hungry after fasting and, therefore, needed food. He has the power to do all things because He is God.
The Devil started with the phrase: "If you are the Son of God…." Jesus knew His identity and was not in doubt of it. Therefore, He doesn't have to prove anything to the Devil and does not have to obey him either. Through His action, Jesus taught us to beware of the antics of the Devil, who will not stop at anything to get the children of God. Christians should be encouraged by the resoluteness of their master, Jesus Christ.
LET'S KEEP IN MIND GOD'S LOVE AND GENEROSITY
The memory and remembrance of what God has done for us is and should be the driving force for our faith and generosity. In the first reading (Deut. 26:4-10), Moses spoke to the people and reminded them of all God had done for them, from assisting Abraham, who was a wandering Aramean, to God's mighty deliverance in Egypt and eventually settling them in the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses challenged them to keep the memory of this great act of God's deliverance and mighty work alive. This part of their history will challenge them to gratitude and appreciation.
To concretize this gesture of gratitude and appreciation to God, the people shall offer to the altar of God through the Priest the basket of the first fruits of the products of the soil. Thus, the act of giving to God is in appreciation of God's favors, goodness, and generosity. God began the work of providing for His people, and whatever the people of God give to God is only an act of gratitude.
God's merciful and redemptive act did not stop with the "old Israelites," the Israelites of the time of Moses. In time, God sent His only Son for the salvation of the world. As the scripture says, "For God so love the world that he sent his only Son, …not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn. 3:16-17). St. Paul tells us that no one who believes in Jesus Christ will be put to shame, and anyone who calls on His name will be saved, as we read in the second reading. Thus, God's generosity is made manifest in the promise of salvation to all who call upon the name of Jesus Christ, Jews and Gentiles alike. Through Jesus Christ, the new Israelites, the new people of God, are inaugurated.
The period of Lent is a special period of reflection on our salvation history. It is the period of remembering and reliving the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the period of prayer, penance, fasting, and abstinence in appreciation to Jesus Christ for all He passed through for the salvation of humanity. Like Moses reminded and challenged the Israelites of old to commit to memory everything God had done for them, the Church is asking us, the new Israelites, during this Lenten season and beyond, to commit to memory and remember and appreciate our salvation history, for it is the greatest act of love and mercy, "for no one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends (Jn. 15:13).