Saint Rita Catholic Church and School in Webster, NY - An Introduction to Sunday's Scripture Readings

“You Shall Not Put The Lord, Your God, To The Test”

At the beginning of Lent, the Church reminds us of Jesus’ doing spiritual combat with the devil in the wilderness, reminding us that Lent is a time for warfare. Through our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we do battle with the forces of the devil in our lives, and with God’s grace, defeat him decisively.

In our First Reading (Deuteronomy 25:4-10) Moses spoke to the Israelites at the end of their 40 years of wandering in the desert. He instituted the harvest festival of the first fruits (Sukkot). It was a ritual thanking God for His provision and a retelling of the story of God's delivery from their slavery in Egypt. Once in the promised land, this was to be performed each year as part of the harvest festival. In many ways, we memorialize these same stories in our liturgies today. Our Church wants to make sure that we, as a people of God, never forget God’s mercy and deliverance.

In our Epistle reading (Romans 10:8-13), Saint Paul instructs us that salvation is a two-part process. It is a process of the believing in our heart and of confessing with our mouth. Both are necessary. The confessing is the evidence of the believing. Everyone who calls on the Lord (Jew or Gentile) will be saved.

Our Gospel reading (Luke 4:1-13) is the story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert, just after His baptism and before His public ministry began. After a period of 40 days of prayer and fasting, Jesus was spiritually enriched but physically weak and hungry. And enter then, the devil to tempt Jesus in His time of weakness. Jesus' temptation and struggle were real in His humanity, but His triumph over the evil one was the divine perfection we all strive for and the example we follow.

The three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness represent the same three temptations of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—Lust of the flesh (good food), Lust of the eyes (desire for possessions) and Pride of life (sinful lust for power and wisdom). We confront this same “Threefold Concupiscence” during our Lenten journey. It is our opportunity, with God’s grace, to banish them and their merchant, Satan, from our lives.