Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Glory to you, O Lord.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: At that time, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for 40 days and 40 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, 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 said to him, all these I shall give to you if you 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 the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
We turn a certain direction when we hear somebody call our name.
We turn to see what a particular noise is behind us.
We turn things over in our mind.
We turn the corner, we say, and we turn over a new leaf.
We turn the house upside down to find an item that we've misplaced that we want right now.
We turn our cell phones off when we come into church.
On a serious note, in Hebrew, the word repentance means to turn.
And Lent is our season of repentance.
We turn away from sin.
We turn toward God.
We begin Lent on this first weekend with two stories. The story of Adam and Eve and how sin came into the world.
Adam and Eve turned to greed.
They wanted more.
They wanted to understand everything.
They wanted to be like God.
They turned to selfishness.
They blamed the devil.
They blamed God.
And finally, they blamed one another.
The story of Jesus temptation by the devil also moves us quickly into this season of repentance. This season of. Of Turning.
Jesus had had a powerful experience at his baptism when God declares, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Jesus was tempted to have all his hunger satisfied. His hunger for food.
Matthew says he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and was hungry. The understatement of the year he hungered for.
Or the devil tempted him rather, for power and control.
And what does Jesus do?
He turns to the word of God.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus feeds hungry people with physical and spiritual food.
And from the cross, he also turns to God.
Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing.
Temptation and repentance, of course, are part of our lives. We know that, like Adam and Eve, we can turn to selfishness and greed.
We want more and more and more. Never have, sometimes never satisfied.
We can run and hide it wasn't me.
We can blame someone else.
That's easy to do.
Or we can turn to God's word for strength. We can turn to one another for support and encouragement because we need one another. We're not the Lone Ranger.
We need community.
We need one another's example and help.
Not just children, but all of us.
We can turn to Jesus teaching his example.
And we can turn to the traditions of our church, which we highlight at this time.
Prayer and fasting and almsgiving.
They don't have to be painful.
Lent is serious, but not grim. We take a good look at how we live. We take a good look at what really matters in our lives and help one another understand what. What really matters. Based on the word of God.
This is a holy season.
We celebrate the mysteries of our faith.
Life and death and resurrection.
Jesus story of faith is one that shows a sign of hope.
We're not doomed.
We're tempted but not overcome.
And Jesus story is a sign of faith, of victory.
An empty tomb, a promise of eternal life.
As someone once said, you won't get a better offer than that.
