The First Sunday of Lent we hear in the gospel of Luke that Jesus was “led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.”  This began a period of purification and preparation in Jesus’ life that was to entail fasting and prayer, as he readied himself to begin his mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God.  The tempting by the devil would test the perfect balance between the human nature of Jesus and his divine nature.  Fasting for forty days, eating nothing, would test the limits of the human nature of Jesus and praying for forty days would affirm the communion of love and grace that Jesus would experience in his divine nature.  This is a good place for us to begin our Lenten journey also.

    We see that it is the Spirit that leads Jesus into the desert.  It is the Holy Spirit that descends upon Jesus at the time of his baptism and allows him to hear the words of love that the Father speaks to him.  “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk 3,21f) It is in prayer that Jesus hears the loving voice of the Father.  We can be assured that the Spirit did not abandon Jesus there in the desert but would remain with him to be a source of comfort and strength.  The Spirit is the personal manifestation of the love of the Father for his Son Jesus.  Throughout his time of trial and temptation the Father’s love would accompany Jesus.  In the silence of the desert Jesus could listen to the still, small voice of the Spirit of the Father’s love that was always there speaking to him of the love and favor that God the Father had for him.  In his time of prayer Jesus would be nourished on the Word of God.  During our journey of Lent the Spirit also accompanies us and speaks God’s words to us.  Lent is a time of fasting and simplification of our lives, a time of greater focus, so that we can hear the voice of God speaking to us deep within our hearts.  

    As we see at the time of the Pentecost, the Spirit of God is like a “tongue of fire” that descends upon us and purifies us in love.  The fire of God’s love can be felt during the time of Lent and it is there to purify our desires and direct them to their true ends, a deeper communion with God through a union of our will with His through obedience.  Lent is a time that is given to us to purify our desires and create a little fire within our hearts so that we will truly desire the things of God’s Kingdom.  We turn our desires away from the things of the world and material goods and we seek more fervently the things of heaven and the greater spiritual gifts that come from the Father.  The journey of Lent teaches us that our true and deepest need is for God and that we will not be satisfied with anything less.  Jesus tells his disciples in the Bread of Life discourse:  “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.  The words I have spoken to you are  spirit and life.  But there are some of you who do not believe.” (Jn 6,63f)  The deep hunger of Jesus is to please the Father and to do his work as he tells his disciples at Jacob’s well:  “Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”  But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”  So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”  Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.” (Jn 4,31-34)

   We see at the beginning of our gospel reading that Jesus will be tempted during his forty days.  It is not the Spirit that tempts him but rather it is the devil.  James tells us in his letter to the Church, “No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.” (James 1,13f)  During our journey of Lent we are tempted by our desires and so we take upon ourselves various disciplines and sacrifices so that through fasting, abstinence and prayer we may turn our desires away from selfish, worldly desire and reorient them to a greater desire for a share in the divine life through holiness and grace.  May God bless us all in our journey through Lent and may we all persevere in our time of testing.