LENT I
Reflecting upon St. Luke’s Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent, my thoughts took me to a place where I began to reminisce about the past when the Spirit of God led me into the wilderness. It was a time of resistance; it was a place that I would rather not go. Something or someone had a hold on me. Do you know what I mean?
Whatever hold this was, it blurred my vision, and I did not want to listen. The intensity of confusion, emptiness and aloneness just kept escalating. Then a period of desperation followed and finally a move to willingly accept entry into that desert space and face the truth of what was holding me in captivity. I recall how God was trying to get my attention. I heard a voice gently saying, “Stay with Me on this one. Okay?” Initially my response was a bit weak; all I could do or say was “okay!” In that moment, my life began to change.
In today’s Gospel passage, we see Jesus full of the Spirit being led into the wilderness and tempted three times by Satan. His identity, authority, and source of sustenance are being called into question and Satan attempts to manipulate Jesus in three areas. He wants to redefine Jesus’ identity, get him to abdicate his authority from God, and to lure him into acquiring a source of sustenance that is unfulfilling. The bottom line is that nobody and nothing could separate him from God alone because he knew who he was and for whom he was offering his life.
“nothing could separate him from God alone because he knew who he was and for whom he was offering his life.”
I have heard that temptations are necessary for spiritual growth. Once we deal with temptation and overcome whatever is being resisted, we can experience spiritual transformation. That is what happened to me before I could recognize certain cravings- cravings that we all have from time to time such as the need for recognition, acquisition of power, prestige and possessions and desires of all kinds. Jesus himself had desires! All through his public ministry he had to grapple with his identity as Son of God and testified to the leaders of the synagogue that he was not a political hero, miracle worker or leader in conventional ways. Instead, He moved past seeking validation, physical desires, ambition, glory, and fame.
This Season is a graced time to check-in again and to deepen our personal and communal identity and rightful use of power and source of sustenance with which Jesus was tempted . If ever there was a time in our world to move beyond whatever potentially enslaves us, the time is NOW. We know our worth and we know where we belong. There are so many voices crying to be heard and so many pleas for justice.
Continuing on the path of moving with love, I am inspired by our congregation’s recent commitment to the world. In this day and age of complexity we made the following statement,
“Immersed in Life and Love we embrace this moment of possibility as a graced path to Transformation.”
What a tall order! This time, I’m ever so grateful to God to say, okay; I’m staying with you on this one!
-Sister Linda Parent, csj