The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
A decade ago, I stood in a robust stone church glimmering with candlelight in the waning moments of the Easter Vigil as balsam-scented chrism was spread on my forehead in the shape of the cross: I was confirmed as a Roman Catholic. This journey, which wove its way through years of skepticism and doubt before finding renewal and faith, was at once an end and a beginning. As I was leaving the church that evening, a friend fed me a warning: Holding strong to the faith would only get harder in every moment after this profound conversion.
In today's Gospel, it's striking that Jesus's temptation in the desert comes after he is "filled with the Spirit”—indeed, he was "led by the spirit into the desert." Here is a direct rebuttal to the allure of the modern world, which tells us that comfort is the telos of human endeavor. Our Lord Jesus Christ is led by the Spirit not toward an air-conditioned luxury suite but toward the desert, where he is greeted by the devil. Thereafter, he is tempted by the core frailties of fallen man, according to St. Ambrose: lust of the flesh, eagerness for power, and pride. Jesus Christ, fully divine and fully human, felt the painful depth of these desires even as he overcame them perfectly.
In considering the role of temptation in the Christian life, we may err in two distinct ways.
First, we could think that temptation is a sign of spiritual weakness, when in fact it is a sign of spiritual strength. For, as St. Hilary notes, "The temptations of the devil assail those principally who are sanctified, for he desires, above all, to overcome the holy." Thus, it is not surprising that the Lord is tempted so thoroughly, for he is maximally holy.
Second, we may feel that we'd be better off if we weren't tempted, when the truth is that it is only through challenges to our faith that we strengthen it. For as St. John Chrysostom observes, "Not only Christ was led into the desert by the Spirit, but all God's children that have the Holy Ghost. For it is not enough for them to sit idle; the Holy Ghost urges them to endeavor to do something great." Our spiritual greatness emerges when we emulate the Lord—eschewing worldly comforts and battling temptation in a spiritual desert, ascending closer to our Lord with each rejection of lust, power, and pride.
So the grand truth as we embark on the journey of Lent is this: the Spirit is leading us into the desert, where the same Spirit gives us the resolve to endure on the path to spiritual greatness. May the Lord walk with us all through these holy days of fasting, penance, and almsgiving.
Daniel Gray is a teacher and writer living in Central Texas. An adult convert to Catholicism, he loves his faith-filled and inspiring wife, Regina, his toddler son, Ezra, and his squishy daughter, Eloise. He writes short reflections on the Catholic life at Backward Progress.