Joe Connolly
When our children were much younger, my wife and I spent a lot of time taking them to other kid’s birthday parties. We’d hang out by the chips and dip, mingling with other parents and keeping a watchful eye on our kids, making sure they were polite and well behaved. Our expectations seemed modest--say please and thank you, play nicely with the other guests, don’t take too much cake, etc.
As our kids grew older, we stopped going with them and would simply drop them off at the party. I remember wondering if they’d actually do all the things we’d tried to teach them. It was a sobering thought to realize that while they were alone at these parties their behavior would reveal something about them—and by extension something about us, too.
I was reminded of this when I read today’s Gospel from Luke, the familiar story of Jesus in the desert. This is a story that reveals something about Jesus. His experience—forty days fasting in the harsh and barren desert while being tempted by the devil—presages the contemporary template for Lent. As the devil repeatedly tempts Jesus there is the constant invitation to deny His identity as the Son of God. Yet each time, Jesus prevails, revealing to Himself (and us!) who He is.
Today, we find ourselves at the beginning of a forty-day experience of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Like Jesus, we too will face temptations. In the desert, things are not always as they seem. We can experience a mirage—seeing things that are shifting and illusory yet believing they are real. That is the challenge we all face during Lent and always— to turn away from all that is false, all that keeps us from becoming more fully who we are called to be.
In the days that lie ahead, can we use this holy season of Lent to satisfy our deepest, true desire, and to turn towards God? Can we think of the temptations we face as not an end in themselves, but rather an opportunity to reveal who we are ?
