On this First Sunday of Lent, we are placed squarely in the desert with Jesus. This is not unfamiliar to the story of our faith. Repeatedly, God meets God’s people in the wilderness (e.g., John the Baptist, the Israelites, Moses, and now Jesus). The wilderness is not simply isolation; it is a place of encounter where God draws near.

This inevitability of the wilderness is why knowing the Word matters. For Jesus, Scripture was not something he could flip open and consult in a moment of crisis. The stories came through oral tradition: they were heard, memorized, and prayed into his heart. The Word was woven into his soul long before the wilderness, which is why he was able to respond faithfully to Satan’s temptations.

Jesus models a life shaped by Scripture so deeply that it rises to the surface when it is needed most. This Lent, we are invited to do the same: to read the Word, sit with it, and let it dwell in us deeply enough to sustain us when we are hungry, uncertain, or tempted by easier paths. We are called to attend Mass ready to receive the Bread of Life, attentive to how the Liturgy of the Word speaks into our own lives, the lives of our neighbors, and the sustenance of our global community. God meets us in—and feeds us with—the Word that gives life, so that when we are in the wilderness, we too may recognize his voice and live by it.