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The Temptation of Christ. The Temptation of Man

In the Gospel, Jesus was tempted three times by the devil. The devil promised Jesus food, power, glory, and protection by angels. Jesus was clever and strong in his responses. He never wavered from his devotion and loyalty to his father.

We too are tempted, although not so obviously. We are not offered food. We can easily buy it from the store. We are not offered power and glory. Instead we can choose our careers or our 15 minutes of fame to make us feel important. Think of the huge number of reality TV show “stars.” As for protection, we hardly need that since modern medicine can cure just about anything. Our military fight our larger battles and our home security systems and police force keep us safe at home. So how does the devil tempt us? By making us believe we don’t need God. We don’t need a savior.

The first reading talks about Moses telling his people how to make a proper offering to God. Thankfully, we have our wonderful Mother Church to help us. Each Lent, no matter if we are in a time of great awareness of our Lord’s presence in our lives or if we are feeling isolated and distant from him, the Catholic Church tells us to fast, abstain, pray, and give alms. In today’s world it almost seems ridiculous to follow all of the rules, since there are so many comforts even when we do fast and abstain. It is through our obedience, however, that Christ will be able to touch our hearts and help each of us to reply to the devil in a strong and clever way telling him that Jesus is Lord and we do need him.

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About the Author
Suzanne Tredo is the webmaster of www.catholiclifenews.com Enjoy the web-site which includes inspirational stories, a catholic trivia game, free newsletter registration and much more.

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