TEXT: The Holy Gospel According to Matthew 4:1-11

It was St. Catherine of Genoa who said -- "Lenten fasts make me feel better, stronger, and more active than ever."  It was also St. Pope Gregory the Great who said: "It is impossible to engage in spiritual conflict unless the appetite has first been subdued."

Yet, beloved, it was Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and our King, who set the supreme example of the importance and purpose of fasting when he prepared to meet the enemy of our souls in the desert.

As we prepare for Easter, we enter the Lenten season.  We learn today of the importance of fasting in the spiritual warfare we are involved in with our Lady and our Lord in the wilderness (cf. Rev. 12).

1  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2  And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.
3 And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."

It seems that the first level of Satan’s attacks happens upon the body and the need that we have for bread.  Why is this?  I have asked.

I believe it has much to do the with inner need for the Bread of Life within us.

Often, we substitute that inner need of the Bread from Heaven, Jesus, for the material breads, a delicacies of life, the materialism of the age, the spirit of the world, the flesh and the devil.

It is not wrong to eat, beloved.

But, it is wrong to relish the things of the world over and above the things of God -- the Bread of Heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus showed us this in his answer to the enemy of our souls.

4  But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is what we live by in God.  It is not bread alone that we live by at all.  Yes, we have physical needs, but, the Bread from Heaven is more important to our eternal souls than all the bread of this world.

I desire to live by the Bread of Life, the Bread who came into the world in the House of Bread (Beth’lehem).  During Lent, we learn from the Master, our Lord and Savior, Jesus, what it means to survive in the wilderness with Mary on the Bread of Life from Heaven!

According to St. Atananasius in his story of the life of St. Anthony of the desert, "He ate once daily, after sunset, but there were times when he received food every second and frequently every fourth day.  His food was bread and salt, and for drinking he took only water.  There is no reason even to speak of meat and wine, when indeed such a thing was not to be found among the other zealous men."

Many, when they hear of this kind of commitment to fasting, immediately declare "This is an excessive and radical approach to faith!"

I might add, that may be the reason there seem to be so few really "great saints" these days.  It may have something to do with fasting and prayer?  We are so much like the Church of the Laodiceans.

Let us discover our dependence upon God.  Let is look to Jesus, as do the great saints, if we would be saints that make a difference in the world?

Jesus was successful.

5  Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6  and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

Satan likes to misquote Holy Scriptures!

With Jesus, our answer should be,

7  Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

We are called upon to listen to the voice of Scripture, the Bread of Life that speaks totally of Jesus, the Bread of Life!  These are the words that he spoke from the very beginning (Cf. Luke 24 account).  He proclaimed himself to be the fulfilment of Holy Scriptures (Old Testament).  "These are the words," is the Hebrew title of the book of Deuteronomy (ella ha debaryim).

The Satan (Adversary) has no right to tempt the Lord God.  We are the Body of Christ.  He tempts us, but, the day will surely come when the tempter will be flushed from the sight of God and us forevermore and forever!  Hallelujah!  (Cf. Revelation 20-21)
But, again, the tempter comes to Jesus, and to us with these same issues.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;
9 and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."

Jesus was, as the Last Adam, focused entirely on the will of the Father (in the Holy Trinity).

Satan desires to be worshiped.

He desires to grant to us anything we desire so long as we are damned forever with him.

Wow, isn’t that a nice trade off?  We get anything and Hell too?

Yet, millions opt for this choice, because they can feel and taste and sensually appreciate according to the world, the flesh and the devil.

God calls us to the opposite of the tempter’s call.

God comes down as the Son (in the Holy Trinity) and is the perfect Man, the God Man -- Immanuel!

What does Jesus say?

10  Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

What does Jesus call you and me to say?

This Son of Mary. . . had a commitment to the will of the Father.

As children of Mary, the remnant of her Seed, as we go into the desert (the wilderness) to be sought after by the devil whose time is very short now, let us look to the protection of St. Michael, remembering the way to perfection is through the example of Jesus, our Lord, and the saints, who fasted in prayer in their "deserts."

May God show us through our Lady’s intercession.  "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
 
Oh, please, Listen to this again -- "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

And, then, let us remember well the eschatological (end times) vision of John that we see of our Lady, Mary, the Woman, in the heavens (Revelation 12).

Let us also become "the remnant of her offspring" and be true brothers and sisters to Jesus her Son, the Fruit of her womb, loving God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves.

Let us fast with all the great saints with all these things in mind.

11  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.



Deus et Sanctissima.