Message from Fr. Brito:

1st Sunday of Lent

     The readings for today’s mass, weave very nicely together. In the Gospel, we see the temptation of Jesus in the desert.  In the First reading we come across the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve. There is one common person in each story and it is the ancient serpent, or the devil. The devil always begins his temptations with a smile. He pretends to be our friend. He pretends to care, but he is a liar. He wants our defeat. He tries to counter God’s will, which is; "that none of us be lost".

     In the middle of the garden the Lord has planted two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating of the fruit of these two trees. The serpent, with his evil intent, befriends the woman: “ did God really tell you not to eat from the trees of the garden?” Behind this friendly question lays a diabolic plan. Eve trusts more in the words of her newfound friend than in the words of God.  The serpent calls God a liar and encourages Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Not only does she eat it, but she also gives some to the man. After they have both have eaten of the forbidden fruit their eyes were open and they realized that they were naked. Why did it take them so long to realize they were naked? Because, before the fall, they were not naked. No, they were clothed with grace.  They were no longer innocents and they felt shame. The shame leads them to deny their guilt and blame another. The man blames not only the woman but also God himself for placing the woman with him; the woman blames the serpent and does not own the sin. I wonder if the out come of the two would have been different, if they had said as we did this day in the responsorial psalm: “be merciful o Lord for we have sinned”.

     Now Jesus is referred to as the "New Adam". He will encounter the same tempter that Eve encountered in the Garden.  Look how the devil employs his same old methods. He will try to befriend the Christ. He seems like he is concerned for his well being and noticing his situation; that is, that Jesus is hungry, he tries to get him to use his divine power to alleviate his suffering. “See those rocks? They already look like bread and you are hungry why don’t you use your power to change them into bread.”

Jesus response by using Sacred Scripture: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”

     The devil tries to use Scripture in the second temptation; Jesus again disputes him using Scripture.

The last temptation is the offer of all the kingdoms of the World. If Jesus would only worship the devil for one moment he would be granted all the power of this world. Jesus becomes severe and says: “Go away, Satan!,The scripture says, Worship the Lord your God and serve only him” The devil flees.

Jesus is victorious and will being his public life and work of our redemption. With the Lord as our Shepherd, we too can be victorious over the attacks of the Evil one. Amen