"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry." - Luke 4:1-2
Dear friends, today we mark the end of the first two weeks of Lent. Have we lived out the retreat well so far? Have we truly made a conscious effort to deny ourselves of certain good things?
If some of our non-Christian friends heard what you were doing (or what you intended to do), some might say that denying oneself of pleasures is a silly thing, even for a Christian, for if "God" gave those good things, surely we are meant to enjoy it.
Yet, if Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, not just by His choice, but "driven by the Spirit", then He must have shown us that a journey of self-denial, a period of suffering by choice, is not somethin silly. In fact, it is something good to be done.
Pope Benedict XVI shared last week at an address that "Lent is a long 'retreat', during which we return to ourselves and listen to God's voice to overcome the temptations of the Evil One and find the truth of our being. It is a time, we could say, of spiritual 'contest' to live together with Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the weapons of faith, that is, prayer, listening to God's Word and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our baptism." A timely reminder about our whole purpose for journeying together, don't you think?
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