First Sunday of Lent

Full and Hungry Too

When do you experience temptation? What do you do to resist? Can you resist? Do you have a proven strategy? What would you most need in order to not give in to temptation?

“Be with me Lord when I am in trouble.” That’s my usual go to prayer when I am tempted. I usually know when I am in trouble. Sometimes, I simply say, “Lord, help me!”

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives us the example in his encountering temptations. Eleanor Stump explains both the temptations and Jesus’ ability to resist in this way:

Jesus’ rejection of Satan’s urging gives us a pattern for our lives. In our suffering, when those things we think we need in order to live are denied us, we do not have to be desperate. When we are hungry for what we do not have because our Father God has not given it, we still have the Word of God, which comes into us and can fill us. Jesus, who is the cornerstone of the Church, is our bread at the same time. And so we can be like him: full—even when, in the stony parts of our lives, we are hungry, too.

http://www.liturgy.slu.edu/1LentC031019/reflections_stump.html