Illustration: Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness, James Tissot – between 1886 and 1894
Pope Francis’ previous homily for First Sunday of Lent 2025
Luke 4:1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’ Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’ Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says: He will put his angels in charge of you to guard you, and again: They will hold you up on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said: You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Gospel of the first Sunday of Lent, takes us to the desert, where Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit, for forty days, to be tempted by the devil (see above). Jesus was also tempted by the devil, and he accompanies us, each one of us, in our temptations. The desert symbolizes the struggle against the seductions of evil, in order to learn to choose true freedom. In fact, Jesus lived the experience of the desert just before he began his public mission. It is precisely through this spiritual struggle that he decisively affirms the kind of Messiah he intends to be. Not this kind of Messiah, but that kind: I would say that this is indeed the declaration of Jesus’ messianic identity, the messianic way of Jesus. “I am the Messiah, but in this way”. Let us then take a closer look at the temptations he fights.
Twice the devil addresses him, saying: “If you are the Son of God…” (vv. 3, 9). In other words, he proposes to take advantage of his position: first to satisfy his material needs his hunger (v. 3), then to increase his power (cf. vv. 6-7); and, finally, to have a miraculous sign from God (cf. vv. 9-11).
Three temptations. It is as if he were saying, “If you are the Son of God, take advantage of it!”.
How often this happens to us: “But if you are in that position, take advantage of it! Don’t lose the opportunity, the chance”, that is, “think of your profit”.
It is a seductive proposal, but it leads you to the enslavement of the heart.
It makes us obsessed with the desire to have, it reduces everything to the possession of things, power, fame. This is the heart of the temptations. The “poison of the passions” in which evil is rooted.
Let us Look inside ourselves, and we will find that our temptations always have this mindset, this way of acting.
But Jesus victoriously resisted the attractions of evil. How does he do this?
By answering to temptations with the Word of God, which says not to take advantage, not to use God, others and things for oneself, not to use one’s own position to obtain privileges.
Because true happiness and freedom are found not in possessing, but in sharing; not in taking advantage of others, but in loving them; not in the obsession of power, but in the joy of service.
Brothers and sisters, these temptations also accompany us on the journey of life.
We must be vigilant – do not be afraid, it happens to everyone – and we must be alert, because they often appear in a seemingly good form. In fact, the devil, who is cunning, always uses deception.
He wanted Jesus to believe that his proposals were useful to prove that he was really the Son of God.
And I want to emphasize one thing. Jesus does not talk to the devil: he never talked to the devil. Either He cast him out when He healed the possessed, or in this case, when He had to answer,
He did so with the Word of God, never with His own word. Brothers and sisters, never enter into a dialog with the devil: he is more cunning than we are. Never! Cling to the Word of God as Jesus did, and at best always answer with the Word of God. And in this way we will never go wrong.
The devil does this to us: he often comes “with gentle eyes”, “with an angelic face”; he even knows how to disguise himself with holy, seemingly religious motives!
If we give in to his flattery, we end up justifying our falsehood by disguising it with good intentions. For example, how many times have we heard these justifications “I have done strange things, but I have helped the poor”; “I have taken advantage of my role – as a politician, a governor, a priest, a bishop – but also for good”; “I have given in to my instincts, but in the end, I did no harm to anyone”, these justifications, and so on, one after the other.
Please: do not compromise with evil! No dialogue with the devil! We must not enter into dialogue with temptation, we must not fall into that slumber of the conscience that makes us say: “But after all, it’s not serious, everyone does it”!
Let us look at Jesus, who does not seek accommodation, who does not make agreements with evil. He confronts the devil with the Word of God, which is stronger than the devil, and thus overcomes temptation.
May this season of Lent also be for us a season of the desert.
Let us take time for silence and prayer – just a little, it will do us good – in these spaces let us pause and look at what is stirring in our hearts, our inner truth, that which we know cannot be justified.
Let us find inner clarity, placing ourselves before the Word of God in prayer, so that a positive struggle against the evil that enslaves us, (a struggle for freedom), may take place within us.
Let us ask the Blessed Virgin to accompany us in the desert of Lent and to help us on our path of conversion