HOLY WEEK 2026

REFLECTION ON PALM SUNDAY-YEAR A -2026.
Today marks the beginning of holy week. In Holy week we journey with our Lord through the mysteries of his passion, death and reflection. Beginning with his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on palm Sunday, we step with Him into the upper Room on the night of the Last Supper and follow Him to Calvary and his cross on Good Friday and then to Easter Sunday.
The themes focus on Christ’ humility, his role as a suffering Servant and ultimate victory of God’s love over death. Palm Sunday recalls Christ’s entry into Jerusalem to accomplish his paschal mystery. The famous story starts with Jesus sending his disciples to find a donkey and riding the donkey into the city of Jerusalem. A  very large crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and do the same. They went ahead of Him shouting Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Jesus enters the city not as a warrior on a warhorse, but as a humble king on a donkey. This highlights worldly power and the kingdom of God, which is built not on force or dominance, but in humility and peace. Jesus enters the city to fulfil the ancient prophecy of Zechariah 9:9-10;rejoice great daughter of Zion! Shout for joy O daughter of Jerusalem-see your king is coming just and victorious, humble and ridding on a donkey, he will reign from see to see, and from the river to the end of the world.
Prophetic ps 18: describes the coming of the future king,the Messiah to the city of Jerusalem. So the crowd was welcoming Christ both as a king and Messiah. The King that was welcomed into Jerusalem, was also a priest, who ascends the altar to offer sacrifice. So Jesus was coming into Jerusalem as a King, Messiah and a priest to offer sacrifice, not on the altar of the temple, but of the cross.
For the Church palm Sunday is not a thing of the past, just as the Lord entered the holy city that day on a donkey, so too the Church sees him coming again and again in the humble form of bread and wine-through the ministry of the priest, who acts in person of Christ.
Palm Sunday invites us to welcome Christ into our hearts as our king and follow him to the cross. Let us spread ourselves under his feet, and not our garments or branches of trees, which in matter of time wastes away and delights the eyes only for a brief hours. May we clothe ourselves with Christ’s compassion, humility and imitate his willingness to sacrifice for the good of others. May we be true neighbours to all in trouble and distress.
In the Gospel there is a shift in pattern-from triumph to passion. This is a reminder that we must not forget that Christ is not only a king, but also a suffering Servant. This contrast is very significant. For God to redeem us, He has to become human.
After the Last Supper, Mathew presents us with Jesus agony in the garden. Mathew mentioned garden to remind us that, Jesus is the New Adam, the old Adam was defeated on a tree, and New Adam conquered through the wood of the cross. Christ’s victory came through enduring of his cross. In the first reading the prophet Isaiah tells us that suffering Servant willingly faces humiliation, rejection and pain.
The palmist gives voice to the anguish and despair of his suffering: my God! My God why have you abandoned me? This reminds us that even in the darkest moment of Jesus’ life, he remained connected with his Father. He was deliberately obedient to his Father’s will.
Contrary to the crowd that shouted Hosanna and later crucify him. We see in the crowd instability of human hearts-how fragile we are-how easily we compromise-we are fair weather friends. Examine your fidelity to Christ-Do we sing hosanna every Sunday ,and renounce him when the going gets too hard or crucify him with our sins?
In the second reading St. Paul beautifully illustrates Christ’self-emptying:though he was in form of God,He did not count his equality a thing to be grasped, He emptied himself taking the form of a servant, and accepted death-even death on a cross. But what appears as a defeat is a path to victory over sin and death.The cross is the weapon that shoots the devil.
Responding profoundly and personally to Jesus means stepping out of comfort zone and walking the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is a way of the cross. It is narrow way. It is a difficult way. Our pilgrimage through life may have some twists and turns along the way, but we are confident in the Lord who has gone before us, has defeated the powers of darkness, and who invites to follow him on the great adventure and journey of faith.
In logic of Jesus, life comes only in, through and after death, victory comes after apparent defeat and gain after loss. Good Friday must be preceded by Easter Sunday.
So let us unite whatever we suffering with the passion of Christ.  Ps.22 says we must commit our cause to the Lord, trust that He will act. We are to be patient in moment of suffering and listen to what the Lord is telling us. We must not turn bow out, but follow the path that God marks for us. But be rest assured that at the end of tunnel there will be a light.

REFLECTION ON 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT
YEAR A-2026
On the fifth Sunday of lent the Church invites us to reflect on God’s power to restore and to renew us, even when the situation is hopeless.
The Gospel episode is the famous  raising of Lazarus . John begins by telling us the characters of his two sisters. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her, her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent message to Jesus,Lord,he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard this, he said, this illness doesn’t lead to death, rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God maybe glorified through it.
Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after he said to the disciples let us go to Judea again. The disciples recognised that Judea is becoming dangerous for Jesus and them.
Then Jesus told them Lazarus is dead. For you sake am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. Thomas said let go and, that we may die with him. Thomas was not only a doubting Thomas, but also courageous.
When Jesus arrived Bethany Martha walked up to him and said Lord if you were here my brother wouldn’t have died. Jesus said to her your brother will rise again. Martha said I know that he rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said I am the resurrection and life. Do you believe this? Yes I believe Lord, you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.
It is not true that Jesus didn’t know that Lazarus was ill, he knew. And John said he stayed two days after the message because, he loves Lazarus. This doesn’t make sense. But Jesus is not ordinary man, he doesn’t have ordinary love. He loves as God does. He allows Lazarus his friend to suffer and die because he is going to raise him from grave.
St. Chrysostom said many are offended when they any of those who are pleasing to God suffering anything terrible...those who are offended by this do not know that who are especially dear to God have it as their lot to endure such things, as we see in the case of Lazarus who was also one of the friends of Christ but was sick.
This is a mysterious reality of Christian life, that those who are called to special holiness, those whom God loves in a special way he frequently allows to suffer in a great way. Pick the life of the great saints and it will baffle you, what they suffered.
On the natural level one would say that God doesn’t love these people, because they were sick and suffered and died. But John is revealing to us that those who God loves in a special way he draws into the mystery of his own suffering. It doesn’t mean that Jesus didn’t feel the pain of Lazarus death. He felt the pain of the loss. He doesn’t diminish the reality of suffering and horror of suffering by redeeming it.He wept. He recognises the evil of suffering and death.
However, He allows it to take place because there was greater glory to be revealed. Peter Chrysologus said for Christ it was more important to conquer death than to cure disease. He showed his love for his friend not by healing him but by calling him back from the grave. Instead of a remedy for his illness, he offered him the glory of rising from the dead.
The the Church picks up today’s Gospel as we approach the Passion Sunday to remind us that Jesus has power to raise the dead, even after the body of Lazarus has been decomposed. Decomposed body is not a barrier to Jesus’s power to give life.It points in twofold ways: power over grave and also our own resurrection.
Andrew of Crete homily on raising of Lazarus  quote: Lazarus come out...as a friend I am calling you, as Lord I am commanding you...come out-let the burial linen be undone so that they can recognize the one who was put in the tomb. Come out...come out of the tomb. Teach them how all creation will be enlivened in a moment when the trumpet’s voice proclaims the resurrection of the dead.
By giving life to Lazarus, God’s power of giving spiritual life is revealed. This miracle of raising Lazarus to life anticipates the glorious resurrection of Jesus the Lord and our own resurrection.
Maybe we lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits and doubt. Jesus is calling us out from anything that keeps us down:brokenness,shame,despair.God’s delay is not God’s absence. He will roll away any stone against our life, joy and peace.


REFLECTION ON 4TH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A 2026.

The fourth Sunday of lent is known as the laetare-Sunday. As we approach Easter we look forward to the joy of resurrection. Easter is the breakthrough which has determined the meaning of all history. 
The Gospel presents us with the story of healing of the man born blind. The disciples asked Master, why was this man born blind? Because of his own sin or those of his parents? According to Old Testament thinking human suffering is due to the sin of either the one who suffers or of one’s parents. But Jesus; reply shows that sin is not the cause of all suffering. Jesus has not committed any sin, yet he suffers. Suffering is a fact in human life, and for the believer it could be an opportunity to allow God to work out his plan.
In the case of this blind man it is for the manifestation of God’s glory through Jesus’s action. Miracles are manifestations of God's power and compassion. 
We are co-workers with God. When we spend our time to help those in trouble, in distress, in pain, in sorrow, God is using us as channels to meet the needs of his people. To help people in need is therefore to manifest the glory of God.
The story of the man born blind from birth is a true life story . But John tells it in such a way that we could see the connection with our baptism. lt is a perfect example of how each one of us is born in blindness and darkness of original sin . It was not our sin nor that of our parents. But we are all trapped in this mess.
Think of it this way, is like being born in a dysfunctional family. It is not the fault of the child that is born into a family that is marked by physical abuse or alcoholic abuse but it affects him.
We are born into a world marked by cruelty, hatred, violence, evil and sin. Even before we begin to make choices. So we are  born into a dysfunctional world. But Jesus is the enemy of this blindness, that  obscures our vision of things. We maybe able to function very well in political and economic order and all of that. But if we are concerned is only for the things of this world we are blind to things that really matter. 
Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him,go, wash in the pool of Siloam. The reason for this was to remind us that the he who restored the man to health by anointing his eyes with clay is the very one who fashioned the first man out of clay, and that our flesh  receives the light of eternal life through baptism. By the virtue of our baptism we are immersed in Christ symbolised by the pool. Thus we are healed and enabled to see things from God's perspective.
Some people hold as true what they can see with their eyes, feel through their senses, or verify by science and think that they know it all. But the truth is that not all truth is subject to scientific investigations.
Blindness in the Bible is very often a symbol of spiritual blindness: the incapacity to see what truly matters. Focused on the worldly goods of wealth, pleasure, power and honour, most people don’t see how blind they are to the truly important things: giving oneself to the grace of God and living a life of love. 
Let us ask for spiritual vision-to know what our life is all about, to know the big picture, to know where we are going. We can have all the wealth, pleasure, honour and power we want. We can have all the wordily goods we could desire. But if we don’t see spiritually, it will do us no good, it will probably destroy you.
Christ is the light of the world. And light represents truth, illumination and understanding, to be able to see and know the truth. The truth of who God is, who we are, and all that life is all about. Jesus wants to cast his light into our darkness. No matter our years of Church membership, there are areas of darkness and blindness in our lives, that we are called to leave behind and embrace the light of Christ
In the second reading St. Paul says that deeds of light are good, just and true. While the deeds of darkness are shameful and no one should justify them.
There is no fellowship between light and darkness. Jesus comes to expose deeds of darkness. How we respond to his teaching will determine if we prefer light to darkness, life to death.
We have different responses in the characters of the Gospel. The Pharisees in spite of the testimony of the man born blind refused to accept Jesus’ heavenly origin. They even stood to the level of harassing and slandering the witness. They rejected Jesus and remained spiritually blind, due to their ego, arrogance and self-sufficiency .They closed their hearts to the truth. 
The third response was the parents of the man born blind. Due to fear of being ostracized, they couldn’t bear witness about their son. They succumbed to social pressure. They want be part of the Church and world. There are some people who skip prayer over meal  in restaurants, because they don't want to stand out, odd man, they are afraid of what others may think of them.
May we invite Jesus this week to heal our blindness, particularly of being worldly minded. And to grant us the grace to see the World and people as Jesus sees it and to stand for and defend the truth of our faith.


REFLECTION ON 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A -2026.

We are in the middle of lent, middle of a journey could sometimes be challenging and difficult. A typical example is someone who is placed on diet by a doctor. In the first reading the people of Israel have been led into the desert by Moses, on their way to the promise Land. But things are not well, because this journey is taking long and they run shortage of water.
Water is one of the most essential elements in our world. It is used for multiple purposes: to clean, wash, cook and drink. In fact, one can survive without food for 30 days. But can’t survive without water for 5 days.
They complained against Moses and said, why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and livestock with thirst? Egypt, Biblically, is symbol slavery to sin. All of us are sinners. St. Paul says all have sinned and falling short the glory of God. We are slaves to our passions.
Anyone in spiritual order knows that the journey toward heaven is always a painful one. It is not an easy road, the way to heaven-for many are thorns are on the way.
Like the Israelites there were moments in our lives that we have complained against God, questioned his goodness and presence. We easily forget his blessings and faithfulness when we are overwhelmed with suffering. When prayers seemed unanswered and life becomes dry and painful.
In crisis situations, people often put demand on God, they put God to the test by demanding miracles from him. The Israelites express this attitude in a naked challenge to God: is the Lord with us or not?-let Him prove it.But,a crisis situation is also God’s way of testing us, of testing our faith in his continuous providence.
Massah and Meribah became for the Jews synonymous with man’s distrust and God’s providence. God is the hero in this story. Despite the people’s complaint and grumbling He provided them with water.
Here we could see a God who is patient, compassionate and merciful. We see God who meets his people’s need even in their doubt and frustration. So we are called not to turn our thirst into bitterness, but to trust in God’s providence and power to save us. Instead of complaint,trust,instead of accusations-surrender to Him. 
Believing that God is truly among us even when we don’t see him, that is working even when we can’t feel it.In the second reading St. Paul tells us that God’s love is unconditionally. He loves us despite our sins and weaknesses. The people’s grumbling and complaint couldn’t stop God for providing water for drink.
In the Gospel Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well. The well in the Bile is often represented as a meeting place of those who intend to Marry.
Abraham’s servant finds Rebekah for Isaac at a well (Gen.24).Jacob meets his beloved wife Racheal at the well(Gen.29)Moses also meets his wife at well (Ex,2).
In Old Testament Israel is often refereed as the spouse of God.So,the Samaritan woman was a symbol of Israel. She was unfaithful. She prostituted herself with Egyptian, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians,the foreigners from Greece and finally the Romans by worshipping their gods.
The story of Samaritan woman is a story of people of Israel who Jesus meets and wants to lead back to the one and only true God.
Jesus identifies himself as the bridegroom. And St. Augustine says the Church is the bride of Christ. He wants our intimacy-He wants our relationships. We exist because God is Father who wanted children-children whom He created in his own image and likeness so that they could receive his love and ultimately come to share in his life in the Trinity.
Pope Benedict XVI,in his first homily as pope,adds,we are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved.
Jesus went to the well because he was thirsty.St Augustine said God thirsts after us, he desires to be desired. The more human being distances himself the more closely God pursues him with his merciful love.
As a human being there are so many things we thirst for: we thirst for love,recognition,power,position and pleasure. Over and above there is a spiritual thirst in every man and woman which only God can satisfy.
This is clearly seen in the dialogue between Jesus and Samaritan woman .The Samaritan woman represents one who does not find what he seeks. She had five husbands and now she lives with another man.His going to  and flow to the well to draw water expresses repetitive and resigned life. Yet she was not satisfied. 
At times instead of accepting Jesus’s invitation we seek for comfort and consolation elsewhere: in sexual pleasure,food,drinks,relationships.Yet this does not offer us peace of mind.
God’s love embraces everyone :saints and sinners, young and old, rich and poor. The woman’s name was not mentioned.So,slip your name into the blank space and see no matter who you are and have done, you are loved by God. God desires us more than we desire Him. He told mother Theresa I thirst for souls. He wants sons and daughters as many as possible. He wants to be one with us and walk with us.
Indeed all is invited to the well. Particularly at the moment we are tempted to give up and give in to discouragement. The moment the going becomes too hard. Prayer is a well where our thirst and God’s thirst meet. Jesus comes seeking for us at prayer to quench our thirst. PS 42/46.
The living Water that quenches our thirst is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. In Gen.1:the earth was in formless void and ugly to behold. The Spirit hovered over the waters transforming that chaos into cosmos, making beautiful what was ugly.In our Church and personal life there is chaos and ugliness-may be criticising everyone or complaining all the time-we complain about winter, flies, Sun in summer, if we surrender ourselves to Christ, if we receive the living Water He is offering us, our lives will be beautified. He will quench our thirst and make us channel to quench the thirst of those around, like a Samaritan woman.
REFLECTION ON 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT

Today’s gospel presents to us the transfiguration of Christ. Last Sunday Christ was in the desert and this Sunday he is on a mountain. Last Sunday He was under the assault of Satan, but this Sunday He is under the cloud of glory-His Father’s presence. Last Sunday it was about his humanity, this Sunday it is his divinity.
The voice of God the Father cut across the readings of today. In the Gospel He declares this is my Son, with Him I Am well pleased, listen to Him.
In the first reading He said to Abram go out of your country, to a land I will show. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and you will be a blessing.
Abram was called when he was seventy five year old to leave his country and set out for an unknown destination. When most people think in terms of retirement, God commands him to launch out.  Abram went without knowing where he was going. What a strange way to begin a journey.
He must have appeared foolish to his fellow countrymen to leave the secure present for an insecure future, to surrender familiar for unfamiliar, to give up the known for unknown .
To answer God’s call Abraham had to leave behind his country and security of his own surroundings. Much like many immigrants today who do it for economic or political reasons, Abraham took his leap into the unknown with absolute faith in God’s word.
Rm.4:20  said Abraham did not doubt nor distrust the promise of God, but on the contrary he was convinced that he who had given the promise had the power to fulfil it.The beginning point of faith is that with God all things are possible and end point of faith is that whatever He says he will do.
In Jon 8:39 Jesus said to the Jews: to be the children of Abraham we have to do the works of Abraham. Abraham left something behind.Jame sand John left their boat, and their father and followed Jesus. Anyone wants to fellow Jesus must be willing to give up something.
Let us give up this lent our errant behaviour and be more compassionate to our brothers and sisters, friends and families, Church and community. Instead of giving up candy, liquor and cigarettes; give up criticism,resentment,longstanding quarrels, unhealthy competition, judgement and harmful habits. 
God attached a blessing to Abraham’s call-I will bless you and you will be a blessing. In Abraham’s call we can see our own call to be blessed by God and to be a source of blessings to others. Faith places us at the service of God whose work is to bless and save mankind. Our faith has to make us look outward, to work for the good and salvation of others.
In the Gospel Jesus takes his disciples to the high mountain. A mountain is a traditional place of divine encounter, where revelations are received, just like Moses, Jesus went up mount Sinai to pray. Our prayer closet, Church could be our own place of encounter with God. 
The dazzling clothes speak of our future. In apocalyptic literature, white garments are an expression of heavenly beings-the garments of angels and of the elect. It is the garment of those who shared in Christ’s passion and death.
Elijah and Moses are two great figures of Old Testament-representing the Law and the prophets. Elijah was a great prophet who, in the mind of the people never died. He had been taken up to heaven, and was expected to return again to present the Messiah. His task in the story is to tell the Israel and us this is the Messiah. In the other hand, Moses is present because before his death, he promised the people of Israel that God will raise for them a prophet like him, and that they should listen to him. So he is there to testify that Jesus is the prophet he had spoken about.
There is another detail proper to St. Luke account. Luke mentioned the topic of Jesus’ conversation with Moses and Elijah. He tells us that they talked with and spoke about his departure which was to be accomplished in Jerusalem.
Therefore, Jesus listens to the Law and the prophets who spoke to him about his death and resurrection. In intimate dialogue with the Father, he knows that to attain glory he must pass through the cross. Thus Christ adhering with all his being to the Father’s will, shows that true prayer consists precisely in uniting our will with that of God. For a Christian,therefore,to pray is not to evade reality and responsibilities it brings but rather, to fully assumed them, trusting in the faithful and inexhaustible love of God.
The Father’s testimony: this is my Son, the Beloved, listen to Him. Dt 6:4 listen,O Israel: The Lord, our God, is the one Lord. And so you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.
Faith comes from listening to the Word of God. To listen means to obey. To listen and obey his voice is the principle way, the only way, that leads to the fullness of joy and of love.
1 Sam.3:10 the little boy Samuel said speak Lord your servant is listening. God speaks to us in multifaceted ways. He speaks to us in the created order, in history, in human events,prophets,mystic,pages of the Sacred Scripture. Let us listen to Christ in his Word, contained in the Sacred Scripture. Let us listen Him in the events of our lives, seeking to decipher in them the messages of providence. May we listen to him in our brothers and sisters, especially in the lowly and the poor, to whom Jesus demands our concrete love. 
Overwhelmed with mystical experience, Peter pleads to build three tents on mount Tabor. No one,however,is permitted to live on Tabor, while on earth. Indeed human experience is a journey of faith and such, moves ahead more in shadows than in full light, and is no stranger to the moments of obscurity  and also of complete darkness. While we are on this earth, our relationship with God takes place more in listening than seeing, and thanks to the interior light that is kindled in us by the Word of God.
Like Jesus we are on journey to heaven, on this journey we face our trials and persecutions: it may be in form loneliness, disappointments,heart-break,sickness,hardship,betrayal or rejection. In moment like this, we should climb the mountain to pray, to seek God’s will and counsel and to be reassured by God that we are not alone. 
The transfiguration is a lens through which the Church learns to interpret suffering, hope and faithful listening to the Son of God. The transfiguration is a guarantee and a foretaste of the joy and glory that await us in eternity, if we preserve and endure in our journey to the end

REFLECTION ON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A-2026.
We have entered into the holy season of lent. A time to get back to our spiritual base-a time of renewal. A period the mother Church schools us on how to overcome temptations and conquer sin. The basic spiritual principle states that the best way to disempower evil is to look at it and see it. In the desert the Israelites who looked at the bronze serpent were healed.
Pope Benedict xvi said three temptations of Jesus reflect the inner struggle over his own particular mission and, at same time, address the question as to what truly matters in human life. The three temptations are repetition of a single basic temptation. Jesus is invited to place his trust in something other than God, and to opt for ways of accomplishing his mission other than that which God has willed. But Jesus rejects this. He refuses to fulfil popular expectations of what Messiah should do, namely using the spiritual power given to him to satisfy his own needs, or do spectacular deeds to impress the people, or size a political power.
The temptation narratives is about proper understanding of what it means to be Son of God. The devil proposes an understanding in terms of power, pomp and prestige, if you are Son of God, which firmly rejected by Jesus, who characterizes his sonship as implying absolute trust in and obedience to the Father.
In secular life and history, people only interact and struggle with one another. But in sacred history, God’s plan are constantly in danger of being sabotaged by the forces of the Evil One, and God’s people have to take part in such a struggle.
Satan is the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who throws himself across God’s plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. A liar and father of lies, he is a deceiver.
The first reading said that the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that God had made. He said to the woman, did God say you shall not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not die, for God knows that when you eat your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.
As Christians we believe that God holds our lives and the destiny of the world is his hands. And at same time we believe that God does not deprive man the power to make decisions or choices, he wills man to be free, he opens to him the way to freedom.
The terrible possibility that man can do evil without God intervening shows that not only does God admire human freedom, but also that he expects much of a human being. The freedom given to man is also a danger for him, a temptation.
He can lose sight of true standards and make his own yardstick for all he does, he can lose sight of one who has given his freedom.
The serpent tactic was to present God as their enemy. As one who limits their freedom and happiness. It is the wrong idea of God and doubting of his goodness that lead to sin. Such evil thought doesn’t make noise when it comes. It may come like if God is good why did he allow my grand father to die after all my prayer. Why does He allow wildfire in Huston and flood in France.
At heart of temptation is act of pushing God aside, because we perceive him as secondary comparison to all that matters that fill our life. We construct our own world with our own lights, without reference to Him. Refusing to acknowledge the reality of anything beyond the political and material. We become completely earth bound. This the temptation that threatens our society in many varied forms. People live their lives as if God doesn’t exist.
Blasé Paschal a great Catholic philosopher said we spend our life from diversions from the great questions: WHO AM I,WHERE DID I COME FROM,WHAT IS  PURPOSE OF LIFE,WHERE AM I GOING,WHO IS GOD,WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE. 
The devil tends to speak about what is right in front of us, bread and power. He seems to make us believe we can live independent of God. But the first reading tells us we are made from dust and our worth comes from God’s breath of life. In other words, we are dependent on God, apart from Him we can do nothing. Unfortunately some people have time for everything except for God. Time for social gathering, for sports, but not for religious activities. In temptation God is the issue-is He real or not? Is He good or should we invent the good ourselves? Should He be trusted?
In the second reading St. Paul explains how disobedience of Adam and Eve led to sin, death and broken relationship with God. He presents Adam as one who was not able to resist temptation and its evil consequences on humanity. But just as sin and death came through Adam, Life and grace came through Jesus Christ. Christ regained for us the right relationship with God,He resisted temptation and gave humanity a hope of new life.
Jesus is the new Adam who remains faithful where the first Adam had given into temptation. Jesus reveals himself as God’s servant totally obedience to the divine will. Christ victory over Satan comes from his absolute obedience to God.
By going into the desert Jesus shares in the drama of human life. Because to be human is to be tempted. Heb.4:15-16 for we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin.
Temptation is natural because we have a body who seeks one kind of pleasure and soul which seeks another kind of joy.In the garden of Gethsemene Jesus said the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
 Lent gives us the opportunity to confront the areas of vulnerabilities which give the devil access to our life.
 
What Jesus faces in the desert is three classic substitute for God. But the basic Biblical message is that there is only one God-who is supreme goodness, If we make anything other than God supreme good-we will spiritually speaking have trouble.
The devil always tries  to divert us from God who is the ultimate good. 
The devil comes to Jesus when he was most vulnerable and asks Jesus to turn stone into bread to satisfy his physical hunger. The danger here is to make the satisfaction of sensual desire the highest good in our life. There some people who have fallen into this trap. All their desire is for the satisfaction of food, drinks, sex,pleasure of the body.And all that money could afford, the best house, the best car, the best vacation trips. Making satisfaction of sensual desire the supreme good of his life. Yet they are not satisfied.
 Augustine said my heart is restless until it rests in God. And Jesus says man does not live by bread alone. May we learn to hunger for Christ ,the true and living bread, and strive to live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.
 
The devil takes Jesus upon the high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and ask him to bow down to him and it will be given to him. Here it is all about power,position,control. Power is ability to effect change. So it is not bad in itself. But  when we are power drunk or oppressive-who do all kind of violence to acquire or maintain power. People like Alexander the great, Adolf-Hitler, all those who cling to power. Power is transient. Jesus says what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.
However, while our temptation may not be as dramatic or loud as that of Jesus, we are all tempted. Some temptations are peculiar to age and gender. The temptation of the young and old men may be lust. The temptation of the old may be attachment, they are more concerned about themselves, I, Me, Mine. They find it difficult to let go. For some it may be addiction to food, drink or pornography. We must identify our temptation and confront them. Paul-White said you cannot conquer what you don’t confront and you cannot confront what you don’t identify.
May we through the yearly observances of holy season grow in understanding of riches in Christ, and by worthy conduct pursue their effects-through Christ our Lord-Amen.