Breaking Open the Word: First Sunday of Lent

Dt 26:4-10
Ps 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15.
Rom 10:8-13
Lk 4:1-13

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, and then the devil tested him. Moses and the Israelites had been in the desert for forty years before being led to the land of milk and honey. There were times when they called out to God, sure that, as Saint Paul wrote to the Romans, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” We sometimes spend time in the desert as well. Not a literal desert most of the time, but a desert in which it seems difficult to perceive God’s presence, times when we face difficulty and are tempted to leave God’s ways behind. On this First Sunday of Lent, Jesus shows us what to do in these moments: stand firm and trust in God.