Not By Bread Alone

The First Sunday of Lent is also the day when the Rite of Election is held. The Catechumens who are preparing for Baptism or for reception from another church into the Catholic Church, present themselves to the Bishop and receive his blessing and further instructions for this final stage in their instruction. Not surprisingly, the Gospel is the Temptation in the Desert (Mt 4:1-11). We, along with the Catechumens, are reminded that choices, often hard choices, will have to be made in order to remain faithful to our mission to follow Christ. Jesus himself needed the temptations to see what his mission was NOT, as well as to see what it was. It was not a "quick fix" mission, nor a popularity contest based on the spectacular, nor was it the worship of false gods. Rather, it was and is a mission which contradicts, stands apart, and challenges the norms. It follows a logic that is not of this world. "Not by bread alone...but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." (Mt 4:4). God's ways are not the world's ways. Our Lenten observances, readings, and deeper prayer will help us to see more clearly what those ways are. A helpful website that might enhance that prayer is www.sacredspace.ie from the Jesuits in Ireland. It provides a meditation for each day of Lent, and has some excellent insights into today's Gospel. May we find some extra time today, using whatever means we find helpful to accept and live this response of Jesus, that it is "not by bread alone that we find sustenance, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God". Let us find and listen to those words.
Bro. Rene