LARRY BRODING

The Temptation

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1st Sunday of Lent (A)

What little delights in life tempt you? Are they hard to resist? Why?

Diet or indulgence. Exercise or relaxation. Fiscal management or a little extravagance. Luxury tempts us to give in and enjoy life. Every small temptation, however, exposes the means (the “how”) of a larger temptation. Jesus’ encounter with Satan details means and substance of temptation.

What are the great personal temptations people face? What lies or illusions convince people to give into temptation?

What are my personal temptations? How has God helped me in the past to battle these temptations? How can he help me in the future?

Children’s Reading | Catechism Link | Family Activity

SOURCE: WORD-SUNDAY © Larry Broding

VINCE CONTRERAS

1st Sunday of Lent (A) 

1. In the 1st Reading, Eve, and then Adam, are tempted by Satan to disobey God. What do you think was the root cause of their sin?
2. In the 2nd Reading, what is the point St. Paul is trying to make? How does the sin of the first Adam compare with the grace given through the sacrifice of Jesus, the Second Adam?
3. In the Gospel, what links these temptations with the baptism of Jesus (verses 1, 3, 6)?
4. For each of these three temptations: (a) What is its nature, (b) what might potentially appeal to Jesus’ human nature, (c) what price would there be for him to yield, and (d) how does Jesus respond?
5. Inasmuch as Jesus, as a divine Person, could not sin, what was the point in tempting him? How do you relate this passage to the petition of Christ’s own prayer, “lead us not into temptation”?
6. What spiritual benefit can be gained through temptation, and why would the Holy Spirit lead you (or allow you to go) where you would have to face it (James 1:2-4)?
7. What human need is at the heart of each of these temptations? How are these needs evident in your life? How does Satan use them to tempt you?
8. How have you tested God or presumed on his care for you? What do Jesus’ replies to Satan tell you about the attitude you should foster towards God’s care for you?

Catechism of the Catholic Church

§§ 538, 566, 2119, 1438

OVERVIEW OF THE GOSPEL (PDF)

DON SCHWAGER

1st Sunday of Lent (A)

SOURCE: Sunday Scripture Study for Catholics

MICHAEL MARCHAL

The Rite of the Call to Continuing Conversion

1st Sunday of Lent (A)

BACKGROUND: To understand this Sunday’s gospel, we need to realize that we are jumping back over the unfolding of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount that we have been reading in the early Sundays of Ordinary Time and returning to his baptism in the Jordan. Having received the overwhelming awareness that he was God’s beloved Son/Servant, he needs to ponder the implications of that calling. And so, he heads out into the desert to pray and there is tested/tempted. What does this mission involve; and, perhaps more importantly, what does it not?

The first two readings situate the mission of Jesus within the context of sinful humanity: we cannot save ourselves since we are too weak to keep God’s commandments. Only God’s free gift of “overflowing grace” in Jesus can refashion us into the people whom God meant us to be.

And so, this is the day when the catechumens publicly state their desire make the promises of baptism, to be reborn by water and the Spirit, and to share in the Eucharist. Hence the references to Noah’s deliverance from the waters of the Flood. Yet it is also the day when the candidates express their desire to be received by renewing their baptismal promises before being sealed with the Spirit and sharing the Eucharist. As we the faithful accompany them on their Lenten journey to initiation, we must join them in that renewal since on Easter we too will be asked to reaffirm our baptism by renouncing sin and professing faith.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How is broken within you that you deeply yearn to be healed and made whole?
2. How are you tempted to rely on your own power and not on God’s grace?
3. Which person in your life has most frequently shown you the power of God’s grace at work?
4. What messages has our society given you that have made your life unhappy? How can you escape from those messages? How can you help others escape?

Practice: This week ponder the two final petitions of the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us… and Lead us not…. What do you need to ask God to change in your heart? In your life?

SOURCE: TEAM RCIA

ANNE OSDIECK

The Place of the Essential

1st Sunday of Lent (A)

1. How does it make you feel to think Jesus had to fight temptation the same way you do? Did he dialogue with the devil or just send him away with the Word of God?

2. Why would Pope Francis say that the desert is “the place of the essential”? He says the following about Sunday’s readings:

Let us imagine that we are in a desert. The first feeling would be that of being enveloped by a great silence: no sound besides the wind and our own breathing. The desert is a place of detachment from the din that surrounds us. It is the absence of words to make room for another Word, the Word of God, that caresses our hearts like a light breeze (cf. 1 Kings 19:12). …

By calling us to the desert, Jesus invites us to listen to what matters, to what is important, to the essential. … We need to pray. Because only before God do the inclinations of the heart come to light and the duplicity of the spirit cease. The desert is a place of life not of death because speaking to the Lord in silence, gives us life again. …

The desert is the place of the essential. Let us look at our lives: how many useless things surround us! We chase after thousands of things that seem necessary and that in reality are not. How good it would be for us to free ourselves from many superfluous realities, to rediscover what matters. …

Audience Pope Francis, Feb. 26, 2020
Beginning of Lenten Journey

MORE QUESTIONS

SOURCE: Sunday Web Site – Saint Louis University

MONIKA KORZEC

The grace of….

1st Sunday of Lent (A)

Click on Link Above to Go To Micro Retreat

Take a weekly break from the business of life and enjoy a mini do-it-yourself Sunday Retreat. These retreats are based on Sunday’s reading and prompt reflection questions that you may want to think about. It is a good idea to keep a personal journal in which reflections that stood out for you are recorded. The outcome of those Sunday Micro Retreats is good material that you can talk about in your spiritual direction.

SOURCE: CONTEMPLATIVE RETREAT | Recent Retreats