Here is a photo of my son taken a few days ago dressed up for his 100th day of school. He’s ready for his journey! It’s an endearing reminder that we are all on a journey with God no matter our age. God invites us on a particular journey at the start of Lent.

The Temptation of Jesus is an important story as we thrust ourselves into the season of Lent. This year our attention is given to Luke.

The first detail is that this takes place in the desert. Lent is the season we remember our spiritual journey through the dryness and hunger within. We walk with Jesus through this inner desert. Be mindful that in the desert there is water. Sometimes water is hidden. Be assured it is there.

As I wrote in my Ash Wednesday post, water is hidden in the deepness of the desert. With this said, we must use water in our liturgies to remind us of our baptism. Our baptismal fonts should continue to have water in them and not sand. Lent is a journey to renew our baptismal promises at Easter and walk with those preparing for baptism.

Water. It is essential for our Lenten journey. Luke will unveil this for us.

Luke’s account of the Temptation of Jesus opens with a distinct detail. The account opens:

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.”

We have a hint of this empowerment of the Holy Spirit in Luke’s earlier chapter. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River “and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:22).

Baptism inaugurates our Lord into his mission to wrestle with the devil. This drives home the point that baptism and desert are intimately connected.

In every step of his mission from baptism to the temptations, we feel the weight Jesus bears. Baptism is the rehearsal of dying and rising and the temptations give insight to all our Lord will undergo. He is determined. Underlying this determination is obedience. This obedience is rooted in love.

Pope Benedict XVI gives insight to an important temptation we must all face. He says:

At the heart of all temptations, as we see here, is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. Constructing a world by our own lights, without reference to God, building on our own foundation; refusing to acknowledge the reality of anything beyond the political and material, while setting God aside as an illusion – that is the temptation that threatens us in many varied forms (28).

Lent is about piercing the illusion and stepping into the reality of who God is. We can give priority to other things that put God secondary or we can restructure life so that God is our one true reality.

We do not live by the promptings of our own hunger. We do not dictate life by our appetite. We journey together in obedience to God. Christ has modeled that loving obedience.

One final thought. We journey through the barren wilderness to remember our ancestors. God freed his people from the grip of the Egyptians and led them through the desert into freedom. God will lead us out of our inner slavery. God will pierce our sins and draw us into his marvelous light. He hears our cry, he sees our affliction, our toil, and oppression. As he did for the people of Moses, he will do so for us! He is with us in all our troubles. As a loving Father, God will shepherd us with his tender and purifying heart. He will bring us to the land of milk and honey. There we will worship him in spirit and truth.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Touch water and be reminded of your baptism. Listen to his gentle and firm promptings for intimate prayer. Rekindle your burning hearts at Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Let us embark on this journey together.