In the Battlefield of Our Souls: The Three Temptations

(Homily for March 9^th, 2025, First Sunday of Lent)

Lent is recognized as a certain “warfare.” The opening prayer in Ash Wednesday says: “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.” During the Lenten Season, God prepares us for celebrating the great mysteries of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. This celebration requires us to be purified. The instruments of purification are prayer, penance and almsgiving. The devil knows this, so he will tempt us against penance, prayer and almsgiving. Thus, God and the devil are at war in the battlefield of our souls. As Jesus Himself was tempted, we also will be tempted.

1.  When we speak about the salvation of the soul, we refer to this war and to the possibility of being defeated forever. Salvation, in this sense, means salvation from hell, and from those actions of the devil that may take us to hell. Moreover, our salvation began in the past, with Jesus’ Passion and with our own baptism; our salvation will be fulfilled in the future, in Heaven; our salvation is worked out in the present, every day, when we reject temptations and grow in virtue with the grace of God. Finally, our salvation is the work of God: nobody can be saved without His helping grace; but our salvation is also our own work: as St. Augustine put it, “God, who created you without you doing anything, will not save you without you doing something.”

Salvation is not a given. If our salvation were “automatic,” so to speak, Jesus would not have died for us. And the fact that Jesus already died for us, does not make our salvation “automatic.” Jesus said many times that the danger of eternal damnation is real, and this is why He left the weapons of eternal salvation with His soldiers and taught them how to use them.

This war is not equal, to be sure. The devil is not more powerful than God, but he is more powerful and intelligent than us. The devil is good at deceiving human beings, and we are good at letting ourselves be deceived. This is why it is important to watch our Captain fighting the devil and learn from Him, so that we may also be victorious.

2.  The tactic of the devil is to show something which is not God as better than Him and what He commanded us. His goal is to make us choose something that God does not want for us. This something can be the good of the body, like food (first temptation); or other material, visible goods, like money and power (second temptation); or our spiritual good but apart from God, which is pride (third temptation). The temptation is always about obtaining something good but in the wrong way, by misusing our God-given capacities.

First temptation. - The devil says to us: “You are young, just do it! If you can have fun, do it!” However, man is not made for fun, but for love. “The youth are not made for pleasure, but for heroism” (Paul Claudel). “Man does not live on bread alone” (Luke 4:4). The inordinate attention to the body is the condemnation of the soul. Our soul is not only the life of the body but also has a spiritual dimension: thus, the soul must provide food for both, body and spirit, not only for the body. When we mortally sin in the body, we kill our soul: we lose the life of grace and eternal life. And even without arriving at a mortal sin, when we pay inordinate attention to the body we starve our soul, and our spirit becomes weaker to fight temptations. Penance is a way of making our soul stronger, so that the devil may not use the natural desires of our body against us.

Second temptation. – The devil says to your ear: “You could obtain such a good position if you just lied once, if you just cheated now… How good your life would be, if you just worshipped me for only this time!” How difficult it is, particularly in today’s world, to prioritize integrity over economic well-being! But, if you think it through, how much more difficult it will be to repair the injustices we have committed, especially when it is God who will judge our actions, not the government! Almsgiving, among other benefits, may help us to repair injustices committed in the past. It is also a way to restrain our inordinate desire for money and power, so that those desires may always agree with the love of God and neighbor.

Third temptation. – The devil whispers: “God is good, God is love, He will save you any way. Do what you want!” The devil has tricked many Christians by quoting the Bible. The devil makes us believe that God is at our service, like a handmaid, whose only worry is that you are comfortable and that you are not upset with Him. The devil wants you to feel the center of the universe and of the Church, as if salvation were somehow preserving you alone, as if the Church and God were meant to make your life more pleasant. This is a great trick, because, in fact, God truly wants the best for you. But the best for you is not you alone, but He in you. Salvation is loving God perfectly and being perfectly loved by Him and, surprise, we are not ready for that. We need to get used to being with God, and this is what prayer is about. Prayer is raising our lowly hearts to the highest Heaven, knowing that our salvation comes from Him and is He, and willing to obey Him in everything. Prayer is not taking advantage of God’s love for our own benefit. Prayer is opening ourselves to receive His love, to receive Him, who is the only one who can fulfill the desires of our hearts.

--- May this Lenten season be a time of penance, almsgiving and prayer; a time to take care of our souls, especially through the Sacraments of the Church; a time to make room for God; a time to surrender to Him, not to temptation; a time of conversion and repentance; a time of reparation and of great joy in love. Have a blessed Lent!