The Temptation of Christ, Botticelli, 1500 The Vatican

Worship the Lord your God and serve only him, said Jesus to the devil (Luke 4:7). The scripture-quoting devil tries to back Jesus into several corners. He has considerable power and authority and he is persistent. Our lives are full of temptations too. The devil drives us into unpleasant corners of one kind and another. The Holy Spirit, which Luke says filled Jesus after his baptism, is a freeing power. The devil enslaves. The spirit frees. That’s more or less the gospel story.

On Ash Wednesday I said that in Epiphany we heard who Jesus is. In Lent we try to discover who we are, in the light of our own experiences and thoughts, and with the scripture’s guidance. Our Lenten devotions and disciplines are the means to this kind of discovery. Come on Sunday and let the holy spirit run the devil out of your life. The word and the sacraments are the means of grace offered every Sunday morning for your spiritual nourishment for your desert journeys and temptations.