Lent: A Time for Spiritual Combat

The first Sunday of Lent offers an account of Jesus in the desert. It can be barren and seclusive. There is nothing there but ourselves.

The gospel of Matthew offers a shorter version than that of St. Luke. They also share how Christ redeemed humanity since the fall during the time of Adam and Eve when the devil seduced him to do his will and not of God. It would be a precursor to his triumph over death through his passion.

Both accounts share that Jesus is confronted with the temptations of the world from Satan. It is Satan who wants to see every follower of Christ fall and never get back up to keep following Christ. The fallen angel wants to crowd hell as opposed to seeing heaven crowded with holy men and women who sought after God’s heart during their earthly life.

G.K. Chesterton once said, "If the devil tells you something is too fearful to look at, look at it. If he says something is too terrible to hear, hear it. If you think some truth unbearable, bear it".

Lent is a time for us to bear the wrongs of others towards us, listen to God’s voice, and even gaze at what is higher in this life, and that is heaven.

Lent is a time to confront the temptations in our lives that are holding us back from growing closer to God. It is deeper than giving up food, social media, or other things of this world. It is also a time of self-improvement, but many self-help books fall short of satisfying us.

Ever Catholic must be ready to engage the devil by battling every temptation that he will try to get us to fall. When we fall, two things will happen.

First, we can pick ourselves and try again. We can’t persevere unless we have courage. Courage teaches us to never back away from a fight. When we persevere, we allow God to help us be strengthened for the battle that is taking place.

The latter would be to succumb to temptation just so we can fit in.

Rocky Balboa, a fictional underdog and philosopher from Philadelphia, once said, “You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward? That’s how winning is done."

The endgame of our Lenten journey is to triumph over the devil. He will throw everything at us to not be close to Christ. What he will not know is our striving for holiness every time we humbly call upon Christ when we say “yes” to him.

As we embark on the first week of Lent, let’s give God our yes. Let’s get to confession and do works of mercy. Let’s live every day like it is our last.

Catholics, prepare for spiritual combat!