First Sunday of Lent

Temptations come in many shapes and forms. Some tempt us to evil, some to avoiding the good we are called to do.

God spoke to Adam and Eve: "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." But they could not hear it. Their hearts were hard, desiring to "be like God."

Satan tests Jesus to see whether he trusts God to care for him, or would he like that “little extra’ – bread from stones just to show off his power. There were other times to produce bread, when it was needed to feed the hungry crowds, but not now, not for this reason.

Sometimes we are tempted just not to bother, not to listen to God calling us to be our best selves. Therese had quite a time with that. Walking past the convent on her way home from work was uncomfortable; each time she felt a call to go in. And so she took the long way home, avoiding the discomfort. She trained as a nurse in a hospital run by the sisters, and that was almost too much. She heard God calling, but hoped it was to something else. Finally she joined a religious group far from home. And it was there that God caught up with her. With spiritual direction, with quiet time to stop and listen, the voice of God came through loud and clear.

Therese came home to become a Sister of St. Joseph in the very convent she had worked so hard to avoid years before.

"Choose life!" - Deuteronomy 30:19

By Mary Buckley CSJ