Brothers and Sisters in Christ, before the ordination to the priesthood together with
my friends from the seminary we prepared some holy pictures, so we could offer them
to all those who wanted to accept a special blessing from us after our first Masses.
Each one of us chose a motto from the Bible, which we printed at the back. I quoted
Saint Paul: “Jesus is Lord” (Rom 10:9). These words are part of today’s second reading:
“If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing from the heart, you are made righteous;
by confessing with your lips, you are saved” (Rom 10:9-10). I love Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans
because it changed my whole life. But that is a story for another homily. It is good to know that
the statement “Jesus is Lord” is one of the oldest and shortest professions of faith.
I encourage you to say these words often. However, the Lenten time, including Holy
Week and the Truduum ceremonies, show us that it is not enough just to proclaim Jesus as our
Lord and King. We need to be ready to follow him. His kingship is different from the earthly ones.
Being a part of his Kingdom often means hardship and suffering. Why?
Because by being committed to Jesus we become like him. His lifestyle becomes our way of life.
We read in the Bible that before Jesus suffered his passion and death
he was exposed to different forms of temptations. In today’s Gospel we see him in the desert.
Saint Luke reported that he was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk 4:1). Nevertheless,
the devil tried to tempt him. There is a very important lesson here for us:
no matter our vocation, sooner or later we will be tested; we will face temptations on our spiritual
journey. Maybe we will be severely confronted by our own failures. The Holy Scripture shows
us that even though it is extremely important to recognise Christ as our Lord and welcome his
Holy Spirit into our hearts, we will not avoid the darkness of the encounter with the evil one.
How to be winners in such a confrontation? Let us imitate Jesus! When approached by satan he began
to fast. The devil knew the great significance of fasting. That is why he wanted to stop the Lord
from doing it. He began to tempt him by saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone
to turn into a loaf” (Lk 4:3). Then Jesus spoke words that each one of us should always remember,
“Man does not live on bread alone” (Lk 4:4). God’s Word is true spiritual nourishment.
Moreover, it helps us to defend ourselves. It is our spiritual weapon when we are faced by
the enemy. If Jesus used the Word of God to defend himself, we should do so as well.
It is obvious that if we want our bodies to function normally, we should get regular food.
This is even more the case with our spiritual life. Only through being nourished by God’s living
Word, by regular prayer, by the sacraments, do we guarantee that our life of faith will
function in a healthy manner; and we will see the fruits of our spiritual regular nourishment.
One of these fruits is a humble life of service. Jesus said to the devil,
“You must serve him alone” (Lk 4:8). Of course, he was referring to his Heavenly Father.
A spiritually nourished person will have strength to serve God the best possible way.
Dear Friends, if we want to deepen our faith during these forty days of Lent, let us decide
to serve God and his Church. If you have been already involved in your parish activities,
please, find new ways to serve your brothers and sisters. If you don’t know what to do,
pray and listen carefully to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Seek an answer in the Bible. Maybe God’s will be revealed to you through another person,
through your parish priest, perhaps even through your local Bishop?
Try to listen carefully and respond positively. Pray for the spiritual strength to serve the Lord
and your neighbour with a joyful heart during this time of spiritual preparation for Easter.