Pope at Angelus: 'never engage in
dialogue with the devil’
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| Pope Francis during the Angelus (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis addresses the faithful on this first Sunday of
Lent reflecting on how temptation is an attempt to walk alternative paths than
those of God.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to be alert and
vigilant when “messages, coming at us from many places” invite us to be tempted
and to experience “the intoxication of transgression.”
Speaking to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for
the Angelus, the Pope reflected on the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent that
tells of how Jesus, after having been baptized in the River Jordan, was led by
the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
He recalled that Jesus prepared himself for his mission of
proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven by fasting for forty days.
“At the end of this period of fasting, the tempter, the
devil, breaks in and tries three times to put Jesus to the test,” he said.
The three temptations
The first temptation, the Pope explained, arises from the
fact that Jesus is hungry, and so, the devil suggests: “If you are the Son of
God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
But, he continued, Jesus’s response is clear: “One does not
live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the
mouth of God.”
The devil’s second attempt, the Pope said, “is a bit more
astute”: by quoting the Sacred Scripture, he invites Jesus to put God to the
test.
“But even in this case,” the Holy Father explained, “Jesus
does not allow himself to be confounded, because the one who believes does not
put God to the test, but instead entrusts him or herself to God’s goodness.”
Lastly, the third attempt, he said, reveals the devil’s true
reasoning: “since the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven means the beginning of
his own defeat, the evil one wants to distract Jesus from accomplishing His
mission by presenting him a political Messianic perspective.”
But, the Pope said, Jesus rejects the idolatry of power and
human glory and, in the end, drives the tempter away, saying to him: “Begone,
Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone
shall you serve’”.
Never engage in dialogue with the Devil
The Pope reflected at length on how Jesus does not enter
into dialogue with the devil.
Jesus, he said, responds to the devil with the Word of God,
not with his word, and he urged the faithful to always be alert and careful and
to do the same.
Satan breaks into people’s lives
Today as well, Pope Francis said, Satan breaks into people’s
lives to tempt them with his enticing proposals.
The devil, he said, “mixes his own voice with the many other
voices that try to tame our conscience,” and he warned believers to be aware
that “messages come at us from many places enticing us to “experience the
intoxication of transgression.”
“Jesus’ experience teaches us that temptation is an attempt
to walk alternative paths than those of God,” he said.
He described them as paths that perhaps give us “the
sensation of being self-sufficient, of enjoying life as an end in itself.”
However, all of this is illusory, he said, and “very
quickly, we realize that the more we distance ourselves from God, the more
defenseless and helpless we feel when facing the large existential problems.”
The Pope concluded his catechesis appealing for the
intercession of the mother of He “who crushed the head of the serpent,” to help
us, during this time of Lent, “to be vigilant when confronted with temptation,
and not to submit ourselves to any idol whatsoever of this world, and to follow
Jesus in the battle against evil.”
“Thus, he said, we too will be victorious with Him.”
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