by Jose Kurian Puliyeril

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 4:1-11 & St. John 11:26-46

In the first verse we find that our Lord was led by the Spirit in to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The same incident is narrated by St. Mark (1:12) and St. Luke (4:1) of their gospels. In Hebrews 4:15 we read "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. This reminds one and all to be cautious of the temptations in our daily lives from the devil. The devil will not leave anyone as he has tempted our Lord God.

Our Lord fasted for forty days and forty nights. We also completed our forty days and we alone know how our last forty days was. Let us examine what all things we were able to avoid during this fasting. Exodus 34: 28 tells us how Moses fasted for forty days. "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights he did neither eat bread, nor drink water." Our Lord also fasted exactly like this and the Holy Scripture says that he was afterward hungry.

Then came the devils three types of temptations. We have heard different types of commentaries about the three types of temptations. The Satan approached our Lord, the real authority of the Holy Scriptures, with the verses from the Scriptures. When we will have to face temptations we cannot overcome them until and unless we are guided by the Holy Spirit. We should not depend our self to win over the Satan and the evil forces and at the same time we must submit ourselves to God Almighty's disposal and we must seek His guidance.