Greeting (See Second Reading)
May the word of God be near you, on your lips and in your heart. May your lips confess here that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. May his grace be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. Jesus Went Through Our Temptations
People of God, you who are tempted to let consumers’ goods make you their slave and prisoner, Jesus refused to be fascinated by them and he wants us to hunger for people, for prayer and for God. People of God, you who are tempted to impress people and to control them, Jesus came to bring the power of love and he tells you to serve God in people. People of God, you who are tempted to create your own idols and to make yourself the center of the world, Jesus wants us with him to worship only God. With him who overcame our temptations we confidently enter this Lent.
2. With Jesus in the Desert
At our baptism, through our godparents, we said NO to Satan and his temptations before we said YES to the covenant of love, which God offered to us. There we joined Jesus in his NO to Satan and his temptations that tried to make him abandon his mission of restoring people to God’s covenant love. During Lent we are challenged to make this YES and this NO come true. Like Jesus, are we willing to be faithful to our mission in life, to join Jesus in his NO to all evil and in his YES to God and neighbor and to our truest self?
Penitential Act
We welcome this Lent as a time to seek conversion and reconciliation. (pause)
-Lord Jesus, let your Spirit lead us into the desert to recover the spirit of prayer: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
-Jesus Christ, let your Spirit lead us into the desert to rediscover our neighbor: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
-Lord Jesus, let your Spirit lead us into the desert to make us see again what really matters in life: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Lord, in your loving kindness, forgive us all our sins and make us new and alive. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to our living God to turn our heart to him (pause)
God, you want to be near to us, you lead us with your Son Jesus to the desert of questions and temptations that you may speak to our heart and bring us back to you in loving trust. Open our eyes, our minds and our hearts to discard all that leads us astray and to look for you and for the plans you have for us and for the world. Let your Spirit give us the mentality of Jesus, that we may seek your will in all we do and serve you in our brothers and sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Dt 26:4-10): A People Saved by God
Like the Jewish people, we must be convinced that it is God who makes us a free people: he is our Savior.
Second Reading (Rom 10:8-13): Jesus Is Our Lord and Savior
This is the faith that we profess and live: Jesus is our Lord and he alone is our Savior, whatever our race or nationality.
Gospel (Lk 4:1-13): Jesus Remained Faithful to His Mission
Jesus, God’s Son, is the new human being who resisted the temptations of self-indulgence, power and trying to bend God to his will. We are called to follow him on his way of fidelity and responsible freedom.
Intercessions
Let the Holy Spirit inspire our prayer as we bring before the Father the great needs of our brothers and sisters, of the Church and of the world. Let us say: R/ Hear us, Lord, and have mercy.
– That the Lord may give us and all Christians a deep and strong faith, which we profess not only with our lips but which we also live in our deeds, let us pray: R/ Hear us, Lord, and have mercy.
– That we and all those caught up in material tasks and concerns may learn to seek other food than bread alone, let us pray: R/ Hear us, Lord, and have mercy.
– That we and all those who work to increase their influence and power may learn to seek the Lord and adore him alone, let us pray: R/ Hear us, Lord, and have mercy.
– That we and all those who are tried by temptations may remain faithful to God and answer his call to serve God and people, let us pray: R/ Hear us, Lord, and have mercy.
– That we and all those surrounded by suffering, injustice and illness may be made more sensitive by the Lord to the needs of people and love them more, let us pray: R/ Hear us, Lord, and have mercy.
Loving Father, you stood by your Son in his temptations. Sustain those who hope in you and keep them in your love, now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God of mercy and compassion, we are aware of our weakness and our faults. We bring before you these signs of our good intentions and our will to change. Let them empower us with the strength of Jesus to give ourselves with him to you and to one another. Guide us by his Holy Spirit on the humble way of conversion. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharist Prayer
Let us now with our hearts and voices give thanks to our Father that Jesus, suffering our temptations, overcame them and gives us the strength also to resist them.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray in the words of Jesus to our Father in heaven to set us free from evil and to stand by our side in days of trial: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us peace with you and with one another. When you test those who belong to you, do not allow us to yield to the seductive power of sin but refine our loyalty and love and strengthen us with the hopeful joy that you will complete your victory in us at the full coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord, who was tested for our sake and whom God raised from the dead. If we believe in him and eat his bread of life, we are saved. Happy are we to be invited to eat from his table. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord God, our Father, you have let us encounter here Jesus, your Son, who had been tempted like us, and Jesus has refreshed our courage by his word, his example and his body. By the strength of the food of the eucharist lead us on our journey of forty days and take us to the mountain of Easter, that we may share in his risen power as people renewed to love and trust you more and to serve better our brothers and sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
It is good for us to know that Someone before us has successfully faced the illusions and the misleading attractions of a world estranged from God. With him we can overcome, we can make a strong choice for God, for people, and for our better selves. Let us go Christ’s way, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Be guided by the Holy Spirit on the road of conversion and renewal.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Commentary
“If”
Read:
Remembrance of God’s intervention helps us surrender our lives into His hands. We are invited to trust that memory and believe in our hearts and confess with our lips the Lordship of Christ. Jesus has such trust in his Father that he refuses to test God’s fidelity.
Reflect:
All three temptations of Jesus are predicated on conditional clause: “If you are the Son of God” (temptations 1 & 3), “provided you worship me” (temptation 2). Jesus resists such temptations, because, in his heart, there is no “if” clause with regards God. For Jesus, the Father-Son relationship he has with God is not a hypothesis to be tested and proven; it is an experiential truth he has lived eternally. His life is so one with God that there is no space for worshipping someone else, even when the Father is seemingly absent or silent. When the devil, quite ingeniously, tempts Jesus with words from the Scriptures, Jesus does not budge: You do not put conditions on God; you simply live God.
Pray:
In your relationship with God, do you use “if” clauses, such as: “if God heals…” or “if I get a job…”? If you do, pray for the grace of abandonment to God’s will.
Act:
Make an act of abandonment to God’s will.
