First Sunday of Lent

“Jesus, tempted by the devil”

First lesson, temptation is not sin. Only by giving into a temptation, across the PIES, to do evil, is a sin.

Physical – ego centric: turning stone into bread

Emotional: become famous when jump from the Temple top and drift down gently

Spiritual: powerful when rule over the whole world. In Latin Satan would have said “haec omnia tibi dabo.”

As there is no mountain from which you can see the whole world, this would have been in the mind, the imagination of Jesus Christ.

In Barcelona there is a high hill called Tibidabo, which the Catalans claimed was where Jesus was taken.

I remember a Basque saying that if the devil had taken him to the really beautiful Monte Artxanda in Bilbao, Jesus might have given in.

Temptations are attractive because they appeal to human senses, promise immediate pleasure, and often disguise their long-term negative consequences by offering something that seems fundamentally good. They are tailored to exploit individual vulnerabilities, insecurities, or unchecked desires, making them difficult to resist.

It is good to engage brain when tempted and think of the consequences. All those erstwhile friends of Jeffrey Epstein now wish they had done that before landing on his Little Saint James island.

Knowing that Jesus Christ is with me wherever I am helps me keep most temptations  - like giving a splendid and long homily - as just temptations. Not converting them into sins. Lucky you.