Gospel of the Sunday (Matthew 4:1–11)
At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was at last hungry. Then the tempter came to Him and said: If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But He answered and said: It is written: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Then the devil took Him into the holy city and set Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him: If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written: He shall give His angels charge over You; and they shall bear You up in their hands, lest You strike Your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is also written: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
Again the devil took Him up to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to Him: All these I will give You, if You fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him: Begone, Satan! For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
“At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)
The Lord Jesus was led into the desert not to rest, but to fight. He sought solitude not to flee from men, but to meet the enemy. In the city one learns to speak; in the desert one learns to be silent. In the crowd one is heard; in solitude one is tested. The desert is the school of Christ. There He fasts, there He prays, there He is tempted. Why does He fast who is without sin? Why is He tempted who cannot fall? That you may learn to fast, that you may learn to fight, that you may learn not to despair when you are tempted. The devil approached Him after forty days; he waited until hunger came. So he does with you: he seeks the hour of weakness. But behold the humility of Christ. He could have commanded, and the tempter would have fled; He could have spoken, and the enemy would have been silenced. Yet He answers with Scripture, as a man among men. He conquers by obedience, not by power; by humility, not by force. O wondrous combat: the hungry conquers him who offers fullness; the humble conquers the proud; the silent conquers the cunning. Enter also into the desert — not of sand, but of silence. Let your heart become a desert, that God may speak there. For where the world falls silent, Christ speaks; and where Christ speaks, the tempter is silenced. Bernard of Clairvaux