Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
The gospel for this first Sunday of Lent (cf Lk 4:1-13) describes Jesus' experience of temptation in the desert. After having fasted for forty days, Jesus is tempted three times by the devil. First he is invited to transform a stone into bread (Lk 4:3), then the devil shows him all the kingdoms of the earth and the possibility of becoming a powerful and glorious Messiah (Lk 4:5-6); and finally, he is led to the highest pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the devil invites him to throw himself off the temple in order to demonstrate his divine power in spectacular fashion (Lk 4:9-11). The three temptations point out three paths that the world constantly proposes, promising great success, three ways that we can be deceived: greed for possessions - possessing more and more and more things -, human glory and the exploitation of God. These are three paths that will lead us to ruin.
The first one, the path of having possessions, is always the insidious logic of the devil. He begins with our natural and legitimate need to eat, to live, to be fulfilled, to be happy, and encourages us to believe that all this is possible without God, even in contrast to Him. But Jesus opposes the devil, saying: Man does not live by bread alone (Lk 4:4). Recalling the long journey of God's elect across the desert, Jesus affirms the fact that he wants to abandon himself fully to the Father's providence; our Father always takes care of His children.
The second temptation: the path of human glory. The devil says: All this I will give you if you kneel down and worship me (Lk 4:7). A person can lose all personal dignity, we can let ourselves be corrupted by the idols of money, success and power, in order to reach self-affirmation. And we can take pleasure in the exhilaration of empty joy that soon fades away. This also leads us to act like peacocks, to be vain, but this too fades. This is why Jesus replies: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him (Lk 4:8).
And then the third temptation: to exploit God for our own advantage. To the devil who, quoting the Scriptures, invites him to seek from God an impressive miracle, Jesus again opposes his invitation with a firm decision to remain humble, to remain confident before the Father: It is written, 'Thou shalt not put the Lord your God to the test (Mk 4:12). And so, Jesus rejects the perhaps more subtle temptation: that of wanting to pull God onto our side, asking him for graces that actually serve and will serve to satisfy our pride.
These are the paths that are set before us, with illusions of being able to achieve success and happiness. But, in reality, they are completely foreign to God's way of acting; in fact, they separate us from God, because they are the work of Satan. Jesus, facing these trials in the first person, is victorious over temptation three times in order to fully adhere to the Father's plan. And he shows us the remedies: the inner life, faith in God, the certainty of his love, the certainty that God loves us, our God who is our Father, and with this certainty we will overcome every temptation.
But there is one thing, to which I would like to draw attention, an interesting thing. In answer to the tempter, Jesus does not enter into dialogue. Rather, he responds to the three challenges only with the Word of God. This teaches us that with the devil one does not dialogue, we must not dialogue, we only need to respond with the Word of God.
Therefore let us take advantage of Lent, as a privileged time to purify ourselves, to experience the consoling presence of God in our lives.
May the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, icon of God's faithfulness, support us on our journey, help us to always reject evil and to welcome all that is good.
At the conclusion of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Yesterday in Oviedo (Spain), the seminarians Angelo Curtas and eight of his friends, all of whom were martyred - killed in hatred for the faith in a time of religious persecution - were declared Blessed. These young aspirants to the priesthood loved the Lord so much that they followed him along the way of the Cross. May their heroic testimony help seminarians, priests and bishops to remain open and generous, in order to faithfully serve the Lord and the holy people of God.
I offer a cordial greeting to the families, parish groups, associations and to all the pilgrims who have come from Italy and from other countries. I greet the students from Castro Urdiales (Spain) and the faithful who have come from Warsaw; as well as from Castellammare di Stabia and Porcia. I greet the Little Singers from Pura (Switzerland), the children from the deanery of Baggio (Milan), those from Samarate who have recently made their profession of faith, those from Bondone and Paullo who have recently celebrated Confirmation, the young men and women from Verona and the graduates from the Emiliani school run by the Somashi Fathers in Genoa.
I hope that your lenten journey, which has only just begun, will be rich and fruitful; and I ask you to remember me and my collaborators in the Roman Curia in your prayers. This evening, we will begin a week of Spiritual Exercises.
Have a good Sunday! Enjoy your lunch. And good bye!
Original text in Italian
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