WEBVTT 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:09.279 Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, the church brings us into the desert. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:15.759 Not as spectators, not as tourists, but as participants. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:21.760 Because a desert is not a place on a map, it is a place in the soul. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.000 And there's a question waiting for all of us there. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.760 What actually rules your heart? 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:42.799 Not what you say rules your heart, or not what you post on social media, not what you think rules it, but what actually rules your heart? 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:52.719 We often imagine temptation as something crude, something obviously dark, something ugly and destructive. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:55.039 But here's the truth. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.600 The devil does not tempt good people with evil. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:03.600 He tempts good people with good things. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.719 That's why the gospel today is so dangerous. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:13.760 Because it exposes how subtle the battle really is. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:20.079 Jesus goes into the desert after forty days and forty nights. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:21.840 He's been fasting. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.159 He's hungry, weak, human. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:34.799 And the devil comes to him, not with horror, not with violence, but with a reasonable suggestion. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:40.239 He says to him, Hey, why don't you turn these stones into bread? 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:41.760 I know you're hungry. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:44.959 Well, bread is not evil. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:47.120 Bread is good. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.760 Have you ever had some fresh Cuban bread with nice butter and a cafecito? 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:57.359 Food is good. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.280 Pleasure is good. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:00.799 Comfort is good. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.079 The temptation was not to do something wicked. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:14.560 The temptation was to meet a legitimate need in a way that bypassed the trust of the Father. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.840 To use power for self before obedience. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.879 And Jesus answers with words that should shake us. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:28.319 Man does not live on bread alone. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:35.680 Translation means your deepest hunger is not physical. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:42.400 And yet, how many, how much of our lives are spent chasing satisfaction? 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:52.879 We feed our bodies constantly, we feed our egos constantly, we feed our impulses, but do we feed our souls? 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.039 That's why the church asks us to fast. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:04.080 Not because food is bad, but because hunger clarifies. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.800 Hunger exposes what we depend on. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:14.400 Then the devil raises the stakes. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.039 He shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:22.080 Power, influence, control. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.439 Again, none of these are evil in and of themselves. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.479 Leadership is good and necessary. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:32.240 Authority is good. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:34.319 Influence can be very good. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:45.199 But the temptation is to grasp them without the cross, to win without obedience, to rule without surrender. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:52.159 Worship me, the devil says, and it all will be yours. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.360 In other words, compromise. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.240 Just a little, and you can have it all. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:02.639 Isn't that the same whisper we hear today? 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:04.639 Cut corners. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:06.719 Adjust the truth a little bit. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:08.080 Who's gonna see? 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:10.800 Soften the gospel. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.240 Don't be so serious, don't be so radical. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:15.840 It's not such a big deal. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.519 Everybody does it. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:22.959 You can have success, just don't let Christ interfere too much. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:30.480 And finally, the most subtle temptation of all: throw yourself down from this temple. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.800 Let the angel save you. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:39.519 The temptation to perform, to impress, to be spectacular. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:50.240 Again, prestige in and of itself is not evil, reputation is not evil, but living for applause is deadly. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:05:00.560 The temptation was to manipulate God's power for public approval, to build a following without fidelity. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:02.959 But Jesus refuses. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:13.680 He refuses bread without trust, he refuses power without obedience, he refuses glory without sacrifice. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:18.000 But here are some gospel truths. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:32.399 These are the same three temptations we live each and every day appetite, power, prestige, pleasure, control, recognition, accumulation. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:40.079 The devil rarely destroys a soul by offering something obviously corrupt and bad. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.279 The good person will discharge it right out. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:54.959 He destroys a soul by slowly rearranging priorities, by convincing us that good things are the ultimate things. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.319 And when good things become the ultimate things, they become idols. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:03.120 God then takes a second place. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:07.279 That's the real battle of Lent. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:13.759 Not chocolate, not coffee, not social media, not all of those things that you may have given up. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:16.399 The real battle is hierarchy. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:17.920 What is first? 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:19.439 Who is first? 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:26.480 You cannot serve two princes, the prince of peace and the prince of this world. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:35.360 One leads to freedom through the cross, the other leads to slavery, disguised as earthly success. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:38.079 St. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:42.800 Pope John Paul II once told the generation, You must choose. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:47.519 Your choice must be clear and your decision must be firm. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.000 Wasn't dramatic rhetoric, it was realism. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:57.519 Every generation faces that moment where they have to come to a decision. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.800 But here's the sobering truth. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.079 You do not make that decision once. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:10.319 You have to make that decision every single day, where you wake up in the morning and you say, I choose you, Christ. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:16.480 I will shape my life, my priorities, all of my decisions, everything that I do based on you. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:31.759 Every time you choose prayer over distraction, every time you choose integrity over convenience, every time you choose fidelity over applause, every time you choose Christ over comfort. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.240 Now let me say something plainly. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:40.800 The devil is real, whether you believe it or not. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:50.160 He hates Christ, he hates the church, he hates marriages, he hates families, and he most definitely hates priests. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:55.680 And he will love nothing more than to convince you that the desert is unnecessary. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.720 But the desert is where clarity is born. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:09.040 Lent is not about minor adjustments, it's about reordering the heart. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:15.279 It's about asking with brutal honesty, where have I placed bread before God? 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:20.240 Where have I sought power instead of obedience? 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:27.759 Where have I craved applause more than seeking holiness, serving the Lord quietly? 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.120 Again, this is not meant to discourage you. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.600 I'm giving you the good news. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:42.159 Jesus did not just resist temptation for himself, he resisted it for you. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:47.360 He entered the desert so that when you enter your desert, you're not alone. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.080 You know that he's there walking with you. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.960 He defeated the devil so that you could fight with his strength. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:09:00.879 The desert is not where we go to fail, the desert is where we go to decide. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:04.480 So I'll leave you with this. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:10.960 What will profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.879 What would it profit you to win admiration and forfeit eternity? 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:22.399 What would it profit you to feed every appetite and starve your heart? 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:32.960 This is a generation of decision, not political decisions, not cultural decisions, spiritual decisions. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:44.639 Nothing comes before God, not success, not comfort, not more things, not relationships, not reputation. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.200 Nothing comes before God. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:53.840 And if you make that decision, that nothing comes before God, truly make that decision. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:59.840 Lent will not be a season of deprivation, it will be a season of liberation. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:06.320 Because when Christ is first, I promise you, everything else falls into its place. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.840 Choose clearly this year. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:11.840 Choose firmly. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:15.360 Choose Christ today and always. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:16.320 Amen.