Episode 054 - Podcast | Desert Of Decision

We walk into Lent with purpose and unpack how Jesus’ temptations reveal our own: hunger for quick fixes, shortcuts to power, and the pull of applause. The desert becomes good news as we practice hidden faithfulness, resist half-truths, and live as beloved sons and daughters.

• choosing intentional fasting to reveal real dependencies
• Scripture as the answer to doubt and desire
• trading shortcuts and control for trust in the Father
• recognizing the devil’s subtle strategies and half-truths
• practicing unseen acts to break vanity and seek God’s gaze
• daily recommitment to put Jesus first over comfort
• reframing temptation as a moment for grace and growth

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

Transcript

Setting The Lenten Stage

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Heart of the Homily Podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Michelle Lopez, and I'm here with Father Rigoa.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

How's it going, Michelle?

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Doing wonderful. Happy Lent.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Happy Lent. We're in it.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

We're in it. We're in it. And um, we have wonderful readings to kind of talk about today as we look at the first Sunday of Lent. So I thought we'd start off by looking at the gospel.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Yeah, let's jump in.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

So reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter four. At that time, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. He said in reply, It is written, One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their magnificence. And he said to him, All these I shall give to you, if you prostrate yourself and worship me. At this Jesus said to him, Get away, Satan. It is written, The Lord your God shall you worship in him alone you shall serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Beautiful.

Entering The Desert On Purpose

SPEAKER_00 1:30

A very powerful gospel. Yeah. Um and I was very struck. Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So that means that he didn't like get lost and then end up in a desert and be like, oh my gosh, I'm in a desert. Oh, I should fast.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

It was it's intentional. Intentional, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:49

It's uh which the thing is encouraging for for Lent. Like the church gives us this planned time to go into the desert, to let's spirit.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

I love that that that whole idea of desert experience in this penitential season. Desert is the perfect place to enter.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah.

Making Lent Count In Real Life

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Like something that I mentioned. It's not something on the map. It's it is a place in the soul. And we want to stress that Len should not just pass us by. We have 40 days to, and that's not a long time. 40 days to make a commitment to be intentional about walking with the Lord. Really see yourself in this desert experience. And as I mentioned, it it the desert allows for these key moments to reflect and to say, hmm, where am I? What are the things that I need to change and uh reorder some of the priorities or look at some of these disordered affections? But yeah, we're not spectators, we're not participants, we are in it and we're brought into it by by Jesus right off the back.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, and I was actually thinking on Sunday of um, like, can I look back at my own Lent and say it changed my life every year? And I actually had a moment of like I can't say that. Dang it. Yeah. But okay, Jesus. But it kind of woke me up of like, gosh, if if I would if I did enter more deeply every year into this season, if someone wrote a you know, a book about my life, I hope they could say like Lent changed things every year.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Or like it was a time of like it did renew and it did, you know, point me deeper into the direction of following Christ and really ridding of vices and and sin. And um, I don't know. It was just like a wake up call of like, no, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

I think that that's a question that everyone needs to be asking themselves. I know I ask myself the same way. Uh a lot of times, many Lent, I I start super strong and then I overdo it or I get discouraged or just work and overwhelmed or whatever, and it starts slacking them like, oh, we gotta come back uh you're in the season of Lent. Um this year I kind of uh internally and prayerfully said, okay, we're gonna do things a little bit more measured.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

And so we're uh we're we've we've we're off to a good start.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Good. Good. Me, me too. Actually, it's I feel like I I was like wanting Lent. I know that sounds kind of weird, but Well, we've talked about this.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

I think we on a personal level, we've talked about how Lent is like the best time of the year. It's one of my favorite seasons of the year. And um, not that we're sadomazochist or anything, but it's um really giving yourself that time to ask the hard questions. Like the question I asked, what really truly rules your heart? Not what I say rules my heart or not what I post on social media. We're really good at putting out there what we want people to think that rules our heart. But um, then you could put like all those little cute uh scripture passages or emojis or, you know, something really cute. Um, but what really truly rules your heart? And if you can answer that honestly, um I think that that's a point of departure, even just for Lent.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

We were saying that Lent in the desert is like the soul's mirror.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

So it kind of gives an opportunity to look at like where where am I at? And how can I um give space for transformation?

How Good People Get Tempted

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

So it's a good season. Um and Father, you did a great job kind of looking at um that most of our temptation, I and I think this is so helpful what you shared in your homily about uh the devil's not gonna show up on like looking like the devil that we have in like movies and TVs. We think about temptation being like, well, I'm doing pretty good because he's not, you know, showing up like a you know, a horror movie in my life or something. But it's those um subtle things.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Well, it's it's yeah, that's how do you tempt a good person? How do you how if it's the the tempter comes, like, how do I convince this good person who's trying to live a good life and staying away from this, staying away from that? How can I take their soul? How can I corrupt them in such a way that they they they move away from God? Well, they're not he the the tempter is not gonna tempt us with write out evil, corrupt things. Like if I said to you right now, hey, look, that lady over there across the street, she's got this safe with like a lot of money in it, and let's just go beat her up and take the money. We're like, I'm not gonna go do that. Yeah, it's like uh hello, or like, are you lost your marbles or what the heck is going on with you? But right, so that's I mean, that's a silly um analogy, but we're not gonna fall into what's obviously dark and ugly and corrupt. Um, so again, how do you tempt a good person? Well, you tempt a good person with good things that are slightly twisted, or that that person can uh convince themselves that that good is the ultimate good. And then that's where you begin to win that person over to um things that are not of God, right?

The First Temptation And True Hunger

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yeah, and I think what you're saying too is like the ultimate good where we start placing like our security and our identity in. So it kind of starts taking the place of what should be really placed in God ultimately.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Right. I mean, if you look at the first um, the first temptation is which I you know, he says, if you're the son of God, right, right there, and I was gonna write a homily just on that. Um, where Jesus is trying to convince you that you're not the son of God or you're not the daughter of God, right? So our sonship or our daughtership, it's uh where it's if you are really truly, and there are things in your life that will cause you to question that. Am I really truly the daughter? Am I his beloved? I'm going through some really difficult times and life sucks right now. And so I don't feel like I'm his beloved. And so that's a good way where the tempter's saying, Are you really? Come on, look at your life. Let me let me hold a mirror up to you, and then you tell me, right? So there's that temptation right off the bat. I was gonna write the homily just on that.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Oh, there's so much there.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

There's so much there, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

The devil's not gonna waste his time with Jesus. He's gonna go at the heart of temptation, which is first doubt. Doubt of the Father's goodness and your identity as beloved.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Doubt. Just doubt everything. Doubt your existence, doubt your creation, doubt your sonship, your daughtership, everything about who you are, doubt it. And if things are not going well, right, if you're going through a difficult moment, you may give in to that temptation.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

And then then it just compounds the difficulties and the problems that you have in your life. So this first temptation is is is is incredible in the sense that if you are the son of God, turn these stones into bread. Now he knows he's been there for 40 days, 40 nights, he's weak, he's human, he's starving, right? He's hungry. And um, he's saying, Okay, turn it into bread. And what I love is Jesus says, man does not live on bread alone. Meaning that your ultimate hunger is not physical.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

But um that's a really hard temptation because I think about that. I mean, it's just bread. And I think that's the thing is that that's how the devil sounds sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Well, food is not evil.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Exactly. Right? Food is good.

Fasting, Dependence, And Prayer

SPEAKER_02 9:40

We need food to live. I mean I did um from Wednesday to Friday, I did this three-day fast, just water and electrolytes. I wouldn't recommend it to people. I mean, don't start commenting. Yeah, I'm just giving you what I did, and uh um I'm gonna do it again. I think not this week, next week. I'm gonna try and see if I can do a little bit longer. But um so I'm coming back from Corpus Christi the other night. I had to do a training for extraordinary ministers of the Holy Communion. Packed house. It was great. We had a great night, and um, but I'm starving. It was like day two, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Rock is looking good.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

And um, I never go to this fast food place, and uh, I never do. I've just never been to it. But um, and I'm looking, I'm like, man, I want a chocolate shake. I'm like, you've never had a chocolate shake from there, you know. But the temptation is like, oh, come on, you're hungry. It's not bad. It's just, it's good. Everybody has a chocolate shake. The one chocolate shake is not gonna throw everything off. I'm like, yeah, it is. But isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah, no, but and what you were kind of sharing too in your homily is that when we go into the desert, it these things start surfacing. Right. So it's like to expect it.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

To expect it, to expect it.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

To be able to face it and tell it truth, which is it's not gonna, you're not gonna solve my ultimate desire. Chocolate shake, you know, like exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

That's why I think that hunger is good. Hunger exposes a lot. It just be it's it really lets you know what you are dependent on. Um I really think that everyone should do some sort of sacrificial fast. Check your doctors, don't go crazy. But um when you're really hungry, something weird happens. You you really are in this dependent on God kind of situation through prayer, and um you're constantly thinking about food.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

And the key in that is which I learned when I was kind of getting into Lent um during my conversion, is like it's a moment to pray. And like when those thoughts come about food, instead of just being like, gosh, I can't, but it's that's like the sign to like enter into saying, like, but Lord, you satisfy more than this.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

And if you attach it to someone who's suffering, or if you attach it to a situation, or attach your commitment, your sacrifice to someone or something. And when you're in that deep, those deep throes of hunger, think of that person.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Or think of that situation, like, okay, I can go a couple, I can go a couple more hours. And then that couple hours turns into like five hours, and then you're one day like, okay, I can do it for a little bit more. Um, but yet how much of our lives do we chase satisfaction? Yeah. Let's say outside of Lent, right? So outside of the desert experience, like we're constantly feeding our bodies, even on an on when it's not Lent, where we're feeding it with food we don't really need. We're walking by a table. How many, how many times over at St. A's or at the Catholic Center? Like, there's always food.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yep. And I walk by, of course they have to grab it. You have to grab it.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

There's these kids always have like desserts and cookies and candies and all this stuff. And you just pick it up. So we're constantly trying to chase a satisfaction. We, but also too, you know, we're we're constantly feeding our bodies with our egos, uh, or where um our impulses, our vices, our appetites. We are constantly feeding it. Why? Because there's a sense of why not? I can grab it. Yeah, it's available.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

And I think fast feels good. So good because it's we're body and soul. And so what we do with our body helps to start training like the soul, you know, and getting to the heart of where some of these things come from.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Well, that's the that's the heart of the question is like, do you feed the soul? Because you're feeding all of this other stuff constantly. And you're seeking and longing and and searching. But are you really making a conscious decision to say, wait a minute, is this what I'm doing, this sacrifice or or this plan that I have right now? Is it feeding my soul?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah. You made me think of um my first Lent back. I gave up chocolate. And then, you know, that's like the common thing, but I really love chocolate. You love chocolate. I know.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

I was gonna say you love chocolate.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

And I remember I I cried. I cried like three times struggling during Lent because I wanted it and it was there. And I I could not believe like the struggle that was going on inside me. And I just cried. And it actually helped to relieve like stress and also like bring up like what it was about. But it was like I wanted to be satisfied by something I could grab myself instead of like trusting that God was gonna satisfy me and God was gonna fill in that gap. But I remember I was like, I can't believe I'm crying over the stupid cookie.

Shortcuts, Control, And Trusting The Father

SPEAKER_02 14:38

But it's amazing because it there's a training in that. And I and I teach that to my couples too, who are struggling. And and maybe someone who has um is struggling with infidelity or struggling with other things of being faithful. It's it's rewiring the brain or or re-imagining your life, what how could it, what it could be, because there's this in our world today, there's a whole segment that says, it's there, grab it. You can take whatever you want, when you want, how you want. You don't have to listen to anyone. You are your own person and you can do it. Right. So it's it's it's just like an animal. I mean, the animal wants to go grab that, they're gonna grab it. It's there's no that that self-control of that self-mastery, self-mastery of being able to say, no, this is not of God. I choose not to fall into that temptation. I choose you, Lord. And and I want my my life to reflect that gospel message, the the purity that you're asking me to live in my marriage, or whatever it is. Um but I think that that's why the church asks us to fast in her wisdom, because not because food is bad, but because it really allows for that space to clarify some deeper points and uh some real nuggets of of of beauty that you're able to um help you grow, you know, because again, I think hunger exposes what we really truly depend on.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Absolutely. And uh one of the things we were sharing in your helmet too is that um kind of the temptation to buy bypass trust in the Father and put it on like the earthly things that give them immediate gratification.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Again, it's that, well, I need it, I want it, and this is going to help my situation right now. Because Jesus could have said, Yeah, you're right, you know what? Let me turn these stones into bread because um yeah, the hunger's real. Bypass the Father, take it on onto myself, I decide, I control, I determine, I can self-manufacture. Um again, we've talked about that millions of times, that whole sense of wanting to control everything and not allowing the providence, not allowing the will of the Father in my life.

Power, Compromise, And Half Truths

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Yeah. And if anyone could be justified, it would be Jesus. But he chose no, you know, like he chose faithfulness to God, but then also like for our sake, so that we too can fall in his footsteps of being faithful and choosing obedience over um trust in earthly things or um cutting corners or trying to avoid suffering, but really obedience being first and foremost where it's at.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah. And then the second um temptation, you see how the devil kind of just raises the stakes. He shows um all the kingdoms of the world, power, influence, control. He's like, Worship me. Like real sinister kind of. Come on, just you can have all of this. Look how nice all this, all of this will be yours. And um I think that we we have that temptation in our world today. And it's something that it's every day in every life situation to some degree or or or not. It's um that same thing of compromise, just a little. It doesn't have to be fully again. There's that how do you tempt a good person? Half truths, half truths, half compromises, just a little. It's not gonna hurt anybody. Nobody's watching there. Um, cut corners, you can adjust the truth a little bit, you can exaggerate. It's just a little white lie. I love when people come to confession and they uh they confess a, but it's only a white lie. I'm like, well, is it a lie or not? Oh, yeah, it's a lie. Well, then it's a lie, you know.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

That's that's funny. That's uh just stretching the truth.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Um, but you know, the temptation that you're sharing about too, it's interesting because Jesus is going to receive all that, but in a different way.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Right.

Prestige, Applause, And Hidden Faithfulness

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Like he is going to be king of the universe, right? But not in the way that the devil's offering him. But it's going to be through the cross for the through the resurrection. So again, even with Jesus, he's kind of taking something that looks a little bit like it might be a part of the plan of just like of his kingdom.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah, I mean, you're making such a good point. You know, such a good point. Because the tempter here is tempting Jesus to force God's hand. Right? Is that what you're saying, right? It's like I can do it my way, I can force God's hand.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I'll give it to you now. You don't have to go through crawl. You don't have to go through this whole thing that's gonna unfold.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

I'll give it to you now.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

And I think that testing God is the opposite of trusting God.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

We often, and I I think that this happens to everybody. I know that me, myself, I've been guilty of asking for signs, asking for clarity, asking for guarantees. Jesus, just let me know, let me see this. But I think that faith is not about controlling outcomes, it's um surrendering. Uh surrendering outcomes.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

And that's what Jesus did. He surrendered to completing the day, like completing what was gonna happen in those that day of fasting. So I think again, it's like encouraging for us like it's 40 days, it's 40 days. Yeah. Like let it be completed and don't shortcut, don't, you know, and and trust that the father is going to provide for I mean, even you know, my chocolate cookie example, like the father's gonna fill me up even more than that cookie's gonna fill. Oh, yeah. But I have to wait. I have to wait for it to happen uh through the process of of the fasting, of the purification that happens within my heart and and even body, you know, to be able to really rightly order those things.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

And how many people quit and never learn that?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

You're right there, almost. Just keep with keep at it, you know, keep at it. Um it's very humbling.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

And I think the discouragement comes thinking like it should look nice.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah, but it's a lot of times ugly.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

It looks ugly, or at least even like some of our ugly stuff comes to the surface. And to not be afraid of that, I think that's that's the encouragement is like it's not anything to be afraid of, it's knowing that that should be kind of a part of it so that we can give to Jesus the ugliness, the ugly stuff and those false securities, and to really say, like, okay, Lord, you are the one to satisfy and like really like I need you now. Satisfy this ache.

Doing Good Unseen As A Practice

SPEAKER_02 21:15

100%. And then the last uh temptation there in the desert is is about um, and I think it's one of the most subtle temptations of them all. He's saying, Okay, climb to the top of this temple area and uh and throw yourself down. If you really are who you say you are, then God's not gonna let anything happen to you. He's gonna send angels. Come on, you're important, right? It's not gonna destroy you, you know? And so um again, it's that perform, impress, be spectacular. Um and again, prestige is not evil, having a good reputation is Not evil. Um, but there's that danger of taking something that is good for a lot of reasons and living for applause. Everything that you do is because you want someone to take notice, you want to be able to be seen. Uh, you want someone to be able to say, wow, you really know your stuff. You're such a great person. Oh, wow, you you have it all put together and we can't live without you. Kind of that. And sadly, a lot of times people can build their whole lives, build their careers. They measure the success by applause. They measure their worthiness by how people see them. And so they're constantly, it's this obsession of, well, how do people see me? Am I being seen as a savior? Someone that is needed, someone that can save the day, someone, whatever it is, that is a very subtle temptation, but it's so real because it that's something that all of us fall into.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Yes, you know, wanting the likes, wanting the affirmation.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah.

The Enemy Is Real And Subtle

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Um, and it's pointing to a naturally good desire, which is to be known, seen, but by the father, like letting that be where our desire is.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

And really pressing into like, you know, because uh in temptation, a lot of where where it starts is like usually good desires that become disordered, they come become twisted.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

And so even um even that to me, because we are worth something, you know, like all these things are they're half-truths, like you are worth something, you're important to God. But I think when we start placing that on like what the world, like what others say, or getting our worth or attention or affirmation from worldly things, being able to have the humility to detach from that and really be like first and foremost, it's what you think of me, father, and my faithfulness is to you first, which is when you're talking about the cost of compromise, like these little things that we are tempted to do. Yeah, like it is only the father that sees a lot of that. Is that important enough to you?

SPEAKER_02 24:12

A lot of what we do in our faith, it's only the father that sees it.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

I think that that's how it should be.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

And how do we make that what would what would your thoughts be, Father? Like how to make that more real for someone so that it can shift internally to be because I feel like you know that, but you don't know that.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Right. That's a good question. I I think for me, the way that we really hit the nail on the head with that is practicing sacrifices, practicing doing things where no one is watching, and to see that it is enough for only God to see it. And to be and to find such a satisfaction in that, that you didn't need anyone to to see all this great work that you're doing, or or even just the hours of prayer that you spend for whatever, um, for whatever time, but that you really truly do it. Why? Because you're adoring God, you're loving God, you're spending time with God, you're building a relationship. Um I think that that's where it's at. It's it's starting that practice of doing a lot of great stuff with no one even knowing. Do it.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

That's a great Linton challenge, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:26

It is.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Yeah, that's a great Linton challenge.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

And also, too, because I think that the um the enemy will always offer you shortcuts. We'll always offer it. It's always gonna be there. You're always gonna be tempted by it. And um the cross is not optional. The cross is not um not optional for discipleship. And so that's where we really have to do those things of discipleship, being a faithful um follower of Christ, where we're doing those hard, hard comp not um hard commitments that only he sees. Right.

Daily Temptations And Reordered Goods

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Yeah. One of the other things I wanted to kind of bring up here is also in your homily, you very directly um talked about how that the devil is real, even if you don't believe it. Yeah. And I think um we live in a culture that has kind of made him like a character, like a false, you know, legend.

Naming Idols And Putting God First

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Well, I think that that's his greatest success is convincing people that he does not exist. Um I've seen so much in my priesthood, in people who struggle with den demonic uh possessions. I've seen uh things with homes and houses and um in marriages that are clearly not just this fable or make-up little fairy tale or you know, the nice store or these stories, Grimm's fairy tales, where um no, the this is real. We're talking about real life here. And whether you believe it or not, he's real. And something that I said in the homily, which is very true, he wants to destroy you. That's his mission, is to destroy you. But he's not gonna come down and like we've been talking about and whoof, just like slam you over the head. He's gonna do it in such a way that it's so subtle that you don't even see that you have been manipulated to drift away from God. And now your whatever it is that you're falling into or whatever, um it's really even affecting other people. So it's a trickle-down kind of success. You can get one person, that person can get another person, and then it just like trickles. Um but the enemy is going to tempt us every single day, whether we know it or not. And it's in the simple, it's in the more complex, and it's in our vices, it's in our addictions, whatever it is. But the enemy says, okay, I got you. Whether through our appetites, through the accumulation of things, desiring power, desiring wealth, uh desiring our egos to be inflated, control, pleasure, uh, being recognized, whatever it is, these are every everyday ins and outs. Uh, these are temptations that are being played out in our lives every day.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Yeah, and and God gives the grace to resist. And I think that's, you know, like we're on the victory team. And but we have to know that we're in the war has been won, but the battle's still underway. And if we kind of, I think, operate in our Christian life as if we're not in a battle, that it's just kind of like that the devil isn't real. And that I like how you're saying we're God has a plan for our life, but also the devil does the plan and it's one of destruction and of despair.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

And 'cause his whole thing is um to slowly rearrange your priorities to do it slowly. He's not in a hurry. He he knows that he can catch up to you. He gives you enough, you know, enough rope. And uh but that's the danger where you you you don't even realize that you have really truly drifted away from God and you have allowed all of these other things, these temptations, these um and even not just I'm not even talking about bad things, I'm talking about even good things that have now become the ultimate good where it's not where Christ is not the ultimate good. These other good things are now the place of God.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Yeah, I think that's again really wise of like being able to look at how we are tempted and to acknowledge that it's gonna be usually in the good or the the good that's a little twisted, you know. Um, and to know that um the desert that we're called to with Lent is necessary. And I think um I know a couple of weeks ago is when I I was excited for Lent because I feel like I was like, oh, what am I gonna do for Lent? And then I was thinking about stuff and I remember being like, uh, I didn't want to. Like, you know, I I didn't want to fast in certain ways.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

And I was like, exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

What's going on in my heart there? And then I was like, okay, obviously I need the desert, bring it on, Jesus, because that and that struggle, being able to name it. Um Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

That's the whole thing. That's Lent is being able to name it. And and what you're wanting to name is who is first. Because if God is not first, all these other things will be.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Yeah.

Choosing Christ Over Comfort

SPEAKER_02 30:20

And um something that I mentioned in the homily is that we need to be able to walk wake up every single day and recommit ourselves to God every day. You are first. I love my life. I love who I am, I love my wife, I love my husband, I love my children. Um, I want to give my complete and total heart to you, Lord. That has to be said and done every single day. And I hope that when you're saying your prayers, that that's part of who is first? Jesus Christ is first. Because every time that you choose to pray when you feel lazy, when you don't feel like it, maybe you're embarrassed, whatever, or whatever distraction, whenever you choose to pray, or whenever you choose integrity over convenience, or um, oh come on, everybody else is doing it. Just cheat on this a little bit. Nobody's gonna notice. Cut corners a little bit. We can, you can make a lot of money on this or that, or whenever you choose being faithful versus the applause, doing things because it means a lot to God and to your own personal growth in your relationship with the Lord. So it's, I think that even when we sacrifice and we fast, or every time we choose Christ over comfort, there it is.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Yeah. And what you're saying too is that temptation in and of itself is not a sin.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Right. And so we all experience temptation, but we have to grow in knowing what it sounds like in our own heart and in our own life to be able to renounce it and choose Christ and like be firm, like you were saying in your in your homily of like making a firm decision.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Um, and being aware that temptation temptation is a part of the spiritual life, but we have to be like intentional like on our aid.

The Desert Reveals Who Leads Your Life

SPEAKER_02 32:05

You're gonna be tempted all day long. Something that I love, but people uh this image of I'm gonna pat myself on the back, you know, like you didn't feel like working out today. You went out and went and walked or did some exercise or did something for your body. Pat yourself on the back. And I in something that you just said is very important. When temptation, when temptations come, that is an opportunity for growth and for God's grace. Because when you're confronted with that temptation, there's two roads. Either I can give in to that temptation and fall, and or I can say, absolutely not. I'm gonna go for a walk, I'm gonna go pick up my rosary, I'm gonna go pick up a book, I'm going to distract myself from what is looks very uh alluring and pleasurable. Because remember, sin or temptation is not gonna be something that turns you off, right? It's gonna be something that's super attractive and like, yeah. Um so that's that's where we gotta be in the sense that I got to be on my game because he's coming for you.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

So, Father, as we wrap up our conversation, maybe you can share a little bit of um how the desert is good news and um that the desert is where we go to decide. So, kind of any wrap-up um comment that you want to make to encourage our listeners.

Final Encouragement And Lenten Resolve

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Yeah, I would say that um remember this that people don't lose their faith all of a sudden, that they trade it slowly. You'll trade it, you'll traer for distract prayer for distraction, you'll trade fasting for comfort, you'll trade um surrender for control. And um that's how temptation works. I think that if we learn how temptation works, how to fight temptations, how do you uh put into your life those resources or those buffers that help you combat temptation? And that's a learned skill. You're gonna be ahead of the game. You know, the devil never asked Jesus to stop being the son of God. He asked him to stop living like one. And so I think that that's true for all of us. When we are in our funk, when we are going through a difficult situation, when we can't see head or tails, it's really remember who we are. If you are the son of God, that was the devil's temptation. And and what Jesus is saying, you are the son, you are the daughter, you are his beloved. We got to live it. Because I think Lent is a really great opportunity because the desert doesn't create weakness, it reveals who is in charge of your life, who is the priority in your life. And so live it.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Don't let them take a swipe at you.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Well, happy Lent, everyone. Um, we look forward to continuing this conversation uh next week.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Yeah, I love it. Look forward to it. Thanks, Michelle.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Great week. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Have a great Len, everybody.