Category: abbeynews

Fr. Simon Sleeman: John, in his gospel is on an urgent mission but he is not in a hurry. He is patient…he gives us every chance to get it – gives us sign after sign to convince us that this man, Jesus, was sent by God and is truly the Son of God. Sent, sent, sent….40 times John says it in one way or another….Today we have the sixth sign…one more to go…the raising of Lazarus…and then the biggest one of all, the resurrection…Today he is after our possible blindness to the truth.

John sets this ‘sign’ up carefully. First, Jesus heals the man born blind – something he didn’t even ask for – breaks the Sabbath, and having stirred things up sufficiently, disappears – his longest absence in the gospel.

And then John then goes at…challenging us, putting us, his audience to work for some self-reflection on the health of our sight  – invites to watch his carefully chosen protagonists, enter the stage, in pairs – and decide…. ‘Who do you say I am?’ ‘A man sent by God?’  Well, I’m not sure about that…and we watch as blindness unfolds before our very eyes.

First the Indifferent Eye: the locals – friends, neighbours – filled with curiosity at this happening in our quiet village…nothing ever happens here. They are don’t care who did it they just can’t wait to bring him to the religious experts, the Pharisees and see how they react. Their indifference and sense of inadequacy blinds them.

And the man born blind sees this man, Jesus.

Next the Judgemental Eye: Enter the Pharisees –  the respectable people, the religious experts of their day, the recognised authority on the scriptures and the law – they don’t hesitate – they pronounce their verdict quick time, their minds settled…closed…‘he is a sinner’ ‘breaking the Sabbath’. No question…end of matter.

Judgement blinds them and the man born blind acknowledges Jesus as a prophet.  (I sometimes wish this man had a name, but maybe he is all of us)

Next up, ‘The Fearful Eye: The Pharisees, irritated by the whole scene send, as one does on such occasions, for his parents.  ‘The parents are out of their depth and intimidated by the authorities. ‘It is not our fault, we know nothing about this’, ‘Ask him. He is old enough’. And fear takes over, and blinds them.  And the Pharisees murmur.

The Man born blind acknowledges that Jesus is from God.

The parents exit, quietly, and more Jews arrive. Our friend gets a further grilling …Now it is his turn to be irritated – he even makes fun of them and is not the least intimidated but just astonished at their lack of insight.

Next the Resentful Eye: The Jews, angry with this once blind man and resentful of this disruptive, meddling Jewish Jesus, chase the Man born blind into darkness – they think, they hope…their anger and resentment spilling over, they are blind.

And then as if from nowhere, Jesus re-appears. He heard how the Pharisees had mistreated his friend and he went looking for him… they meet and Jesus looked at him and loved him. The man born blind sees Jesus for the first time and recognises the sign which everyone else missed… God present and at work in his life and the man born blind believed in this man sent by God, this Son of Man and worshipped him.

John leads us slowly.. Who do you see? Maybe we don’t, can’t see- sight dimmed by indifference, sight closed by judgement, by murmuring, sight shut down by fear, clouded by resentment and anger? 

And finally, John  presents the Loving Eye. See the ‘truth’, ‘love’ standing before you  …The Son of Man inviting you…. ‘Unless you see a thing in the light of love’, John tells us, ‘you will not see it at all’. It is with the loving eye that reality is revealed, blindness healed, and life transfigured and renewed. Love is the light in which we see light.

‘Yes’ you are the Christ, the Son of God’. You have the message of eternal life….Yes, yes, yes.’  I see….

Fr. Denis Hooper: THE ENGLISH COMEDIAN NOEL COWARD SANG A SONG IN THE 1950’S TITLED “MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN GO OUT IN THE MIDDAY SUN”

SOME OF YOU WILL HAVE GONE ON HOLIDAYS TO HOT COUNTRIES IN THE SUMMER AND WILL HAVE EXPERIENCED WHAT IT IS LIKE DURING A SEVERE HEATWAVE. ANYONE WITH A BIT OF SENSE STAYS INDOORS DURING THE MIDDAY SUN WITH THE AIRCONDITIONING TURNED UP TO FULL!

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE HEAT OF THE MIDDAY SUN IN PALESTINE. PEOPLE CAN COLLAPSE FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION. SOME PEOPLE EVEN DIE FROM IT.

I LEARNED A LESSON FROM A PARAMEDIC WHO TREATED A MAN WHO HAD COLLAPSED FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION – NEVER WEAR LONG PANTS IN A HEATWAVE – THEY TRAP THE HEAT. ONLY WEAR SHORTS…

IN FLORIDA THEY SAY THAT AT MIDDAY YOU COULD FILE A MISSING PERSON REPORT. LOOKING FOR YOUR SHADOW.

WHEN YOU COME INTO THIS CHURCH – ON THE LEFT AS YOU ENTER – YOU WILL SEE A PAINTING OF JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT THE WELL. THE TITLE OF THE PAINTING IS “DE PROFUNDIS” WHICH TRANSLATES “OUT OF THE DEPTHS”

“OUT OF THE DEPTHS” IS A QUOTE FROM PSALM 130 AND THE PAINTING IS INSPIRED BY THIS QUOTE – ALONG WITH TODAY’S GOSPEL FROM JOHN

THE COLOURS IN THE PAINTING SUGGEST THE BURNING HEAT OF THE MIDDAY SUN 

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN IN THE PAINTING IS HOLDING A BUCKET. JESUS HAS HIS HANDS FREE  – SHE LOOKS STRESSED – HE LOOKS CALM. LOTS OF CONTRASTS

JEWS AND SAMARITANS DID NOT GET ALONG – THEY BELIEVED IN THE SAME GOD BUT HAD FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES ABOUT HOW AND WHERE THEY WORSHIPPED GOD.

JESUS STARTS THE CONVERSATION WITH THE WOMAN

IT SOON BECOMES CLEAR THAT THEY ARE NOT ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH. BOTH OF THEM TALK ABOUT WATER BUT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT DIFFERENT KINDS OF WATER.

SHE IS TALKING ABOUT WATER THAT QUENCHES THE THIRST. IT IS A LIQUID JUST LIKE A COLA OR ANY LIQUID WHICH QUENCHES OUR THIRST

JESUS OFFERS A WATER WHICH IS DIFFERENT – A SPIRITUAL WATER – THE WATER OF LIFE – “UISCE BEATHA” -THE WATER WHICH ADDRESSES OUR MOST FUNDAMENTAL SPIRITUAL LONGINGS

I RECENTLY LISTENED TO BOB GELDOF BEING INTERVIEWED BY BRENDAN O’CONNOR ABOUT HOW HE DEALT WITH THE TERRIBLE GRIEF HE HAS EXPERIENCED IN HIS LIFE: THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER WHEN HE WAS NINE; HIS FORMER WIFE; AND HIS DAUGHTER. I RECOMMEND ANYONE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST OF THE INTERVIEW AS IT IS – PROFOUNDLY DE PROFUNDIS- PROFOUNDLY “OUT OF THE DEPTHS”!

I CAN’T HELP ASKING MYSELF THAT IF HE WAS AWARE OF THE HEALING WATER JESUS OFFERS THAT IN SOME WAY BOB GELDOF WOULD HAVE FOUND A DEEPER WELL HE COULD HAVE DRAWN FROM. 

JESUS TELLS US: “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, THEY SHALL BE CONSOLED”

BOB GELDOF SAID HE DIDN’T PICK HIS SCABS OF GRIEF. BUT I KNOW THAT WHEN I HAVE A SCAB I INEVITABLY BUMP IT AGAINST SOMETHING, OFTEN CAUSING IT TO BLEED. 

TO CONTINUE WITH THAT IMAGERY, I AM CERTAIN THAT THOSE OF US WHO EXPERIENCE GRIEF AND WHO TURN TO JESUS FOR THE HEALING WATER HE OFFERS US IN OUR GRIEF –

– WE DO NOT HAVE “SCABS OF GRIEF”. RATHER THOSE SCABS FOR US ARE HEALING SCARS WHERE WE FIND SOME COMFORT AND MEANING IN OUR GRIEF… –  BUT THEY ARE SCARS NONETHELESS AND THEY NEVER DO GO AWAY

THE LESSON FROM TODAY’S GOSPEL IS THAT IF YOU TURN TO THE LORD YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. YOU TOO MAY DRINK OF THE WATER OF LIFE – “THE UISCE BEATHA” –  JESUS OFFERS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US

LET’S TURN TO PSALM 130 ONCE AGAIN 

TOWARDS THE END OF THE PSLAM GIVES MEANING TO THE KIND OF WATER JESUS OFFERS THE SAMARITAN WOMAN:

PSALM 130 SAYS: “HOPE IN THE LORD

FOR WITH THE LORD THERE IS UNFAILING LOVE AND FULLNESS OF REDEMPTION”

I HAVE JUST FINISHED READING JAMES PLUNKETT’S BRILLIANT NOVEL, STRUMPET CITY. ONE OF THE CENTRAL CHARACTERS IN THE BOOK IS RASHERS TIERNEY – A MAN BARELY ABLE TO SURVIVE FROM DAY TO DAY, LIVING IN THE AWFUL POVERTY OF THE DUBLIN SLUMS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY.

RASHERS HAS A ROW WITH A YOUNG PRIEST, FR.O’CONNOR AND SAYS HE IS GOING TO CHANGE PARISHES AS A RESULT. HE SAYS HE IS GOING TO KNOCK ON THE DOOR OF A CHURCH IN A NEARBY PARISH. HE KNOWS WHAT GOD WILL SAY TO HIM: “COME ON IN RASHERS, I KNEW YOUR KNOCK”.

WE PRAY THAT GOD WILL RECOGNISE OUR KNOCK ON THE DAY WE CALL ON HIM FOR THE WATER OF LIFE

Fr. Jarek Kurek: Some fifteen hundred years ago there lived a holy man who, like Abraham, who we heard about in the 1st reading, was not afraid to take risks. Because of that courage, that holy man was richly blessed by God; and again, like Abraham, he became a blessing for countless people in the centuries that followed.

Most of you here, I’m sure, know this saint well, as students of a Benedictine school. It is St Benedict—Benedictus in Latin, a name that simply means “blessed”—whom I want to speak to you about today.

Benedict must have been around your age when he made his first major life decision. Disappointed with the world he lived in—despite receiving a good education—he chose to leave it behind. At first glance, this might seem like a reckless move. But deep down, Benedict knew exactly what he was doing. It was not an impulsive escape, but a well-informed decision. As his biographer tells us, “even as a boy, Benedict had the heart of an elder.” Already as a boy he had the heart of and elder…

So he left everything because he wanted to respond fully to God’s call and to serve Him alone. This marked the beginning of Benedict’s journey into the mountains—both literally and spiritually.

The beginnings were not easy. Benedict chose a harsh way of life: high up in the wilderness, with little food and great isolation. Yet aren’t these very challenges the ones that test a person’s character and shape true resilience?

Before long, word of his radical way of life spread, and disciples began to arrive. People wanted to learn from him and to live as he did. Eventually, Benedict was asked to lead a nearby community. This is where he truly began to learn about human nature—about how difficult it can be to guide others. And believe me, this was not an easy lesson. In fact, this was the moment when Benedict lived out, in its fullest sense, the exhortation we heard from St Paul in today’s second reading: “Join with me in suffering for the Gospel.”

What happened? The very community he was leading tried to poison him. Why? Because Benedict’s standards were too demanding for them. He aimed too high. And how did he respond? He did not retaliate or argue. Instead, he calmly left. Once again, he made a wise and well-discerned decision.

At that time, Benedict felt it was better to live alone with God. He withdrew because he saw things differently. He had a broader, more global vision—one that allowed him to grow even further in wisdom.

In time, Benedict was blessed with deeper spiritual insight and new disciples who truly wanted to learn from him. It was through these experiences, and his remarkably visionary approach, that the Rule of St Benedict was born. This famous document responded to the needs of people in Benedict’s own day, it paved the way for many generations—and it continues to guide thousands of monks around the world, as well as many lay people who strive to live according to its spirit.

It was also Benedict who set the pattern of placing monasteries high in the mountains—think of Monte Cassino. Even today, many Benedictine monasteries are blessed with truly spectacular locations, places that lift both the eyes and the soul.

Finally, consider Benedict’s own experience of a kind of Transfiguration. All his life, he aimed high, relentlessly moving upward. In the final phase of his life, he was granted an overwhelming vision of light. We are told that he saw the whole world gathered into a single ray of sunlight. Within that light, he saw a soul being carried upward by angels in a ball of fire. And I like to believe that there, as in today’s Gospel, Benedict beheld Christ himself—revealed in his cosmic glory.

Gregory the Great, Benedict’s biographer, explains how such a vision was possible. It happened because Benedict’s mind and heart had grown so vast that they could embrace the whole world.

And that is my message to you: aim high. Take risks. Grow in wisdom. Imitate St Benedict by expanding your heart and your mind, and step by step, become a person of his stature. Thus you too will be a blessing for many.

 

On Friday, 14th February we celebrated in a small way our long-standing friendship and connection with Maredsous Abbey School in Belgium. Our school captain Peter Purcell welcomed and exchanged gifts – including sports gear and beer! – with the school captain at Maredsous, Alexis van Rijckevorsel. Both young men could converse in the language of the other which immediately warmed relations.

Two other Maredsous students, Maximilien, (Alexis’ brother), and François Mertens were present, having just completed a six week stay ‘on exchange’ at Glenstal Abbey School, benefiting from a tradition that goes back decades. They fully participated in the school life and so we are all the better for it.

They also recalled our shared past: that Maredsous received from Ireland one of its outstanding abbots, the Dubliner Bl. Joseph Columba Marmion OSB. It was in his memory that Glenstal Abbey was founded by the monks of Maredsous in 1927.

One of the founders, Fr Hubert Janssens OSB, is Max’s grand-uncle and François and must surely be of the extended family of another founder, Fr Winoc Mertens OSB! Deep roots and shared values from the Benedictine tradition enrich our students and prepare them to make their contributions to the world.

May ‘the strong [among them] have something to long after, and the weak not draw back in alarm!’ (RB 65).

To this end we appreciate the leadership of Ms Grainne Foley, Deputy Principal,  and Abbot Columba McCann OSB.

John O’Callaghan OSB

We invite you to join our long-running Easter retreat taking place from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th April.

Journey with us from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and deepen your experience of these holy days through solemn liturgies, a series of talks, time together and space for personal reflection.

Talks will include:

• ‘This Pale Galilean’ with Simon Sleeman OSB on Good Friday.
• ‘A Good Friday Meditation’ with Oscar McDermott OSB.
• ‘The Mystery and the Mud’ with Emmaus O’Herlihy OSB.
• ‘The Empty Tomb and Faith in the Resurrection (Jn 20:1-10)’ with Lino Moreira OSB.

The cost is €360 fully residential, €250 non residential including meals, or €180 fully residential for students.

For bookings and more information contact guestmaster@glenstal.com

January is often a quieter month for monastic guest masters and guest mistresses, and so every two years we take the opportunity to gather together for a time of reflection and prayer. This year, monks and nuns with responsibility for hospitality in monasteries across Ireland and Great Britain met for three days at Kylemore Abbey, in beautiful Connemara.

Benedictine, Cistercian and Bernardine communities were represented, with guest masters and mistresses hailing from Buckfast Abbey, Stanbrook Abbey, Quarr Abbey, Glencairn Abbey, Silverstream Priory, Kylemore Abbey and Hyning Monastery. Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland joined us via Zoom.

Our theme was simple: “Welcoming the guest as Christ today.” We shared experiences of hospitality in our different monasteries and quickly discovered how much we hold in common. Though our settings vary, many of the challenges are the same. We spoke, too, of a striking pastoral reality: how many people arrive at our doors tired and worn down by the pressures of modern life. Again and again we see how deeply guests value the rhythm, prayer, and quiet of the monastic guesthouse.

One important insight was that hospitality does not have to be grand or luxurious to be authentic. It is not great gestures that make a guest feel welcomed as Christ, but the creation of a safe space, and the offering of reverence and respect. A listening ear, a simple meal, a peaceful room – these speak powerfully.

We were also reminded of something even more fundamental. While we are called to welcome Christ in the guest, it is Christ who truly does the welcoming. Our task is to set the table, to open the door, to be present. When we step aside and allow Christ to act, many marvellous things can happen.

The days in Kylemore were filled with prayer, conversation and encouragement. We returned to our monasteries strengthened in our shared vocation: to receive each guest as Christ and to trust that Christ is already at work long before we open the door.

Oscar McDermott OSB

This weekend the monastic community remembers Jean Dupiéreux OSB on the 70^th anniversary of his death.

Maurice François Joseph Ghislain Dupiéreux was born in Florennes, Belgium, on 22nd September 1888. Following matriculation in the natural sciences and the humanities at the Collège Nôtre Dame de La Paix in Namur, he entered the Abbey of Maredsous on 5th October 1908. He received the name of Jean-Baptiste. He was professed on 7th February 1910.

Between 1902 to 1912 he studied philosophy in Maredsous and from 1912 to 1914, theology in Mont-César in Louvain. He was ordained priest on 19th September 1915. Having served as an army chaplain during the First World War, he taught in the Abbey School at Maredsous from early 1919 to October 1925. He then administered the local parish of St Martin until 1929 when he came to Glenstal as bursar.

Father Jean served as bursar until 1945, and was novice master from 1942 to 1948. When the monastery became independent, he changed his stability to the new Conventual Priory. He served as instructor to the lay-brothers from 1949 until his death. Here in Glenstal and in the neighbourhood he was known as Father John.

His abiding interest was in the scouting movement, in particular the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland. It was he who began the series of summer-camps for scouts, which lasted until the 1990s. Although he had received the usual service-medals for his role in the First World War, he was most proud of the Bronze Medal of Merit awarded him by the Court of Honour of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland on 18 th March 1953. The esteem in which he was held by the scouting movement was reflected in the guards of honour that attended his removal, the overnight vigil and Requiem in the old chapel and the bearer-party of scouts who carried his coffin to the monastic grave-yard.

He died in St John’s Hospital, Limerick, on 29th February 1956.

May he rest in peace.

We are asking for your support.

On Sunday December 19^th 2027, Glenstal Abbey marks 100 years since the official beginning of monastic life in this place; the Barrington estate was entrusted to us in May 1927. Since those early days, successive generations of monks, responding to the signs and needs of their time, have courageously built and developed, planned and visioned into the future.

The life and work of this community has influenced the fields of liturgy, hospitality and education, ecumenism, spirituality, the arts, music, literature, research, agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, and much more. It has and continues to be a place of encounter, enrichment and peace for countless people. It is a place where people connect, a place where many of you find belonging and shared vision.

In this last 100 years, all that has been achieved is due in no small measure to the kindness, generosity and support of so many. For all that has been given and gifted, for the connections and relationships, all these blessings that we have received, the monastic community are profoundly grateful. For you, we give thanks to God.

Now as we turn towards the next 100 years, we ask you, friends and benefactors to continue the journey with us. We ask you to continue to believe in and support us. We live and minister in a changing world where monasteries are more needed than ever. People come here in great numbers, to engage both mind and senses in exploring the mystery of themselves and of God, to find rest, to reflect, and to renew their spirit. Many, unable to be physically present connect with us through the Abbey’s webcam, newsletter and Chronicle.

As we continue responding to the needs of our time, our estate, and the built and natural environment needs investment and upgrading. We need your help, as we cannot do this alone. From the monthly or yearly contribution for the day-to-day running of the Abbey and estate to the large project funding, you can help in many ways according to your means.

Donating

Regular Giving is the simplest and most efficient way to do this. Setting up a monthly transfer takes the hard work out of the process for you and is most beneficial to us. A regular donation according to your means is what we ask of you.

One-off larger donations will go to the Glenstal Development Fund. This fund allows us to budget and plan for capital projects. We have through the generosity of our donor now completed the 4 year restoration of the castle exterior. 2026/2027 will see strategic planning with regard to other elements of the Abbey campus. We will be asking your support particularly in the areas of green energy, building upgrade and hospitality facilities, to name but a few.

Tax Efficient Giving benefits us if your individual or company monthly/yearly donation amounts to between €250 and €1m in a calendar year, Glenstal Abbey can claim the tax back through The Charitable Donation Scheme (Revenue.ie). Should you reach this threshold, with your permission, we will contact you to help us make this claim.

A Bequest in your Will or Trust is the most common, and simplest, way to support the monastery by naming Glenstal Abbey Trust as a beneficiary in your will or other estate planning documents. Bequests can be specified amounts, or part of or all of your estate after settlement of any obligations. Consultation with family members is important in this regard. Bequests to Glenstal Abbey generally are deductible for estate and gift tax purposes.

All and any support is most welcome. If you have questions, or would like to discuss anything in more detail, please do contact our Bursar, Br Pádraig McIntyre OSB, on 061-621000 or email bursar@glenstal.com. You can also make a donation directly:

Donate here

Glenstal Abbey Trust (Charity Name)

CHY4001 (Charity Registered Number)

Glenstal Abbey Murroe, County Limerick, V94 TK61 Ireland

Saint Benedict took Lent seriously. He dedicates Chapter 49 of his Rule for monks to the ‘Observance of Lent.’  He doesn’t mince his words – ‘the lives of monks should be Lenten in character at all times.’ But he quickly acknowledges that most of us are not able for that and urges us at least to make an extra effort ‘in these holy days to atone for what was neglected at other seasons.’ And he says this will be done worthily if we abstain from vice, if we work at prayer with tears, at reading with compunction of heart and abstain from some food, drink and or sleep.

Benedict’s categories of reading, prayer, compunction of heart and abstinence seem like things we easily neglect at other seasons. But they are necessary if we are to live well, to live wisely, in this distracted, restless world. Living within our ‘culture of comfort,’ it is good and even necessary to take a ‘pull’ on ourselves and do something by way of stretching our lives; take aim at areas we have neglected in our daily round.

Benedict ends his chapter warning his monks that they must set off on their own project of reform but submit what they intend doing for Lent to the Abbot to avoid ‘vainglory and presumption.’

When I joined the monastery over fifty years ago, we had a practice that reflected Benedict’s advice. Each monk drew up a list of things he would do for Lent. The list had to include: a book to read, a virtue to practice and some food to abstain from. This list had to be presented to the Abbot before Ash Wednesday for approval.

Of these three spiritual disciplines, the practice of virtue is not something we hear much about these days. A virtue has become the trait of the ‘goody good’ rather than a useful spiritual practice. Unless it comes in just ‘one click’ we are not interested. This is to our detriment. Virtues opted for and practiced are our allies and fortify us to live well as we wade out into the mainstream of life’s many challenges.

Any number of virtues suggest themselves, such as reverence, gratitude, patience. Maybe patience is the one we need to practice more than any other these days. Carlo Carretto, who spent over 20 years in the Sahara desert as a monk, was asked when he emerged if God had asked anything of him during his long silence. His answer was clear and unambiguous: ‘God is asking us to be patient.’

We are no longer used to being patient. We expect things to happen immediately and with ‘one click’ and become irritated or even angry at any delay. It wasn’t always so – throughout most of human history, patience was not a choice – our ancestors waited for light, waited for the harvest, for rain, for news.

The dictionary definition of patience may surprise you: ‘the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.’  I was surprised by the tenor of this definition particularly by the inclusion of suffering.

‘The greatest temptation of our time,’  says Eugene Rosenstock Hussey, ‘is impatience in its full original meaning – a refusal to wait, undergo, suffer. We seem unwilling to pay the price of living with our fellow people in creative and profound relationships.’

We are in a hurry and want, even demand, the quickest, the fastest, and are contemptuous of slowness. But human life, especially spiritual life, does not do speed. ‘There are no shortcuts’ says Eugene Peterson, ‘to becoming the person we are created to be.’  Human life is complex and deeply mysterious and requires a ‘deep passion for patience.’

Why not take Benedict’s advice? Select a book that will move you closer to the Lord; abstain from some food (fasting has been shown to be beneficial in so many ways, and not just spiritually!) and practice a virtue… maybe even patience.

Simon Sleeman OSB

Fr. Lino Moreira: When Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan, the Spirit of God descended upon him (cf. Mt 3:16), and a voice from heaven declared, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Mt 3:17). This event marked the public anointing of Jesus as the Messiah. One might expect him to begin his ministry immediately, but Matthew reports that he was first led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (cf. Mt 4:1). Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the wilderness fasting, and when he was hungry, the tempter came, seeking to divert him from his mission. 

“If you are the Son of God,” says the devil, “turn these stones into loaves” (Mt 4:3). The suggestion seems reasonable, even compassionate. Surely, the Messiah’s first and most urgent task would be to feed the hungry, starting with himself, by changing the stones of the desert into bread. Yet human experience shows that even if the world’s scarcity of food and necessities were suddenly overcome, a far deeper hunger would remain: the hunger of the soul. Therefore, Jesus replies, quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy: “It is written, ‘One does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Mt 4:4). It is only by turning to God that the human soul is satisfied, and it is only by listening to God’s word and living it out that a fair distribution of this world’s riches can be achieved. The role of the Messiah is not to act as a deus ex machina by miraculously providing for everyone’s material needs, but to purify our hearts from selfishness and greed.

Then the devil took [Jesus] to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle 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 ‘they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (Mt 4:5-6). This time the tempter urges Jesus to test whether God will protect him during his mission. Quoting Psalm 90 (91), the devil reminds Jesus that God has promised to watch over his own, particularly within the precincts of his sacred dwelling. Therefore, if the Son of God were to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, his Father would surely keep him from harm. Jesus replies with another quotation from the Book of Deuteronomy: “It is also written, ‘Do not put your God to the test’” (Mt 4:7). Indeed, to seek a demonstration that God is true to his word would be an attempt to reduce him to an object of experimentation, and such pride, which makes genuine trust impossible, undermines the love that alone can sustain a real relationship with God. 

Next, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, saying: “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me” (Mt 4:8). Now Jesus is invited to establish a worldly kingdom, ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity for all. However, to fulfil what the Law and the prophets say about him (cf. Lk 24:27), the Messiah must remain in the course of human history the seemingly powerless one. He is the suffering servant spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, and only through his obedience and self-giving – through his passion, death and resurrection – can he bring about salvation in accordance with God’s plan. Therefore, quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy for the third time, Jesus replies: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘The Lord your God shall you worship, and him alone shall you serve’” (Mt 4:10).

When we reflect on Jesus’ temptations, we begin to recognise our own temptations. Our preoccupation with solving immediate problems can make us forget that true life – and indeed peace and justice for our world – comes from listening to God’s word and putting it into practice. Bitter disappointment or fear of what lies ahead can lead us to seek certainty on our own terms rather than trusting in God’s unfailing love. And finally, we can be tempted to worship power and wealth instead of the Lord God, the only one we are called to serve. 

During the forty days of Lent, we are invited to spend time with Jesus in the desert, learning from him how to identify and resist the devil’s deceptions. In this way, our hearts are purified for the joyful celebration of Easter.