1st Sunday of Lent 2024

Christ’s possession, his inheritance, his Body, that is, the one Church which we all form, cries out to God from the

ends of the earth: O God, hear my cry; listen to my prayer.

Why does Christ’s Body thus cry out? Because my heart is troubled. The Body everywhere shows that it is not glorified but greatly tempted. Indeed, our life as pilgrims cannot be free of temptation, for it is through temptation that we advance. None know themselves if they have not been tempted, nor can they be crowned unless they conquer, or conquer unless they struggle, or struggle unless they meet the enemy and be attacked.

Christ’s Body cries out in torment from the ends of the earth, but it is not left alone. For he foreshadowed us, his Body, in his own earthly body in which he died and rose and ascended into heaven, so that where he the Head has gone before, we his members may be sure of following.

He therefore transformed our lot in his own person when he willed to be tempted by Satan. In Christ we were indeed tempted, for as Christ accepted flesh from us and gave us salvation in return, accepted death from us and gave us life, accepted insults from us and gave us honor, so too he accepted temptation as one of us and gave us the victory.

If we were tempted in his person, in him we also overcame Satan. Pay heed, then, to Christ’s victory no less than to his temptation. Recognize that we were tempted in him, but recognize too that we conquered in him. He could have simply fended off the devil; but if he had not been tempted, he could not teach us how to overcome temptation.

-St. Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms, On Ps 60:2-3



Jesus falls the first time beneath the Cross

Jesus, bowed down under the weight and the length of the unwieldy Cross, which trailed after Him, slowly sets forth on His way, amid the mockeries and insults of the crowd. His agony in the Garden itself was sufficient to exhaust Him; but it was only the first of a multitude of sufferings. He sets off with His whole heart, but His limbs fail Him, and He falls.

Yes, it is as I feared. Jesus, the strong and mighty Lord, has found for the moment our sins stronger than Himself. He falls--yet He bore the load for a while; He tottered, but He bore up and walked onwards. What, then, made Him give way? I say, I repeat, it is an intimation and a memory to thee, O my soul, of they falling back into mortal sin. I

repented of the sins of my youth, and went on well for a time; but at length a new temptation came, when I was off my guard, and I suddenly fell away. Then all my good habits seemed to go at once; they were like a garment which is stripped off, so quickly and utterly did grace depart from me. And at that moment I looked at my Lord, and lo! He had fallen down, and I covered my face with my hands and remained in a state of great confusion.

-St. John Henry Newman, Stations of the Cross