First Sunday Of Lent

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As we journey through the early days of Lent, we are invited to follow Jesus into the quiet, searing heat of the Judean desert. It is here that we witness the profound mystery of the Incarnation: Jesus was fully divine, yet fully human. After forty days without food, His body was not merely "performing" a fast; He was truly, viscerally hungry and parched. In His weakened physical state, He felt the crushing weight of exhaustion that any of us would experience. This vulnerability wasn't a flaw, but a testament to His love—He chose to enter into our frailty so that no human struggle would be foreign to Him.

Yet it was in this moment of extreme physical depletion that the "Stronger Man" emerged victorious. The devil sought to exploit Christ’s hunger and humanity, dangling comfort and power as bait, but he found no foothold. Though His body was faint, Jesus’ will remained perfectly anchored in the Father. By defeating the tempter through Scripture and sacrifice, He turned the desert from a place of isolation into a battlefield of triumph. As we face our own "deserts" this Lent, we can take heart knowing that our Savior has already walked this path, proving that through Him, even our deepest weaknesses can become the site of God’s greatest victories.

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