Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, March 9, 2025, entitled “The Spirit led him through the desert, while he was tempted.”

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We have just begun Lent, a time of intense preparation to celebrate Easter, the most important event in the history of salvation: the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord.

It is a time in which the Lord invites you to take your life, your conversion, and your renewal seriously. To be renewed is to convert to Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Lord of your life: of all your life! Lent reminds us that life is a serious battle in which the tempter, the devil, is present, and prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Suppose you open your heart to the tempter. In that case, he will lead you down the path of pride, worldliness, and self-sufficiency, of the superfluous, of materialism and selfishness, of ambition and power, of pleasure and strength…

Lent invites you to close your heart to temptation and open it to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit also leads you to enter the desert to meet God. The desert is the “place” where you are stripped of all your “securities,” where you are purified – if you let yourself – of all idolatries, so that you can experience that my strength and my power is the Lord.

Today’s Gospel presents you with a constant reality in the life of man: the reality of temptation. Jesus was tempted, and we too go through that reality.

The root of all temptations is wanting to be the god of your life. Temptation is the invitation to do evil, to turn away from God’s plan for your life. This reminded us of the sign of the ashes: you are not God. You are dust. You do not give yourself life.

The Gospel shows us three temptations that the devil presents to us many times throughout our lives.

If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. It is the temptation to ask money and material things for life. Man does not live by bread alone…

I will give you the power and glory of all that, because it has been given to me, and I give it to whom I want. It is the temptation to seek life in success and power, fleeing from the cross. You shall worship the Lord your God and him alone you shall serve. You ascend to heaven by descending.

If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, because it is written: “He has given orders to his angels concerning you, to take care of you”… It is the temptation to want to manipulate God so that he does your will. You shall not tempt the Lord, your God.

What are the temptations in your life today? How do you fight against them?

The Gospel on Wednesday reminded us that there are three most important ways to prepare ourselves for spiritual combat: prayer and meditation on the Word of God, fasting and almsgiving.

Take heart! Ask for the Holy Spirit. Ask for the Holy Spirit so that you can live Lent as a pilgrim of hope, walking alongside your brothers and sisters towards the goal of heaven; walking together as artisans of unity, starting from the common dignity of children of God; walking side by side, without trampling on or dominating the other, without harboring envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone fall behind or feel excluded. Walking towards the same goal, listening to one another with love and patience. Walking together in the hope of a promise, the promise of eternal life (cf. Francis, Message for Lent 2025).

Come, Holy Spirit!