Three Temptations – Three Prayers

The Three Temptations: A Path Through Lent

Like every Lenten season, we just started this one with fasting and abstinence. The Church suggests the same three spiritual disciplines for our Lenten journey every year: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. There are many other spiritual disciplines we can adopt. Meeting with our young adult group, we discussed a few practices for Lent. Someone suggested that taking the Sunday readings to prayer during the weekday was a helpful practice.

What better way than to let the Word of God guide us? In these readings, specially selected and curated by the Church for our reflection, the Word of God molds our spirit. Let’s focus on the Gospel. This Gospel passage directly follows the baptism of Jesus when we hear the heavens tear open and the voice of God say, “This is my Son.” In this passage, Jesus is led by the Spirit to go to the desert and be tempted by the devil.

It is intriguing why it is the very Spirit of God that leads Jesus into the desert. This theme of encountering evil and darkness represents the hero’s journey, which resonates deeply in our own spiritual lives. Even modern-day hero stories involve the protagonist overcoming darkness—a painful past experience, overcoming demons. Only then can the hero return and take responsibility for the great mission entrusted to him.

Jesus goes into the desert led by the Spirit, and after 40 days, he feels hunger. The devil appears and tempts him. Now, the devil most likely did not appear as a little red gnome with horns poking at Jesus. The temptations in the desert may have been a psychological experience that our Lord endured. But the evangelist Luke captures his struggle insightfully.

Notice how the devil tempts Jesus: with a simple word—if.

• If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread.
• If you worship me, I will give you power over all the kingdoms.
• If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.

Luke closes today’s Gospel by telling us that the devil withdrew for a time. And yet, we never really see the devil show up again in the Gospel of Luke—except that we do. Toward the end of the Gospel, when our Lord is being crucified, we hear the same demonic, conditional term:

“If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross, and then we will believe.”

The Three Temptations

The devil presents three distinct temptations to Jesus. These same temptations continue to afflict us today, and Jesus gives us the tools to overcome them.

1. The Lust of the Flesh – “I Feel”

In this first temptation, Jesus feels hunger, and the devil suggests, “Turn this stone into bread.” We can call this the lust of the flesh. Jesus feels hunger, and the temptation is to satisfy that feeling.

We live in a time that seems to idolize feelings. People seem truly addicted to feelings. Feelings are enshrined as the most personal and intimate way of experiencing life, and many of us believe the worst thing someone can do is hurt our feelings. In this way, we still respond to these temptations of the evil one: If I feel sad, I will eat. If I feel bored, I will seek distraction.

We need to learn to recognize feelings for what they are and put them in their proper place. Thomas Aquinas would say that feelings are neither good nor bad—they are just feelings. They are amoral. I can feel joy for my son’s graduation or joy for an enemy’s suffering. That joy in itself has no morality. But what that joy leads me to think, say, and do does have moral implications.

Yes, feelings serve a purpose, and we need to recognize the truth they speak. There’s an animated film called “Inside Out” about feelings personified in a little girl’s mind: anger, joy, disgust, and sadness. The whole movie revolves around understanding the purpose of sadness. None of the other characters like sadness; they understand joy and anger, but nobody quite understands sadness. By the end, we discover exactly what this feeling is meant to express.

Feelings do speak truth, but only when they operate in their proper place. Of the three Lenten practices mentioned earlier, one goes directly to the heart of not letting feelings control our lives: fasting. How powerful a spiritual discipline fasting is! I can feel hunger and decide to focus my attention elsewhere. I can feel and yet keep that feeling at a distance.

Isn’t that what the Lenten practice is? The Lord says, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” I can learn to turn my physical sensation of hunger into a desire to hunger more for Jesus, for God, for eternal truths.

Think about what feelings may control your life at times. Maybe it’s unforgiveness, bitterness, or resentment. Maybe it’s envy, lust, or deep-rooted sadness.

2. The Lust of the Eyes – “I Want”

The second temptation that the devil presents to Jesus is to worship him in exchange for all the kingdoms of the earth. If the first temptation revolves around “I feel,” this second temptation revolves around power and “I want.” This is not the lust of the flesh, but the lust of the eyes.

Living in a society that consumes so much social media, this is also a strong temptation—to define life by what we want: my productivity, my plans, my projects, my desires. We see people living apparently happy lives on social media and say, “I want that car, I want that body.” This is the lust of the eyes.

What’s enshrined in this second temptation is not feelings, but my will. My will becomes God, and it is my will that I end up worshiping. There is another Lenten discipline that cuts directly to this form of temptation. If fasting disciplines my feelings so I can learn to long for what’s above, prayer moves me from pursuing my will to discerning and pursuing God’s will, even delighting in it, knowing it is far more reliable than my own.

For this second temptation, reflect on what you want in life—probably even good things like health, financial stability, success, and a good reputation—and recognize that even these goods must serve something greater.

3. The Pride of Life – “Me”

The third temptation cuts to the heart of the devil’s strategy. From lust of the flesh, he moves to lust of the eyes, and now to pride of life. The devil tempts Jesus to throw himself down to see if God shows up, testing if God is who He says He is. This is the temptation of pride.

In this third temptation, the devil quotes Scripture, trying to prove God may not be reliable. This echoes the temptation of Adam and Eve—that God is not good.

If the first temptation is “I feel” and the second is “I want,” the third temptation is the very self: “Me, I.” It’s the belief that my life is all about me. Even virtuous and religious people can fall into this lie—thinking “my holiness” and placing themselves at the center of their lives.

The third spiritual discipline addresses this particular temptation. Because if our Lord was tempted, all Christians, all disciples will likewise be tempted. This third practice of our Lenten journey is almsgiving—serving. The Church reminds us that no, your life is not about you. It’s not about your wants, desires, or even your personal holiness. Your life is about service. It’s about love.

Your life is about love taking flesh in you—in your marriage, workplace, school, friendships, body, and emotions. This is the example Jesus offers us on the cross. Your life is about incarnating the love of God, the Gospel. Everything else is meant to refract this truth.

These are the three temptations of our Lord. And Jesus himself laid out a plan to address them. Yes, we will be tempted during this Lenten season. But if we keep in mind that, as with Jesus, the Spirit is with us, something greater can come from suffering those temptations: a greater heart, a more humble mind, more attentive desire, and renewed purpose.

Closing Prayer

I would like to close with a prayer to help us endure temptation and, through God’s grace, allow our souls to grow.

I invite you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and recognize that you are in the Father’s house, adoring God, whose grace and spiritual strength is with you on this Lenten journey, available in the sacraments and in His holy word.

Bring to mind any feeling or emotion that you feel is controlling your life—perhaps bitterness, resentfulness, unforgiveness, anger, envy, sensuality, or sadness—and repeat after me:

“Lord Jesus, in your name, I renounce the lie that my feelings control my life. In your name, I choose to forgive whoever it is you want me to forgive for this specific offense. Lord Jesus, in your name, I renounce anger, envy, and lust. In your name, Lord Jesus, I renounce sadness and depression. I renounce the lie that my feelings control me, and I accept your truth that your word gives me strength. Your word feeds me, your word for which I hunger.

Lord Jesus, in your name, I renounce the belief that my life is about what I want—my accomplishments, plans, ideas of success and happiness. Lord Jesus, in your name, I renounce my will as an idol, and I give it to you. I accept the truth that my desire is to do your will, just as you did your Father’s.

Lord Jesus, I renounce the lie that I cannot overcome or endure temptation. I renounce the lie that my life is all about me, and I accept the truth that my life is about loving the will of your Father. I accept the truth that my life is about love—in my family, friendships, and workplace. I accept the truth that I desire to serve you, and I renounce all pride, self-reliance, and self-justification.

Lord Jesus, I accept the truth that you call me to love and serve within my specific circumstances. I accept the truth that my marriage is about you, my friendships are about you, my work is about you, my health, emotions, and desires are all about you. I accept the truth that my suffering can have a purpose that I may not always understand.”

Brothers and sisters, this Lenten journey, let us enter the desert knowing that the Spirit of God is with us. Even as we face temptations, we can endure with the conviction that God is doing something profound within us, preparing us to receive the mysteries of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection.