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Buenos Aires, Sunday, February 25, 2007

Father Oscar Pezzarini

Lent

This month Lent time begins, another moment given for our spiritual life by God and the Church, so that we can proceed another step in our relation with Him. The Word of God will talk to us in this beginning about “Jesus' temptations” and how to overcome them. These temptations will be overcome “by Faith”, this Faith in Divine Providence which “makes all things work together for good to those who love God”, who always thinks of us, who “counted all our hairs”. This same Faith teaches us we also can overcome these sort of temptations ourselves, just us Jesus did. The three temptations Jesus was exposed to deal with bread: after so many days of fasting He felt hungry; with pride, “if You are the Son of God throw yourself down...”, and with power: “I will give you all the kingdoms on Earth if you bow down and worship me”. Jesus will overcome and reject each and everyone of these temptations by the Word of God, with His eyes always directed unto God, and this is the way which at every Lent we are suggested and reminded of: deepening our relation with God, reading and reflecting on His Word and also, following the example of Jesus, the search for mortification of our material desires as something which helps us to put our relation with Him in the first place.

This month Lent time begins, another moment given for our spiritual life by God and the Church, so that we can proceed another step in our relation with Him. The Word of God will talk to us in this beginning about “Jesus' temptations” and how to overcome them. These temptations will be overcome “by Faith”, this Faith in Divine Providence which “makes all things work together for good to those who love God”, who always thinks of us, who “counted all our hairs”.

This same Faith teaches us we also can overcome these sort of temptations ourselves, just us Jesus did. The three temptations Jesus was exposed to deal with bread: after so many days of fasting He felt hungry; with pride, “if You are the Son of God throw yourself down...”, and with power: “I will give you all the kingdoms on Earth if you bow down and worship me”.

Saint Augustine talks about the “three temptations Jesus teaches us to overcome”, and although this might be so or not and if we either agree on this or not, there is no doubt it can help us:

1. Concupiscence of flesh: flesh not in a stictly sexual meaning, but as a symbol of the values of man who looks at everything from a terrenal point of view, and “Man does not live by bread alone”, we remain in “human” aspects and the step towards transcendence is very hard for us to do.
2. Concupiscence of the eyes: this refers to vanity, to haughtiness, which makes us believe we stand over others, which tempts us to “shine”, to believe that everything is our handiwork for which we therefore “deserve” recognition. Of course, if we fall to the ground it will be hard for us, and if we don't look for the face of God getting up will be difficult. “The fortitude of God will be shown through the weakness of Man”.
3. Haughtiness in life: the belief in Man as the absolute being, the idolatry of the self, when we actually should “worship the Lord your God and serve only Him” may be what the modern world is looking for as it tries to build it “without God”, pushing Him further away from his life, after all the Human Being is capable of “managing by himself”, but he realizes at once that he cannot be fully happy this way.

Jesus will overcome and reject each and everyone of these temptations by the Word of God, with His eyes always directed unto God, and this is the way which at every Lent we are suggested and reminded of: deepening our relation with God, reading and reflecting on His Word and also, following the example of Jesus, the search for mortification of our material desires as something which helps us to put our relation with Him in the first place.

Father Oscar Pezzarini
Provincial Superior of the Work of Don Orione in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Mexico

Father Oscar Pezzarini together with Fr. Leonardo Abregú makes us reflect on Saturdays from 8 to 12 AM (GMT-03:00)with "VENTANA A LA VIDA", the Don Orione radio program he conducts on FM PROVIDENCIA, 90.3 MHz together with some residents of the Claypole Cottolengo (Raúl Romero, María Laura Andrada, Alberto Zoroch, Américo Torres), with the production of Roberto Beluzzo and Ignacio Cavalli as technical operator. You can also listen to FM PROVIDENCIA by clicking here.

Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione 0800-333-6746 in Argentina, or +54 (11) 4268-7722 from abroad.

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