First Sunday of Lent: A: February 22, 2026

 THE SEASON OF LENT: A TIME OF REPENTANCE AND PENANCE

Introduction: We are in the first week of the holy season of Lent. During the forty days of Lent, we are invited to pray, fast and do acts of charity. We are encouraged to renew and restore three important relationships: With one self, with God and with our neighbour. In today's liturgy, we are presented with the perils of temptations: Temptations faced by the first parents Adam and Eve and the temptations faced by Jesus before the beginning of His public life. We are given the choice of resisting temptations and overcoming them like Jesus did or fall into the temptations like our first parents and suffer the consequences. Lent is a time of renewal of life and relationships with Jesus our Lord and Master. It is time to let go off those desires and deviations which are enslaving us and to express the joy and the freedom in the Lord. 

First Reading: Genesis 2: 7 to 9 and 3: 1 to 7

Second Reading: Romans 5: 12 to 18

Gospel Reading: Matthew 4: 1 to 11

   *First reading is from the book of Genesis. The Lord God creates the humankind out of love. The first parents Adam and Eve are given every facility for their well-being and growth in the garden of Eden. However, they disobey the Lord God and succumb to the temptations of the devil. As a consequence, sin and death enter the world and a rift between the Lord God and the humankind begins. 

   *Second reading is from the letter of St. Paul to Romans. Paul explains to the Christian community at Rome how sin and death came into the world through the disobedience of one man: Adam. Jesus Christ through His obedience to God the Father frees the humankind from sin and death. We receive the abundance of grace and free gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ. 

The temptations of Jesus                                                                                 Today's Gospel reading is from St. Matthew. In the first part of the Gospel, Jesus' experience in the desert where He spends time in fasting and praying is narrated. In the second part, temptations faced by Jesus in the desert are described in detail. The devil tempts Jesus in three different ways. The first temptation is to turn stones into bread and feed the hungry masses. It is the temptation to be a popular Messiah among the hungry people and get instant name and fame without really doing any work. Jesus firmly says 'No' to the devil and tells the devil, "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." The second temptation is to perform a spectacular feat so that Jesus will be acclaimed by the people around Him. The devil tells Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Jerusalem temple because God will send the angels to protect Him. Jesus firmly says 'No' and tells the devil, "Do not put the Lord your God to test." In the third and final temptation, the devil takes a chance and asks Jesus to worship the devil and obtain all the glory and power in the world. Jesus firmly rejects it and tells the devil. "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him." Jesus overcomes all three temptations of the devil by fasting and prayer. We too face many temptations in our day-today lives. Lent is the grace-filled time when all of us are invited to renew our lives through fasting and prayer. All of us need to take a break and go to the 'desert' with Jesus to overcome the powers of evil and our inclinations to sin. In this context late Pope Francis says, "Lent comes providentially to reawaken us to shake us from our lethargy." Thomas Keating says, "Lent is a time to renew wherever we are, in that process that I call divine therapy." 

Conclusion: As Jesus underwent various temptations in His earthly life, we too face many temptations in our lives. Every one of us are tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth, power, authority and to use unjust and sinful ways to achieve worldly goals. If we succumb to such temptations, we will be like our first parents and many others in the past, hiding from God and hiding from one another. In order to overcome the various temptations, we need to do the following: 1. Take Jesus as our model who overcame temptations of the devil through prayer, penance and fasting. 2. Use the sacrament of reconciliation or confession so that we may recognize our sins and failures and be reconciled with God and with another so that we will not be a target of the deceit of the devil. 

May the Lord Jesus, who overcame the temptations of the devil through fasting and prayer in the desert, bless you so that you too can come victorious over the evil powers and various temptations in life. Amen. 

(Kindly note: Sunday Reflections with Fr. Joy Joseph is available on YouTube. Please view, like, share and subscribe to the video version on YouTube. "YouTube/Sunday Reflections with Fr. Joy Joseph, February 22, 2026)