Glimpses of God's Goodness are published for all Sundays and Feast Days at www.sndden.org, the international website of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
March 9, 2025
Luke 4: 1-13
After the Baptism, Jesus was filled with the Spirit and in the Spirit Jesus was led into the desert. The Desert. What comes to mind with this word desert? Dryness in the extreme, scorching sun, no mercy, little shade, scarcity of water, cold nights, little food, in general a place that is not easy, in fact, filled with hardship. In this desert Jesus is tempted by the devil, that creature that would want to separate Jesus from the One who sent him to be among us.
Jesus spent forty days in this desert. The devil presented three temptations: wealth, political power, religious power. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” The Diabo incites Jesus to generate bread from stone, it could be other things, too. It is a temptation to dominate the material. “I give you all these nations if you kneel before me.” The Diabo incites Jesus to worship the Devil to take power of the nations, to become king of kings, if he allies himself with the diabo. Finally, the Devil encourages Jesus to throw himself from the temple for the angels to take him, manipulating religious power. Jesus rejected all three with simplicity and firmness: “A human being does not live by bread alone.” “Worship God alone and do not serve another.” “Do not tempt the Lord your God.” Jesus knows where he is and in what he believes and to what he is dedicated.
In the Gospel of Luke, this time in the desert is a time for Jesus to prepare himself for his mission, to ready himself to deal with the forces of greed, power and the manipulation of the sacred. God’s people who had come out of slavery in Egypt and spent forty years in the desert learning to be God’s people which meant to live in a way different from the dominant and oppressive system. Over the years, the same powers of oppression emerged to once again oppress the poor, the weak, the rejects of society. These were the powers Jesus was preparing himself to confront.
When I read this reading to start reflecting so I could write, my thoughts stopped in the Desert. Images came one after another in my head and my heart: the migrant people trying to flee situations of danger and threat crossing the desert to reach the United States, facing heat, sun, lack of water, dangers of robberies, and finally arrested as criminals….. The Gaza war is in the desert. Thousands of people have been killed: children, young people, families, the elderly. Peace seems very fragile. War in other countries leaving deserts of destruction as in Ukraine. Images from around the world came to mind where we are seeing the effects of the warming or heating of the planet creating even more desert: prolonged drought, fires out of control, huge floods, so much destruction of nature, of farming, of housing, of means of work and killing of people. Yes, we are creating this desert in small ways, but there are huge projects of big and rich companies: big soy plantations, mining, water privatization, deforestation, all at the cost of people’s lives and nature who are causing tremendous destruction. I wonder what we are learning in this desert? Are we creating a new way of living? Pope Francis has given us a lot of hints, are we paying attention?
If we can take a look at the next passage of this chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we know that Jesus came out of the wilderness and went to the synagogue and proclaimed his mission, took on his mission, in which he is going to be persecuted and killed which we remember in Holy Week. This experience in the desert to which the Spirit propelled him prepared him for his mission of proclaiming the good news to the poor and oppressed all the time. This is our mission as well. In this Lenten season we can reflect on the temptations we face personally, as a community and as a society, and together discover ways to live live this jubilee year with joy of heart. Many people are already doing small things to reverse these deserts. Perhaps during this season we could share some of these things.
Luke 4: 1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.”
Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Katy Webster (known as Kátia in Brazil) entered Notre Dame at Ilchester, Maryland in 1976. After initial formation in the Baltimore-Washington area, Katy was missioned to Brooklyn, New York. She taught sixth graders for nearly 5 years at St. Catherine of Genoa School. In February, 1984 Katy was sent to Brazil by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, with the blessings of students and teachers of St. Catherine’s. Kátia lived in Maranhão for 9 years. Then in 1993, she moved to Pará where she has lived at Centro Nazaré on the Transamazon Highway, Altamira, Anapu and Itaituba. Kátia is currently back in Anapu. Kátia has lived with and among the people who struggle to live community while facing the greed of ranchers, loggers and lately the mining companies, and always learning far more than teaching. It is a blessed journey of faith and trust in the good God.