Lectio for Lent: Week One

 

NOTE: Each week during Lent, I will post a set of reflection questions based on the Sunday Gospel. No "answers" will be provided. The questions are simply meant to help the reader (or group of readers) engage the Scripture text for the corresponding week in the context of the Church's observance of Lent. Ultimately, the goal is to help one meditate on the following questions: What does this text mean for me? What is God saying to me through his Word--here and now? How ought I respond to it? I encourage you to spend some time reading and thinking about the Gospel passages indicated before turning to the reflection questions here. In the process, if you discern the "still, small voice" of God speaking to your heart and leading you into prayer, then go with it! -- Br. Francis

 

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (YEAR A)

The Temptation of Jesus

(Matthew 4:1-11)

 

Led by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus is tempted and fasts for 40 days.

 

Why the desert and for 40 days?

 

How does this account parallel that (in Exodus and Deuteronomy) of the ancient Israelites?

 

How does Jesus' response to temptation differ from that of our first parents as recounted in the first reading (Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7)?

 

Since Jesus was fully human (and fully divine), what implication does this have for you today?