HOMILY 16. Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint John, which is called the Constantiniana, on the first Sunday in Lent.
READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW IV, 1-11. At that time, Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. He answered and said: It is written: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written: He has given his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: Again it is written: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory, and said to him: All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him: Begone, Satan. For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
It is often doubted by some by what spirit Jesus was led into the desert, because of what follows: "The devil took him up into the holy city." And again: "He took him up onto a high mountain." This question is properly understood if we believe he was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit, so that his own Spirit would lead him there, where the evil spirit would then find him to tempt him. But behold, when it is said that God made man was taken up by the devil either onto a high mountain or into the holy city, the mind recoils, human ears are terrified to hear this. Yet we recognize that these things are not incredible if we consider other things that were done to him. Certainly the devil is the head of all the wicked, and all the wicked are members of this head. Was not Pilate a member of the devil? Were not the Jews who persecuted and the soldiers who crucified Christ members of the devil? What wonder is it then if he allowed himself to be led onto a mountain by him, who also allowed himself to be crucified by his members? Therefore it is not unworthy of our Redeemer that he willed to be tempted, he who had come to be killed. For it was just that he should overcome our temptations by his temptations, just as he had come to conquer our death by his death. But we should know that temptation occurs in three ways: by suggestion, by delight, and by consent. And when we are tempted, we frequently fall into delight or even into consent, because having been propagated from the sin of the flesh, we bear within ourselves that from which we endure struggles. But God, who was incarnate in the womb of a Virgin and came into the world without sin, tolerated no contradiction within himself. Therefore he could be tempted through suggestion, but the delight of sin did not bite his mind. And so all that diabolical temptation was external, not internal.
But if we examine the very order of his temptation, let us consider with what great power we are freed from temptation. The ancient enemy raised himself against the first man, our parent, in three temptations, because he tempted him with gluttony, vainglory, and avarice; but by tempting he overcame him, because he subjected him to himself through consent. Indeed, he tempted him through gluttony when he showed him the food of the forbidden tree and persuaded him to eat. He tempted him through vainglory when he said: You shall be as gods. And he tempted him through the advancement of avarice when he said: Knowing good and evil. For avarice is not only of money, but also of exaltation. For it is rightly called avarice when loftiness is sought beyond measure. For if the seizure of honor did not pertain to avarice, Paul would never say of the only-begotten Son of God: He did not consider it robbery to be equal to God. Moreover, the devil drew our parent to pride in this, that he aroused him to avarice for exaltation.
But by the same means by which he overthrew the first man, by those same means he was overcome when he tempted the second man. For he tempts through gluttony when he says: "Command that these stones become bread." He tempts through vainglory when he says: "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down." He tempts through the greed of ambition when he shows all the kingdoms of the world, saying: "All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me." But by the same means by which he boasted of having conquered the first man, he is conquered by the second man, so that he might depart from our hearts, captured at the very entrance by which he had entered and held us. But there is something else, dearest brothers, that we ought to consider in this temptation of the Lord: that when tempted by the devil, the Lord responded with the precepts of sacred Scripture, and he who could have plunged his tempter into the abyss by that Word which he was, did not display the power of his might, but gave only the precepts of divine Scripture, so that he might offer us an example of his patience, that whenever we suffer anything from wicked people, we might be stirred to teaching rather than to vengeance. Consider how great is the patience of God, and how great is our impatience. If we are provoked by injuries or some harm, moved by fury, we either avenge ourselves as much as we can, or we threaten what we cannot do. Behold, the Lord endured the adversity of the devil, and answered him with nothing but words of gentleness. He bore him whom he could have punished, so that his praise might grow higher from this: that he overcame his enemy not by destroying him, but by enduring him for the time being.
But it should be noted what follows: that when the devil departed, angels ministered to him. By this, what else is shown but both natures in one person? For he is man whom the devil tempts, and he is the same God to whom angels minister. Let us therefore recognize our nature in him, for unless the devil perceived him to be man, he would not have tempted him. Let us venerate his divinity in him, for unless he were God above all things, angels would in no way minister to him.
But since the reading is fitting for these days—for we have heard of the forty days' abstinence of our Redeemer as we begin the season of Lent—we must discuss why this very abstinence is observed for the number of forty days. For Moses fasted twice for forty days in order to receive the law. Elijah abstained for forty days in the desert. The very Author of humanity, coming to humanity, took no food at all for forty days. Let us also, as much as we can, strive to afflict our flesh through abstinence during the annual season of Lent. Why then is the number forty observed in abstinence, unless because the power of the Decalogue is fulfilled through the four books of the holy Gospel? For ten multiplied by four produces forty, because we fulfill the commandments of the Decalogue when we indeed keep the four books of the holy Gospel. From this another meaning can also be perceived. For in this mortal body we subsist from four elements, and through the pleasures of this same body we act contrary to the Lord's commandments. But the Lord's commandments were received through the Decalogue. Since therefore through the desires of the flesh we have despised the commandments of the Decalogue, it is fitting that we afflict that same flesh four times ten. Although concerning this season of Lent there is still another thing that can be understood. For from the present day until the joys of the Paschal solemnity, six weeks come, whose days indeed amount to forty-two. When the six Sundays are subtracted from the abstinence, no more than thirty-six days remain in abstinence. But while the year is reckoned through three hundred and sixty-five days, and we afflict ourselves through thirty-six days, we give as it were the tithes of our year to God, so that we who have lived for ourselves through the year we received, may mortify ourselves to our Author in his tithes through abstinence. Therefore, dearest brothers, just as you are commanded in the law to offer tithes of your possessions, so strive to offer him also tithes of your days. Let each one, as much as strength allows, mortify the flesh and afflict its desires, and slay shameful lusts, so that according to Paul's words, one may become a living sacrifice. For a sacrifice is both offered and is living when a person both does not depart from this life, and yet slays himself from carnal desires. Let the flesh that drew us joyfully to sin, bring us back afflicted to pardon. For the author of our death transgressed the precepts of life through the fruit of the forbidden tree. Let us therefore who fell from the joys of paradise through food, rise again to them as much as we can through abstinence.
But let no one believe that abstinence alone can suffice for him, since the Lord says through the prophet: "Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen?" adding: "Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the needy and homeless into your house; when you see the naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh." Therefore God approves that fast which raises hands of almsgiving to His eyes, which is performed with love of neighbor, which is seasoned with piety. Therefore what you take away from yourself, give generously to another, so that from that by which your flesh is afflicted, the flesh of your needy neighbor may be restored. For hence the Lord says through the prophet: "When you fasted and mourned, did you fast a fast for me? And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" For he eats and drinks for himself who receives the nourishment of the body, which is the common gift of the Creator, without sharing with the needy. And each one fasts for himself if he does not give to the poor what he subtracts from himself for a time, but keeps it to be offered later to his belly. Hence it is said through Joel: "Sanctify a fast." Indeed, to sanctify a fast is to show abstinence of the flesh worthy of God by joining other good works to it. Let anger cease, let quarrels be stilled. For the flesh is worn down in vain if the mind is not restrained from its wicked pleasures, since the Lord says through the prophet: "Behold, on the day of your fast your own will is found. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and you strike with the fist impiously, and you demand payment from all your debtors." For indeed one who demands back from his debtor what he gave does nothing unjust, but it is fitting that whoever mortifies himself in penance should forbid himself even what is justly owed to him. Thus, thus what we have done unjustly is forgiven by God when we are afflicted and penitent, if for love of Him we also release what is justly owed to us.