One does not live by bread alone

Dt 26,4-19; Ps 90; Rm 10,8-13; Lk 4,1-13
10 MARCH

The temptation is the undermining of man from his natural and supernatural order, which must govern every relationship with God, with men, with things, with time and with eternity. As the train is made by man to run on the track, so too man has been made to run on the track of his natural and supernatural order which is the will of his Lord that must regulate his every motion of the soul, spirit and body. Like the train, if it leaves the track, it cannot run anymore and not even can it return to resume its run by itself, so it is with man, if he exits the will of God, can no longer either walk according to his truth or even can reposition himself in the truth. Man can be put back into truth only by his Lord and Creator. The one who made him is also the only one who can redeem and save him. It is a substantial truth of our faith. Without this truth our faith is dead. Since man, for his grave fault, has come out of the natural and supernatural order, can he be put back on his track only by God and only through the grace of Christ Jesus can he resume his race.

Who has the Father set up to redeem, save and give man every grace so that he may be put back not only on the track, but also remain in it and progress towards eternal life on it, is Lord Jesus. In order to bring man back to his truth, Jesus is obliged to be the first to remain in the eternal order established by the Father. If He comes out, in a little or a lot, from the divine will, he needs to be redeemed and cannot redeem. He needs to be saved and might not save. He needs someone to help him, but he cannot help. Knowing this, the devil tries with every temptation to make Jesus fall. If he falls, humanity will always be under his bondage of darkness and sin. No one else might save, redeem and put it back in its eternal order. The devil’s cunning is great. He presents himself to Jesus proposing him a good either for himself or for men to be saved. Where is the deception if he proposes a good for Jesus and for humanity,? The deception is this: the good that he proposes to Jesus is against the natural and supernatural order established by the Father. Satan wants Jesus to separate himself from the Father, from the command received from the Father, from the will that the Father revealed to him, from the obedience that must be only to the Father and to no other creature. In the wisdom of the Holy Spirit Jesus immediately knows the temptation and with the fortitude, always drawn in the Spirit of God, he immediately rejects it. Jesus knows that with the devil one neither dialogues nor reasons. The answer must be of very pure faith.

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 by 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 their 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.

Today the devil has decided to bring out the Church, the body of Christ, from her natural and supernatural, christological and pneumatological order. He is doing it in a simple and basic way. He is persuading every disciple of Jesus that it is useless to serve divine, heavenly and eternal goods to men. He is turning them into servants of things of this world. Instead of living mercy to raise up to heaven, he is advising them to live charity for the things of down here. We are outside the order of grace and truth desired by the Father. Good is no longer according to God, but according to Satan.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that we never leave the natural and supernatural order.