The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve. (Mt. 4:1-11)

Today’s gospel follows Jesus’ baptism and declaration by the Father that Jesus is his ‘Beloved Son.’ Following this, the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert for 40 days.  After that time, he is hungry, weakened, vulnerable and this is when he encounters “the tempter.” Each temptation, at its root, is testing what kind of “beloved son” he will be.  Will he embrace the path that the Father has given him rather than the one that offers worldly glory and power, albeit for a seemingly successful mission on earth? We know how this ends…Jesus will accept the way of the Father in complete trust that he will have all that he needs to complete the mission.  For us who come after, we know that the Father will also give us all that is needed. As we face the temptations in life, we, too, can rely on God to accompany us through it.