Sunday, February 22, 2026

 

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, February 22, 2026
(Genesis 2:7–9; 3:1–7; Romans 5:12–19; Matthew 4:1–11)

We have begun the long journey of Lent. To help us make good use of these forty days, the Church offers us some of the most profound readings in the entire Bible. We know them well, yet they are always worth revisiting.

It is often said that the story of Adam and Eve describes the first sin. This is true, but it also describes every human sin. At the root of all human sin lies the pride of the first human beings. We sin whenever we consider our own will more important than the will of God. In this story, the serpent tempts the woman with the promise that if they eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they will be like God. By rejecting God’s command not to eat from that tree, both eat the fruit. Every time we sin, we do the same thing: we reject God’s will to satisfy our own desires.

We say “we,” but we should not include Jesus Christ in that statement. Although Jesus shares our human nature, he never placed his own will above the will of God the Father. In today’s Gospel, we see him overcome pride in each of the three temptations presented to him by Satan.

In the first temptation, Jesus is in the desert suffering intense hunger. Satan urges him to satisfy his desire by turning stones into bread. Jesus, however, recognizes that doing so would disappoint his Father. He decides that satisfying his hunger is not worth displeasing God, and he rejects the temptation. We can place ourselves in Jesus’ sandals. If, after working all Sunday and missing morning Mass, would we choose to attend Mass in the evening instead of immediately satisfying our hunger?

Then Satan tries to test Jesus’ relationship with his Father. He suggests that Jesus perform a reckless act to see whether God will save him from death despite his foolishness. Jesus has no difficulty rejecting this challenge because he knows that God’s love for him—and for all—is infinite. But beyond the question of paternal love, Jesus knows that he must do things in God’s way, not his own. We might ask ourselves: when faced with a difficulty, are we ready to handle it in God’s way? Or do we insist on doing things our way while assuming that God will forgive us later?

Finally, Jesus is tempted with power over the world. It is easy to imagine how appealing this temptation is to pride. All Jesus would have to do is perform an act of adoration to Satan to gain control of everything. But Jesus recognizes the stench of deceit. Satan is the father of lie.  Furthermore, Jesus did not come to earth to serve himself—much less to worship the devil. He came solely to serve his Father.

In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of “the overflowing grace that makes us righteous.” This is the grace that flows from Jesus Christ. He twice conquered the pride of the first human beings that brought death to all. First, he overcame the three temptations in the desert. Then, he definitively overcame human pride on Calvary. To benefit from this overflowing grace, we must live in relationship with him. Here, in the Eucharist, he offers us his Body and Blood as our strength. He does not abandon us when we go out to face life’s challenges.  Rather, he walks with us so that nothing may cause us to stumble. With him at our side, we trample pride underfoot and pass from death to eternal life with God.