Today's gospel: At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test." Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve." Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.
From De La Salle's Meditation for the First Sunday of Lent: "The Wise Man likewise forewarns us of this when he says that those who enter the service of God must prepare themselves for temptation. . . Have you always thought that to be devoted entirely to God, you must be prepared to be tempted? Are you not upset when some temptation comes to you? In the future be ready to meet temptation at any time and thus to draw from it all the benefit that God wishes it to accomplish in you."
Temptations for teachers can be quite prevalent this time of year, temptations like, "they're not working hard, let's make it easier", "I can't stand (name)", or "there's nothing more we can do for (name)". What inspires me about teaching at San Miguel during Lent is that we are surrounded by educators - all of you - who live as "ambassadors and ministers of Christ" (Med. 195.2) who, like Christ, will be tempted, but, like Christ, never give in. Even during some of our intense small group discussions on Friday about CRN Mission Effectiveness Standards, when some frustrations surfaced, they were always voiced as passionate desires to do better for our students, not to give up. As Megan suggested so well on Wednesday, you have been disciplined, over time, to respond in love to the face of God in our students, not to push them away.
For this week, as we face the joys and frustrations of working with the students entrusted to our care, let us look to the passionate, loving response of all of our colleagues as we face down our temptations, or help others to do so.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!