St. Joseph's Catholic Church

Entering the Desert

Every First Sunday of Lent, the Church leads us into the desert. The readings place before us two powerful scenes: the garden of Eden and the wilderness where Jesus fasts for forty days. In the garden, Adam is surrounded by abundance, beauty, and provision. In the desert, Jesus is surrounded by hunger, silence, and emptiness. Yet it is in the garden that humanity falls, and in the desert that Christ triumphs.

In Genesis, the serpent begins not with force but with a question: “Did God really say…?” Temptation often begins the same way in our lives. It plants doubt about God’s goodness. It suggests that obedience is restriction, that God is withholding something better, that happiness lies outside His will. Adam and Eve listened to that voice. They grasped at what was forbidden because they doubted the Father’s love. Sin entered the world not simply because they ate a fruit, but because they stopped trusting.

In the Gospel, Jesus faces similar temptations. After forty days of fasting, He is hungry. The devil tells Him to turn stones into bread. It is the temptation to satisfy Himself apart from the Father’s will. Then He is tempted to throw Himself down from the temple to force God to prove His protection. Finally, He is offered all the kingdoms of the world without the cross. Bread without trust. Glory without humility. Power without sacrifice.

But where Adam failed, Jesus stands firm. He answers each temptation with the Word of God. He does not negotiate. He does not argue emotionally. He remains rooted in Scripture and in His identity as the beloved Son. It is important to notice that the Spirit led Jesus into the desert. The desert is not an accident. It is not punishment. It is preparation. Lent is our desert — a time of testing, purification, and strengthening. We all experience deserts in different ways: dryness in prayer, struggles with repeated sins, hidden anxieties, disappointments, temptations that seem to return again and again. The desert reveals what is in the heart.

If we remain with Christ in the desert — if we learn to trust as He trusted — then we will also share in His victory. The One who resisted temptation in the wilderness is the same One who will rise on Easter morning. And if we stay close to Him through these forty days, our desert will lead us not to defeat, but to resurrection.