[0:00]My dear brothers and sisters, today I would like to speak to you a very important secret of the Lenten season. This is a very important thing that we need to be aware of when we think about Lenten season. There are some secrets in the hidden in the Bible and that the church knows it and the church is revealing to us so that we may all be aware of it and do have the counter position uh against those things which God wants to the church wants us to remember. So, I'm going to speak to you uh something very important in the Lenten season and it's very important for us to know it. And what is exactly it is about. There is a technique of the devil which he practices and use it against us from from the beginning the day one, from the Paradise even until now and he continues even now. So, what are the techniques the devil uses? Devil is using a technique that means there are certain temptations or maybe um certain uh characteristics or maybe certain positions that he does, certain temptations he gives. It is same, his tactics are same in the paradise in the course of history even today and tomorrow. His tactics are same. He's not updating his tactics because he knows first of all he's a lazy fellow so he won't update it. Secondly he knows it is easy for him to do make all of us fall into this temptation. Let us see the three tactics of the devil in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis chapter 3 verse 6 onwards. This is a secret which we may have may not have noticed it but let's noticed it. When when the devil tempted Adam and Eve. There are in the only one temptation to eat the forbidden fruit. But eat in the eating of the forbidden fruit, there are three temptations involved. Three secret temptations of the devil. The first one. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. So the first temptation, good for food. That means lust of the flesh, lust for flesh, lust of the flesh. And that it was a delight to the eyes, that means lust of the eyes. Third one, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, the pride about oneself. I want to be like I want to have wise, I want to be wise, I want to have wisdom. So that comes from there is a secret desire to be like God, to become like God. So these three temptations, three tactics are hidden in the first temptation. First one, lust of flesh, lust of eyes and the lust I mean the desire to become rich, or pride in riches or pride inside, pride about themselves, pride to become somebody. So, um these are the three tactics of the devil. We read Saint John knows this. Saint John knew this very well because being with Jesus, he knew it. And he spoke about it. Let us read what Saint John speaks about it. First John chapter 2 verse 16 and 17. First John chapter 2 verse 16 and 17, we read like this. First John chapter 2 verse 16 for all that is in the world. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh. The desire of the flesh. Desire of the eyes. The desire of the eyes. The pride in riches. The pride in riches. Comes not from the Father. Comes not from the Father. But from the world. But from the world. So three things Saint John mentions. One desire of the flesh. So that is what Eve had the temptation eat this fruit is good for desire to a good for food. Good to eat. So desire of the flesh. Second one, it bring delights to the eyes, desire of the eyes.
[4:50]Third one, Devil took him to the pinnacle of the temple and said jump from this and show your power in front of the whole world and then everyone will believe you are son of God.
[5:28]So pride, jump and show in front of others that I am God, I am God. So that is called pride. So the same temptation Jesus also had. The same temptation Eve had in Paradise, the same temptation Jesus also faced but he overcame this temptation by giving one after the another. Apt word of God Jesus told him and chased him out and he defeated all Adam and Eve, they failed in this three area. And new Adam defeated the devil in this area. Now in the catechism of the Catholic Church, 540 it says, in the during the Lenten season the whole the faithful in the church, we are entering into the desert experience, desert experience. We are entering into the wilderness along with Jesus 40 days of 40 days of temptation period, 40 days of abstinence and penances. 40 days of Lenten season is nothing but we also enter into the wilderness with Jesus.
[6:41]That means this 40 days we are also going to experience these and face these three temptations. Three temptation, desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes and pride. Praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus. Stealing and um desire for money, desire for all these kinds of worldly possessions, worldly possessions.
[7:44]This is coming from the desire of the eyes. Showing of in front of others. So desire of the eyes. The third one, the pride in riches, that means pride, third one pride. Pride means it could be any kind of you know, showing off and and also desire for power, position and you want everyone to worship you. You want everyone to honor you. You should be self self-centeredness, exalting yourself, boasting about yourself, these are all coming under the category of pride. So these are the three areas, desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes and pride. Now with these are the tactics of the devil and we are entering into the wilderness experience in this 40 days of Lenten season. And the church is reminding us 40 days of Lenten season means we are going to the wilderness along with Jesus. And that means in this wilderness we are going to face these three temptation, desire of the flesh, desire of that eyes and pride, which we are in fact experiencing every day of our life, not only in Lenten season, but every day of our life. Now how to overcome it? How to overcome these three tactics of the devil. That is why in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verse one onwards we can see there are three method to overcome these temptations. If you remember during the Lenten season when the Lent started, the first reading and the Gospel reading was this. Three things you have to do during the fasting, sorry, during the Lenten season. Was first one, fasting. Second one, armsgiving, third one, prayer. Why these three? These three are nothing but counter position of these three temptation. First one, fasting means it's not you know many people say you don't need to avoid food and other things, you can avoid social media and all those things. That is not what the church wants. Fasting means overcoming the desire of the flesh. That means we need to literally fast, literally avoid certain food items which you like most or avoid certain food from maybe afternoon lunch or evening dinner, something we need to fast. That is called fasting is one of the criterion mean conditions, one of the the method the church has given us to overcome the tactic of devil, the desire of the flesh. The second one, the desire of the eyes. What is desire of the eyes? To desire to get everything, possession. I want to possess everything. I want this kingdom, I want that, I want this, I want to enjoy this. Desire of the eyes. How to overcome this? By armsgiving, give it away, give it away. Sacrifice your money, sacrifice your give your tith and help the poor people by giving them, giving them away, giving your money, giving your sacrifice, your time, energy, and power and position and money. By doing so, you are defeating the second tactic of the devil, desire of the eyes. And third one, pride. Pride means I am the one, I am the small God in my house. I am the incharge, I am everyone should worship me, everyone should honor me. This is called pride. So how to overcome that? Prayer by kneeling down and lifting up the hands in front of God, surrendering ourselves in front of God. We are declaring that we are nothing in front of God. We are humble, we are humbling ourselves in front of God and giving honor to God. And by doing these three acts of charity I mean acts uh in the during this Lenten season, we are defeating the three tactics of the devil, which was there in the paradise, which was there during the time of Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness, and which continues in the history and now this is the method to counter the work of the devil. These three areas. One is fasting, the other one is arms giving, and the third one is prayer. And that is why, that is what we call the secret of the Lenten season. Why the church has asked us to do these three fasting, arms giving and prayer? And because this is to counter counter the three tactics of the devil, desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes and pride, which was seen in the Adam to Adam and Eve, they experienced in Genesis and that is the original sin happened. Jesus when he started the public ministry, the devil came up with the three temptations with the same temptations. And now we all are facing the same three temptations in our daily life. The only way to overcome is these three methods, fasting, armsgiving and prayer. Praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Something some people say with the new ideas. Oh, you don't need to fast, you can eat whatever you want, you can eat, do this, do and but you just avoid certain other things. Like um maybe avoid some time in the social media, avoid this. This is not what the church wants, this is not the Bible wants. Bible wants these three areas, fasting physically, you have to overcome the flesh. Not only social media, then social media, avoiding social media and other things, which we have to do every day, but we need to overcome the desire of the flesh.
