Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
Lent has begun. I hope it has begun well for you. If not, you can rescue the situation by making a sincere start now. Why do we need Lent? Lent is our annual reminder not to forget who we are and that our destiny is with God in heaven. Lent is our annual reminder not to get lost in this world but to keep our sights fixed firmly on God. Just like a rose plant needs pruning every year to produce the best flowers, we need the pruning of Lent to be the best we can be.
Of course, during Lent we model ourselves after Jesus in the desert overcoming temptations from Satan. How brazen Satan was—even trying to tempt Jesus. Jesus overcame the temptations of Satan in the desert and Lent is our time to grow stronger in overcoming temptation and growing closer to God. When temptations come our way, they test us by our response. Our response shows if we love God more than the temptation. So, our response to temptations shows us up for who we are.
St. Padre Pio said one of worst temptations is to think that God does not love us. In his letters to those who asked for his advice, he encouraged people never to forget God’s love of them. In a letter in 1914 he wrote:
Jesus is always with you, even when it seems you do not feel him. He is never closer to you than when you are in spiritual battle. He is always there, near you, invigorating you to keep up the battle courageously; he is there to fend off the blows of the enemy so that you are not harmed. For the sake of love, I implore you, by all that you hold most sacred, do not wrong him by suspecting, even slightly, that you have been abandoned by him—not even for a single instant. This is precisely one of the most satanic temptations, and you need to thrust it far from you as soon as you become aware of it. (Letter to Raffaelina Cerase, August 15, 1914, in Pasquale, Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day p118)
In a letter in 1918 he wrote:
When the evil one wants to convince you that you are a casualty of his attacks and a victim of divine abandonment, do not believe him, because he is lying and wants to deceive you . . . it is not true that you disgust the Lord; it is not true that the Lord has not forgiven your transgressions and wandering in the past. God’s grace is with you, and you are very precious to the Lord. The shadows, the fears, the contradictory perspectives are all devilish tricks that you must reject. (Letter to Girolama Longo, April 15, 1918, in Pasquale, Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day p111-112)
How do we overcome temptations? In the Gospel today (Luke 4:1-13), we see Jesus overcoming temptations by reciting Scripture to the devil. Prayer and the sacraments are other great helps to overcome evil. For centuries, the Church has given us a prescription for Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. If we are not praying together as a family, can we begin again? Fasting could be from anything that is not good for us, for example, spending too much time watching TV or on the internet. Almsgiving reminds us that we are so much better off than so many in the world.
The power of a good confession to help us overcome evil is, I think, not understood by many nowadays. Fr. Gabriel Amorth, who was the exorcist for the diocese of Rome, has written a number of times that confession is worth more than an exorcism. He wrote about a young woman named Marcella who went to him for help, and she undertook a program of prayer and sacraments that gradually healed her:
Little by little, Marcella intensified her prayer life, started receiving Communion and praying the Rosary daily, and went to confession weekly (confession is stronger than an exorcism!). She progressively improved and suffered setbacks only when she decreased the intensity of her prayers. She was healed after only two years. (An Exorcist Tells His Story p86)
We see in his statement that confession is stronger than exorcism that so much is up to us to overcome any evil around us. We underestimate the power of confession to help us overcome evil. I hope that during Holy Week or before it everyone can get to confession. Someone helped by Fr. Amorth wrote:
Years ago, before all my sufferings, I went to confession and received Communion. Since I was not suffering, I did not realize that these practices were a form of immunization from evil. Now I know it, and I invite everyone, but above all the lukewarm, to believe that God is truly present at the door of the confessional and in that Host we so often take so casually. (An Exorcist Tells His Story p108)
So as we begin Lent, we think of Jesus in the desert overcoming Satan by quoting Sacred Scripture to him. Reading Sacred Scripture, as well as prayer, and receiving the Sacraments help us on our spiritual journey. One of the worst temptations is to think we have been abandoned by God. St. Padre Pio said not to wrong Jesus “by suspecting, even slightly, that you have been abandoned by him—not even for a single instant.” To someone else Padre Pio wrote, “it is not true that you disgust the Lord; it is not true that the Lord has not forgiven your transgressions and wandering in the past. God’s grace is with you, and you are very precious to the Lord.” Fr. Amorth has written many times that confession is stronger than exorcism. We underestimate the power of Confession and of Jesus in the Eucharist to help us on our spiritual journey. Lent is a grace from God to grow closer to God.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the First Sunday of Lent Year C
Lent: consecration to Jesus 2022
Overcoming sin during Lent like Jesus in the desert 2007
Related Homilies: First Sunday of Lent Year A First Sunday of Lent Year B
stories for Lent
Old Testament Readings during Lent