Daily reflection _ Jesus is tempted like us!

JESUS IS TEMPTED LIKE US!
Where did Jesus find His strength to survive the desert's harsh conditions and the tempter's seduction?
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
I just read this story recently and feel it is fitting for today's reflection:
Richard Miller was a high-school senior of the early 1900's. He was a rebellious youth with little respect for authority. He fell passionately in love with a neighbor girl, Muriel McComber. Her father feared the wild ways of Richard and succeeded in breaking up the romance. Heartbroken, Richard wandered into a saloon where he met a woman called Belle. In the language of those days one would call her a "flirt," a woman who played at love without any serious intentions. Richard had too much to drink, tried to fight a salesman, and was thrown out of the saloon. His father, a sympathetic and understanding parent, slowly helped his son regain his balance. By a secret message Richard learned that Muriel really loved him too. He decided to reform and wait for her.
This is the plot of a pleasant comedy written by Eugene O'Neill in 1933. It is called "Ah Wilderness!" The play enjoyed a wide popularity because it pictured a truly human and common situation in everyday life. It pictured a part of the wilderness in which we live.
Today's Gospel tells us that Jesus went out into the desert; into the wilderness for forty days. This is one of the reasons for the forty days of Lent. The desert was the dwelling place of evil spirits; wild beasts that represented the evil in which Jesus had come to conquer. Why do we read about this on the First Sunday of Lent? What connection is there between the wilderness where Jesus lived during the first Lent, and the wilderness you and I live in during this Lent of 2015? We too have to face our troubled times with the threat of war, trying to take God out of the world, loss of jobs, broken relationships, hatred, being lost, and so on.
What motivated Jesus to spend forty days and nights of solitude, prayer and fasting in the Judean wilderness? This desert landscape was largely uninhabitable and was full of danger for anyone who dared to venture in it for long. There was the danger of the scorching heat by day and the extreme cold at night; danger from wild animals and scorpions; deprivation of food and scarcity of water. For the Chosen People of Israel the desert was a place of testing, encounter, and renewal. When the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt they wandered forty years in the wilderness. This was seen as a time of purification and preparation for entry into the Promised Land. Moses went to the Mountain of the Lord at Sinai and stayed there for forty days and forty nights. Elijah, the Prophet, spent forty days journeying there.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us in their Gospel accounts that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to spend forty days and nights in prayer and fasting in a lonely place. Mark states it most emphatically, "The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness" (Mk. 1:12). Why was Jesus compelled to seek solitude for such a lengthy period? Was it simply a test to prepare Him for ministry? In a similar way, God tested His servants to see if they were fit to be used by Him. God tested Abraham to prove his faith. The Israelites were sorely tested in Egypt before God delivered them from their enemies. Jesus was no exception to this testing. Despite His weakened condition, due to fatigue and lack of food, Jesus steadfastly rejected Satan's subtle and not so subtle temptations. Where did Jesus find His strength to survive the desert's harsh conditions and the tempter's seduction? He fed on His Father's Word and found strength in doing His will.
Jesus was tempted like us and He overcame sin not by His own human strength but by the grace and strength given Him by God. He had to renounce His will for the will of His Father. He succeeded because He wanted to please the Father and Jesus trusted that He would give Him the strength to overcome all obstacles. A true obedience to God's will and willingness to embrace the cross reversed the curse of Adam's disobedience. Jesus' victory over sin and death won for us not only pardon for our sins but adoption as sons and daughters of God.
How can we overcome sin and oppression? God gives us His Holy Spirit as our Guide and Consoler to strengthen us during times of temptation and testing. God wants us to "fight the good fight of faith," (cf. 1Tim. 6:12) whichcomes from His grace.
In today's Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, "Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep Your covenant" (Ps. 25:10). Your ways teach us and guide us.
You are God, my Savior!