Standing Firm in Temptation

In today’s homily, Fr Adrian Francis brings us back to the very beginning of our story.

In the first family, Adam and Eve, temptation entered the world. They lived in a garden filled with life, order, and closeness with God. Yet they listened to another voice. They doubted God’s word. They chose disobedience. Sin entered, and with it came division, weakness, and death.

On this First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel leads us to another decisive moment. Jesus Christ is also tempted. Like Adam and Eve, He hears the voice that questions God, distorts truth, and offers an easier path. But unlike them, Jesus does not fall. He resists every temptation and drives the tempter away. Where the first family failed, Jesus stands firm.

This contrast matters deeply for us.

Temptation itself is not a sin. We carry an inherited, fallen nature, and feeling tempted is part of being human. Lent reminds us that struggle does not make us weak Christians. It reminds us that we are human beings in need of grace.

Here lies the Good News. We have been redeemed. Jesus did not resist temptation for Himself alone. He did it for us. Through Him, we are given the strength to overcome what once defeated us.

Still, many of us quietly wrestle with hard questions.
If God is good, why place the tree in the garden?
Why allow the serpent to be there at all?
Why does God seem silent when we are struggling?

Scripture and the Church teach us that God allows temptation, but He never causes sin. Satan can tempt, but his power is limited to what God permits. He cannot force us. The final choice always remains ours. This is the dignity and burden of free will, our ability to choose good or evil, trust or doubt, obedience or self-rule.

Every sin, at its core, is an act of disobedience. It places the creature above the Creator. It echoes the same lie spoken in Eden, “I know better than God.” That lie still whispers today, often quietly and subtly.

Sin does not make us stronger. It weakens us. It distances us from God and from one another. Scripture tells us that sin brought death, and death spread to all. We see its effects not only in the world around us, but in our own hearts.

Jesus confronts this directly. In the desert, He answers every temptation with the Word of God. He does not argue or negotiate. He stands firmly on truth. In doing so, He shows us why the Father sent Him. Jesus goes to the very core of sin and defeats it at its root.

This gives us hope. The Word of God is stronger than the snares of the devil. Grace is stronger than weakness. We are not meant to fight alone. We belong to God, and because we belong to Him, victory is possible.

When we fall into sin, our instinct is often to hide, just like Adam and Eve. We pull away from prayer. We avoid silence. We feel unworthy to speak to God. Shame tells us to run. Yet this is precisely the moment when we need prayer the most.

God does not withdraw from us in our weakness. We are the ones who step back. Lent invites us to do the opposite, to return, to pray even when words are hard, and to trust that mercy is greater than failure.

As we walk through this sacred season, let us remember this. Temptation is real, but so is grace. Sin may wound us, but it does not define us. In Christ, we are not powerless. We are redeemed. We can resist. We can rise again.

May this Lent teach us not to run from God, but to run towards Him, especially when the struggle is real. (BV)