About the Great Lent (Part 2)
(Continued)👇
Our Lord's fast is a great example for us to follow in order to protect ourselves from the attacks of Satan. After receiving our sonship through baptism, we must keep the grace we received through fasting and prayer. The enemy, the devil, will inevitably try to destroy us, and we must fast and pray hard to protect ourselves.
When our Lord was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, it was after His baptism, and it was to defeat Satan in his own city. The wilderness is Satan's abode, a perfect desert where no righteous work can grow, where no water of peace can be drawn. Satan deceived Adam with food, and Christ went to defeat Satan in his own city by fasting for 40 days.
Beloved, perhaps our hearts have been pierced by the spear of pride, crushed by the stone of sin, and have become a barren desert like Satan. Let us plant fasting, which is the root of virtue, in our hearts and make it flourish. The wilderness is also a place where believers travel to live in unity with Christ alone, scorning the world. Monks go to monasteries to fight the devil and crush the power of the devil through fasting and prayer.
It was necessary for Christ to go to the wilderness to remind us that Satan's temptation is inevitable even if we are alone and to teach us about the monastic life. Fasting means fasting until we are able to overcome Satan's temptations. Satan is very afraid of us during fasting, and they cannot come near us. Just as we are getting tired and hungry because of our fasting, when our appetite increases, it comes armed with all its strength to fight us. Through His fasting, Christ taught us that no matter how holy we are, the temptation of the devil is inevitable.
May the name of the Holy God be praised forever and ever in every language that He has created, today and always.
May the blessings of the Holy Mother of God, the Virgin, and the Cross be upon us. Amen.
© John's Repentance
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