In these early days of Lent, let us strive to draw closer to the Holy Mother of God, for if we place ourselves under the protection of her mantle, we will not be overcome by the attacks of the devil.

 Newsdesk (Gaudium Press) No one climbs Everest without having first done some good physical preparation and studied well the conditions and the means that one must have for such an undertaking. It is obvious.

Now, what is Easter? Far from recriminating the sweets, the gatherings etc., it must be said, however, that these things are by no means the most important. On that date we commemorate nothing less than the most important event in all of human history: the Redemption. On Holy Thursday, we will witness the institution of the Holy Eucharist. On Good Friday, we will contemplate the death of our Lord and on Holy Saturday we will celebrate His Resurrection.

On the first Sunday of Lent the Church shows us what this preparation must be like.

Supreme example of victory over temptations

The first step that the Church asks of us this Lent is that we abandon sin.

But how to do this? Aware of our weakness, She presents us in the liturgy with the example par excellence: Our Lord himself.

At that time, the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1).

The Gospel then tells us of the three temptations that Jesus suffered during those forty days in the desert:

1) To turn stones into loaves of bread;

2) Throwing Himself from the top of the temple;

3) Worshipping the devil, having as His “prize” dominion over all the kingdoms of the world (Mt 4:3-9) – as if God needed something beyond all Creation to govern.

In all these temptations, the devil used passages from Scripture to try to lead Our Lord into sin. All in vain: He also used them, and with much greater propriety. The words “for thus it is written”, Jesus will repeat in order to overcome the three temptations mentioned above.

First lesson for us: whoever does not want to fall into sin must have a clear notion of truth and error. For this we have such infallible instruments: Revelation contained in Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church.

In the second place, it is indispensable to flee from occasions of sin. We have in the first reading an example of how not to proceed. God had forbidden our first parents, Adam and Eve, to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. What should they have done?: not even look at the tree, keep very far from it. Well, Eve, allowing herself to be deceived by the serpent, “saw that it would be good to eat of the tree” (Gen 3:6). When we do not flee from occasions that lead us to sin, we end up judging as good what is evil, and vice versa. After that, sin is only a consequence.

Thirdly, we must pray. If we have not been negligent in practising the two previous points, and keep a firm resolution not to sin any more, it is impossible that God will not help us to overcome temptation. Whoever draws near to Him and to His most holy Mother, will not fall.

With Mary, we shall not fall

A fact that illustrates the importance of prayer occurred during the First World War. There was a Belgian soldier who, before taking up arms, was a Franciscan: Edouard Lekeux, in religion, Friar Martial Lekeux.

His regiment was in a place called Oud-Stuivekenskerke and was fighting under heavy German bombardment. He and his companions took refuge in a modest barrack. It was cold, and the thunderous sound of the deadly enemy shells could be continually heard, the light of which was the only light that illuminated that gloomy night.

Suddenly the whole house shook. No doubt it was the impact of some projectile. There was a moment of suspense, they were waiting for some explosion that would make them know what had happened, but the only response was silence.

The next day, at dawn, the monk-soldier went to see what had happened. Near his room, outside, a large projectile had indeed fallen. Even its menacing head, intact, was still there, but it lay ten centimetres from an image of Our Lady that had remained standing on the rubble. She stared smiling at the terrible “monster” that had fallen at her feet.

The soldier Lekeux knelt down and prayed the Salve Regina. He took the step of hurling it into the water and took with him the image of the Virgin – a beautiful Our Lady of Victories – which had remained miraculously intact, and placed it in his room. Without doubt, it was Mary who saved them from the death that had paid them a visit that night.[1]

In these early days of Lent, let us strive to draw closer to the Holy Mother of God, for if we place ourselves under her mantle, we will not be overcome by the attacks of the devil. Even if everything around us crumbles into rubble by the violence of the enemy, we will remain standing at the Blessed Virgin’s side.

By Lucas Rezende

[1] LEKEUX, Martial. Mes cloîtres dans la tempête. Bruxelas: De Schorre, 2013, p. 123; 132. (Tradução pessoal)

Compiled by Roberta MacEwan