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Ignatian Contemplation of the Gospel

(Set the Scene)
- Journals
- Moment of centering (Centering Prayer, or breathing)
- Listen to, or read (on handout) the Gospel meditatively, and put yourself into the scene.
- Use senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) to imagine yourself in the Gospel story.
- Pray for the Spirit to speak to you what you need to hear today.

First reading from the Gospel according to Matthew
(Chapter 4, verses 1-11)

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

Contemplation

How does this story speak to you today?Jesus was fasting for over a month and was starving. Could “starving” be a symbol for things we may “starve” in our lives?Jesus says, “It is written” four times to Satan. Jesus is quoting the written commands of God, while Satan was twisting scriptural promises. The commands of God are summed up by the command to “Worship and serve only God.” We worship and serve God when we love God by loving ourselves and others well. Is there anything in your life that is getting in the way of loving well? Is there something that needs to be “starved” out of your life in order to love and serve God alone?Feel free to journal your thoughts. Now prayerfully listen to the scripture again and be ready to enter into prayerful conversation with God about what God is saying to you today.

Second reading from the Gospel according to Matthew
(Chapter 4, verses 1-11)

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

Contemplation
Lent is a good time to evaluate how your life may be “off course.” If on your compass, “true north” is love, how might you be slightly off course in a way that is taking you away from love? How might God be inviting you to do a course correction?Take a moment now to have a conversation with God about it. Feel free to journal.

Series: Course Correction
Title: Wilderness and Identity
Text: Matthew 4:1-11

The wilderness is a place of solitude and silence. God’s first language is silence. In order to hear God “speak” in silence, we first have to find solitude away from “the noise” of everyday life. But for anyone who has gone into the wilderness of solitude, they know that their noisy thoughts travel with them. Noisy thoughts are anchored in the ego and become a barrier to the inner silence needed to “hear” the still small voice of God. So the wilderness is where we both draw close to God, but also where we have to do battle with our egos to find the solitude we need to anchor our identity in what God says about us, rather than in what all the voices trapped in our thoughts say about us.

These are the important questions of identity: Who am I? Why am I here?

We are God’s beloved children
We are here to please God with our faithful obedience

Faithful obedience to God is simply to love as God loves.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day….
2 Timothy 4:7-8a (NRSV)

The fight must first be won at the foundational level of our identity in the wilderness of solitude. True solitude is simply the “naked” true self in the presence of our Creator who knows, loves, and is pleased with what this Creator has uniquely made in each of us. The ego constructed, false self, will fight hard and get real noisy to keep this solid foundation of true self from being uncovered.

In order to be faithful to God, I first have to be faithful to being who God made me to be. Everyone else is taken. There is only one me. I please God when I am faithful to being uniquely my truest self.

“Jesus was always too busy being faithful to worry about success. I'm not opposed to success; I just think we should accept it only if it is a by-product of our Fidelity. If our primary concern is results, we will choose to work only with those who give us good ones.” – Fr. Greg Boyle

In the wilderness of solitude, I will always have a choice. The first choice is to feed my ego’s demands to do something “important,” to gain validation from some source other than God, or to try to reach for happiness by getting things I currently don’t possess. The second choice is to feed my spirit with what God says is true about me. What God says about me, might as well be written in stone, because it is so true. Like Jesus, when I declare, “It is written,” I’m saying, “What God says is true and everything else is a lie.”

Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” Matthew 4:1-11 (CEB)

You are my beloved child. I love you because I made you. You bring me pleasure when you are faithful to who I created you to be.

Lent is meant to be a time where we intentionally go into the wilderness of solitude with God in order to starve the demands of the ego and allow God to uncover the true foundation of our identity.

Songs from Today's Service:

Let It Rise by Maranatha
Rising Sun by All Sons and Daughters
Desert Song by Hillsong
Psalm 32 by Faith Rose
Refuse the Bait by Liturgical Folk