Which of the temptations Jesus faced speaks most directly to you at this point in your life?

Pull up a soft chair, the devil says. He’s such a gracious host, always concerned about our comfort. His living room is a tribute to the couch-potato life. As we sit, he fluffs the pillows and lays out the dessert even though we’ve just eaten a huge feast in the dining room.

The novel The Last Temptation of Christ has been criticized because the author saw Jesus tempted not only at the beginning of his ministry but all through his life, even when dying on the cross: to escape and lead a normal life as a husband and father.

Flat on my back for three weeks, fighting an infection that ravaged my body and attacked both legs, leading to surgery and talk of possible amputation of one or both, I awoke intact but with a grueling regimen of physical therapy three times a day.

Brothers and sisters, as we continue our Lenten journey, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.