Of course, the anomaly in all this is that Lent is not for the sake of Lent; Lent is for life and living. it is a time for rethinking the patterns of our life to see whether they are leading us anywhere beyond the season itself.

Traditionally, we Christians have always opened the gospel for this Sunday that describes Jesus’ three temptations and how he dealt with them. The graphic language of the gospel has Jesus fighting against outside, worldly forces: satisfaction with self (stones to bread), power and glory (world domination), casting himself off the highest point of the temple. (Power over self).

The “old time” Lenten preachers would collapse these three into a familiar saying: “the world, the flesh and the devil.” Using the graphic description of the three temptations in the gospel, they assumed that human temptation came from the outside. Seriously minded people, they thought, were constantly harassed by powers beyond their control.

A more serious reflection on this passage, however, gives one the sense that a person, a human being, a Christian is fundamentally faced with self, with those inner urges that rise out of one’s psyche when in contact with the world. (Remember the old Pogo line? “We have met the enemy and they is us.”) The gospel story seems to say that the world and its allurements have the power of evil, a sense that, unless controlled, they will destroy a person. Jesus is portrayed, of course, as the one who has faced these temptations and overcame them, this being a model for the Christian as well.

Admittedly, of course, the world around us does have an effect upon our life, but only if we allow it to be so. We are all children of this world, but hopefully not of it.

I want insist, however, that it is not the world that is out to conquer us; it is our inner desire to react to those natural inner forces that rise up to struggle against us. Who of us has not felt the power to control our environment? Who has not lusted after the world’s attractions?

Nonetheless, it is not the world or its goods that are to be blamed; it is the uncontrolled inquisitiveness arising out of our emotions that causes us anxiety.

In this regard, Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun living in Erie Pennsylvania, has an interesting insight on the relationship between the world and the self: “In the midst of chaos,” she says, “it is nevertheless possible to be at peace because peace first comes from within ourselves, not from outside of us. Those who are not at peace within, would not be at peace in heaven.”

Given what Joan Chittister says regarding peace, we might well think of it as the predominant goal for Lent. Lent is not about overcoming “the evil one,” not about conquering our inner tendencies. Rather it is about coming to grips with self and making peace with ourselves

Ultimately, life for the Christian is not about battling the world, imaginary or real; rather it is about understanding the world as friend, brother or sister. We do not necessarily need to be “at war” with what attracts us.

With all that in mind, I am convinced that when the forty days and forty nights of Lent are completed and Easter dawns we will be at rest and at peace with ourselves. Have a peaceful Lent, my friends.

The scriptures: Deuteronomy 6: 4-11; l Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-3