The Devil and Temptation - Feb 22, 2026

Good morning, brothers and sisters, and happy Lent.

The Gospel we have just heard describes Jesus’ journey into the desert for forty days of fasting and prayer. This passage is the basis for our 40 days of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to the Easter Vigil – of course excepting the 6 Sundays in which we celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

[This is why in Spanish and other Romance languages, the name for Lent is Cuaresma, like Cuarenta, which is from the Latin for 40. As an aside, this is also where the term Quarantine comes from – from the Latin for 40, which was the amount of time that public sinners were barred from Mass as penance, and later the amount of time that ships had to stay docked to make sure they were not carrying the plague.]

After Jesus finishes his 40 days in the desert, he is tempted by the devil.

In this homily, I’d like to focus a bit on the Devil and how he tempts us. First, let’s look at what happens to Jesus.

First, the devil points at stones and tempts the nearly starving Jesus to turn them into bread. Scholars interpret this temptation as the temptation to bodily pleasure or comfort. Of course, we Catholics believe that bodily pleasures – like food, drink, or marital intimacy – are great goods.

As one Catholic poet [Hillaire Belloc] wrote:

“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,

There's always laughter and good red wine.

At least I've always found it so.

Benedicamus Domino!”

Jesus himself turned water into very high-quality wine at the wedding feast at Cana. So yes, Food, drink, and the like are good, but they are not the highest good. Jesus responds to the Devil: One does not live by bread alone – acknowledging, yes, we do live in part by bread – bread is good and necessary – but it is not supreme - the Word of God who is Jesus is greater.

In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to throw himself off the parapet of the temple. We can interpret this temptation as one of honor or fame – a person might receive lots of attention from the miraculous spectacle of an invisible parachute. Imagine the number of 'likes' you'd get if you posted it to TikTok! Of course, honor itself is good – the Bible tells us to give honor to whom honor is due. But honor itself is not the highest good – it is subservient to the highest good which is God, who is Love.

When Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize, she did not bask in the glory, but used her acceptance speech as a forum to speak about the poor, the downtrodden, and the unborn. Honor is good, but subservient to Love.

In the third temptation, the devil promises Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he bows down to worship him. This is the temptation to power, which is tied to the temptation to money. Again, power and money themselves are not evil – they can be used for great good. Thank goodness for the generous Catholic philanthropists who have founded or maintained Catholic schools and hospitals. But wealth and power are not the greatest good. Like Pleasure and Honor, they can be false idols that the Devil uses to distract us from God.

Let’s talk a bit more about the Devil.

Admittedly, the Devil is not a topic that we Catholics think of much nowadays… when many people think of the devil, they recall an image like the comical shoulder angel and devil pair in Emperor’s New Groove or the sultry and mischievous devil played in Bedazzled or similar movies. Many people see the devil as more of a joke than a real threat – just look how many people wear devil horns or costumes on Halloween.

Some people might have a slightly different view, perhaps influenced by movies like The Exorcist. Some might admit that the Devil is real and can be very dangerous – but only in those very rare cases of demonic possession. So many people live life as if the Devil is no threat; they ignore him or blow him off.

I suspect the Devil is very pleased with this current state.  The saints tells us that life is a spiritual battle. In battle, it can be deadly to underestimate your opponent, especially if he’s operating in stealth mode.

Make no mistake: Satan, and the myriad fallen angels with him, are highly intelligent spiritual creatures who are literally hell-bent in turning us away from God and toward Evil. Devils are very real.

The Letter of Peter states: “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour.” Or St. Angela Merici once wrote: “Consider that the devil doesn’t sleep but seeks our ruin in a thousand ways.”

The devil is a real threat. So to start, we should certainly avoid dabbling in anything demonic or the occult… like going to a Psychic or using a Ouija board or playing with pentagrams or using a medium to try to communicate with the dead… such dabbling seems innocent but could be a doorway for the Devil to infest or even possess a person… talk to a real exorcist – the Church has many of them – and you’ll learn that while possession is relatively rare, it certainly does occur. So in our family, if we are walking past a place where we think the occult might be [?a Psychic], we will quietly say the St Michael Prayer – knowing that St Michael can whup the devil, and this prayer is a powerful exorcism prayer. Similarly, we try to avoid curse words like ‘go to Hell’ or ‘damn you’ or ‘G- D- it’.

Hell is no joking matter. Just so, we should avoid letting our children to dress like devils or even Maleficent for Halloween… it’s just not worth the risk of giving the devil a foothold.

Fortunately, if you’re a Catholic in a state of grace, going to Mass and Confession regularly as you should, and avoiding things like Ouija boards, you have little to worry about demonic possession.

What we do need to worry about is subtler temptation that we all endure every single day. The temptation to lesser goods – one of those 4 false idols: pleasure, honor, wealth, or power – that we saw in our Gospel.

Such temptation is depicted poignantly in our first reading, from the 2^nd chapter of Genesis, when the serpent tempts Eve. The serpent does not tell Eve outright that God is bad or that she should do evil, but the serpent instead highlights how this fruit is good, and that gaining knowledge is good, and he guilefully minimizes the harm – you surely will not die!

That first sin, and the billions since, are almost all chosen in favor of a lesser good, with some good intention. Indeed, The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Satan is the Father of Lies, and he whispers to us, to focus on a lesser good, to justify how we can choose this good even at the expense of the greatest good: God, Love itself.

The Devil exaggerates the good and minimizes the harm. This is precisely what he tried to do with Jesus, and what he tries with us multiple times a day.

Maybe we’re tempted by lustful images – the devil whispers that the human body is a beautiful thing, and surely we’re not hurting anyone. Maybe we’re tempted by gossip – the devil whispers that it’s good to speak the truth, and that person we’re gossiping about probably won’t find out. Maybe we're tempted to cheat on our tax returns - think of the good you could do with the extra money, and anyhow the government won't miss it. And on and on. The lesser good over the summum bonum. The devil never tempts us outright to do evil for evil sake.

To quote from C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters – which I recommend to everyone to help see the spiritual battle going on, underneath our eyes… One devil writes: “[T]he safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” 

As we journey through this Lent, maybe we should take a moment to stop and consider where our weaknesses are, where the Devil may be tempting us. Personally, I know that the area of negative, critical speech is a weak spot for me. I recall the devil’s many names. First, he was Lucifer, which means light-bearer, but then he became Satan, which means ‘the accuser’; he also became the ‘Father of Lies’, and the Devil or Diabolos, which means to ‘cast apart’ or divide. The devil loves division; he creates this through accusations and half-truths.

Pope Leo recently published his Lenten message, and it hits right on this point. I quote:

“I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor. Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. [instead cultivating] kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities."

Brother and sisters, let us not imitate the Accuser, the Father of Lies, the Divider. I admit I am weak in this.

I hope we can all spend some time, asking for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us when we are being attacked, and how to defend against such attacks.

The saints would tell you that the best defense against the Devil are the Sacraments – including the Eucharist and Confession. The Devil hates these. In fact, exorcists often carry little altar bells, and ring them as part of the exorcism: the Devil cannot stand the Eucharist and anything to do with it – in his terrible pride, he cannot stomach the humility of Christ, who comes to us in the guise of simple bread.

Yes, we are in a spiritual battle, against an intelligent foe working in stealth mode and hellbent on our damnation. But, how blessed are we, for Christ has already won the battle – Satan and all his minions are no match for the cross.

So if you do feel tempted, you can do the Sign of the Cross, or say a St Michael prayer, or simply say, ‘Satan, go to hell.’

That’s the one time when it’s appropriate.