O God, who dost purify Thy Church by the yearly observance of Lent: grant to Thy household, that what we strive to obtain from Thee by abstinence, we may achieve by good works. Through our Lord.
Today our Holy Mother Church commemorates the FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT or Quadragesima Sunday (Quadragesima, Latin for fortieth). In the Missal of Bl. John XXIII, it is also known as Invocabit Sunday from the first word of the introit. Our Orthodox and Oriental brethren commemorates the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
The Gospel is taken from Matthew 4,1-11 and gives an account of the Temptation of Jesus in the mountain. After forty days and forty nights of fasting, being led by the Spirit, in the desert, the devil came and tempted him. The devil thought that since Christ is weak from fasting it would be easier for him to tempt Him. But he was wrong! As explained by Fr. Joe Zerrudo, of the Sense of the Sacred blog, Christ triumphed from this temptation because (1) he was the Son of God and (2) he fasted. The spirit is stronger when the flesh is weaker.
Our Holy Mother Church imitates the forty day fast of Christ by observing the great discipline of Lent. We fast not only from food but from vices, luxuries and bad attitudes. This we do in preparation for the joyous season of Easter. Unless you fast first or abstain first, it would be a very difficult feat to control your other bad attitudes. It is a step-by-step process. Even in psychology, it speaks about personality as not changeable over night. It takes time.
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