A meditation preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on March 7, 2026.

The devil tempts Jesus in the desert. Jesus is impeccable (unable to sin) in virtue of the hypostatic union, yet truly tempted from without in His human nature, in the sense of being really “assaulted” by the devil, not in the sense of interior consent or moral peril.

Traditionally, this scene in the desert is a contrast with Adam. New Adam motif: The desert scene is read against Genesis, where Adam fell in a garden amid abundance, Christ triumphs in a wilderness amid hunger and weakness.

Thumbnail: The Temptation of Christ by Simon Bening, Flemish, 1550 Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra