The Gospel for the Mass of the First Sunday of Lent (Mark 1:12-15) tells of Jesus' forty days and temptation in the desert. In today's meditation, Fr Javier del Castillo asks us to contemplate Jesus' temptation as we begin the first week of Lent "to learn how to say yes to our Father God and to renounce Satan." And, we can learn to do that by understanding temptation and recognizing our personal struggles with temptations.

In particular, Fr del Castillo draws our attention to three important characteristics of temptations:

1. Temptations are tailor-made for us, made to fit us individually.

2. Temptations never appear in their ugliness; they always appear attractive.

3. We should never dialogue with temptation; we must run away from temptation.

As we learn in the meditation, "we have to take time to think about and decipher those temptations, whether it's a pleasure or fear, because then pride comes in and takes over, and then we commit the greatest sins."

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