Pope Francis at Angelus: One can't dialogue with Satan
(Vatican Radio) During his weekly Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis spoke about
the day’s Gospel reading, which focused on the temptation of Jesus in the desert.
Satan, the Pope said, tried “to divert Jesus from the Father’s plan” by tempting
Him “to take an easy path,” a path “of success and power.” Jesus definitively rejects
these temptations, reaffirming His “firm intention to follow the path established
by the Father, without any compromise with sin or with the logic of the world.” This
commitment to follow the plan of the Father is realized in Jesus actions; “His absolute
fidelity to the Father's plan of love will lead Him, after about three years, to the
final confrontation with the “prince of this world” (Jn 16:11), in the hour of the
Passion and of the Cross, and there Jesus will achieve His final victory, the victory
of love!”
The Holy Father encouraged all of us to take the opportunity afforded
by Lent to renew our Baptismal promises, renouncing Satan and his seductions, “in
order to walk the paths of God and ‘to arrive at Easter in the joy of the Spirit.’”
Listen
to Christopher Wells' report:
Below,
please find the complete text of Pope Francis remarks during the weekly Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good day!
The Gospel of the first Sunday
of Lent each year presents the story of Jesus’ temptations , when the Holy Spirit,
having descended upon Him after His baptism in the Jordan, urged Him to openly confront
Satan in the wilderness for forty days, before beginning His public mission.
The
tempter tries to divert Jesus from the Father's plan, that is, from the path of sacrifice,
of love that offers itself in expiation; to make Him take an easy road, [a road] of
success and power. The duel between Jesus and Satan is takes place with quotations
from the Holy Scriptures. The devil, in fact, to divert Jesus from the way of the
Cross, makes present to him the false messianic hopes: economic well-being, indicated
by the ability to turn stones into bread; a spectacular and miraculous style, with
the idea of casting Himself down from the highest point of the Temple of Jerusalem
and being saved by angels; and finally the shortcut of power and domination, in exchange
for an act of worship to Satan. There are three groups of temptations. We also know
them well.
Jesus decisively rejects all these temptations and reaffirms [His]
firm intention to follow the path established by the Father, without any compromise
with sin or with the logic of the world. Note well how Jesus responds: He doesn’t
dialogue with Satan, as Eve did in the terrestrial Paradise. Jesus knows well that
one can’t dialogue with Satan, because he is so cunning. For this reason, instead
of dialoguing, as Eve did, Jesus chooses to take refuge in the Word of God and to
respond with the power of this Word. Let us remind ourselves of this in the moment
of temptation, of our temptation: not arguing with Satan, but defending ourselves
with the Word of God. And this will save us. In His responses to Satan, the Lord —
using the Word of God — reminds us, first, that “one does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3), and
this gives us strength, sustains us in the fight against the worldly mentality that
lowers human beings to the level of their basic needs, causing them to lose the hunger
for what is true, good, and beautiful, the hunger for God and His love. He also recalls,
“Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” ( v. 7)
, because the road of faith also passes through darkness, doubt, and is nourished
by patience and persevering expectation. Jesus notes, finally, that “it is written:
‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve,’” that is, we
must get rid of idols, of vanities, and build our lives on the essentials.
These
words of Jesus will then find concrete responses in His actions. His absolute fidelity
to the Father's plan of love will lead Him, after about three years, to the final
confrontation with the “prince of this world” (Jn 16:11), in the hour of the Passion
and of the Cross, and there Jesus will achieve His final victory, the victory of love!
Dear
brothers and sisters, Lent is a favourable opportunity for all of us to make a journey
of conversion, sincerely confronting ourselves with this page of the Gospel. We renew
the promises of our Baptism: we renounce Satan and all his works and seductions —
because he is a seducer, right? — in order to walk the paths of God and “to arrive
at Easter in the joy of the Holy Spirit” (cf. Collect of the First Sunday of Lent,
Year A).
Greetings after the Angelus:
I extend a cordial
greeting to the faithful of Rome and to all pilgrims!
I greet the parish groups
from Biella and Vercelli, from Laura di Paestum, San Marzano, Aosta, Latina, Avellino
and Pachino.
[In Spanish] I greet the Colegio “Santa María” of Elche, Spain.
A
special thought goes to the young people of Rosolina who next Sunday will receive
the Sacrament of Confirmation; and to those from Tuscany who are in Rome making the
“promise” to follow Jesus; and those from Paderno Dugnano, Seregno, Bellaria, and
Curno. I also greet the parents and children Cabiate.
During this Lenten season,
we keep in mind the invitation of Caritas International in its campaign against world
hunger. It is my for all that the Lenten journey which has just begun will be rich
in fruit; and I ask you to remember me and my collaborators in the Roman Curia in
your prayers, as we start the week of Spiritual Exercises this evening. Thank you!