Lent is about Spiritual Training. We see the training camp in this story of the temptations of Jesus, which are also the temptations we experience individually, as a community and as a nation.
In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Pablo T. Gadenz writes: “The three temptations of Jesus have been compared to the three temptations -for sensual gratification (gluttony, lust), for power and wealth, (avarice), and for ostentatious display (pride, vainglory)- against which Christians are warned, in the first letter of John: ‘the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and pride of life’ (2:16). These correspond to the original temptations in Genesis: ‘The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (3:6).
Churches, Neighborhoods and nations are also tempted in these three ways. It is one of the motivations for the Protestant reformation of the Church against: Gluttony and lust, power and wealth, pride and self-glorification. When these temptations become an uncorrected way of life, they necessarily lead to spiritual and bodily murder, war, and insanity.
The practices of Lent are how we strengthen soul and spirit to resist these temptations and practice virtue. By Fasting, almsgiving and prayer, we become light to a people walking in darkness, we become ambassadors of Christ. “By fasting and other acts of self-denial, we learn self-control. By almsgiving we practice detachment from material things and avoid creating false needs for ourselves. By prayer, especially using the [bible], we humble ourselves before God, relying on God’s grace”, especially through our celebrations of the sacraments. (P.95-96)
We need this training if we are to be a light in this current national darkness. A darkness wholly given over to gluttony and lust, power and wealth, pride and self-worship. Such training begins when we individually and nationally like the city of Ninevah, and unlike the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, believe God.
Jonah, 3:1-9