CHAPTER IV.

1. Tunc JESUS ductus est in desertum à Spiritu, ut tentaretur à diabolo.

2. Et cùm jejunâsset quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, posteà esuriit.

1

1. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, 3to be tempted by the devil.

2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards hungry.

1 By the Spirit. This is the Holy Ghost who had just rested upon him at the baptism. The word then means immediately. His being led is put more strongly by S. Luke to signify that there was an interior impulse. Some writers describe His being carried away, like Habacuc, through the air, but there is no foundation for this.

2 Into the desert.-This desert lay very near where the baptism took place, between Jerusalem and Jericho and reaching to the banks of the Jordan. Moses and Elias retired also into the desert. Solitude is always the best place for communing with God. This desert is now called Quarantana.

3 To be tempted by the devil.-Most commentators consider the temptation an accidental thing and not the main purpose for which the Spirit of God moved Him into solitude. The temptations were from outside, as no temptation could be in Our Lord's interior. Our first parents were tempted and fell, the second Adam overcame the enemy, The term devil occurs for the first time. The Greek word to which it corresponds may be interpreted a fallen one or an accuser or traducer.

4 Fasted forty days.-The nights are added because the Jews and Mahommedans fast during the days of Ramadan and feed sumptuously during the nights. This fast was total.

It was considered formerly that a forty days' fast required supernatural aid. Experience in modern times shows that it is feasible even by the mere strength of nature. Our Lord ate and drank only to show He was mortal; He was hungry and thirsty for the same reason. All the time He had bread to eat of which no one knew.

Doctors are divided as to whether the temptation lasted during the forty days, or began only at the end. The latter opinion is the more universal and the best supported.

From this came the Apostolic custom of keeping Lent, the "tithe of our time which we give to God," as Bellarmine says.

1 Coming.-The general opinion is that the devil who is the tempter, assumed the shape of a man when he came to Our Lord in the desert.

2 If Thou be.-Did the devil know whether Jesus Christ was the Messiah or not? Most of the fathers and later writers (following the suggestion of S. Ignatius of Antioch about the birth of Our Lord "ut partus ejus celaretur a diabolo,") think that the devil was not permitted full knowledge of Jesus Christ at this time. He had a shrewd suspicion, and makes his experiment in which he is so beautifully foiled. Afterwards all the devils knew but were forbidden to announce the fact.

3 Command.-The word used in the Greek is the same which tells us of the Creation. The devil wanted a sure evidence of Our Lord's divinity. Our Lord never performed a miracle to satisfy anyone's curiosity.

4 Bread. The sorest temptation is hunger, and the devil very adroitly acts upon each one's predominant passion. Jesus had none, but His natural longing for food supplied the place of one. Those who think gluttony the reason of the fall, see here a counterpart.

5 Man liveth not.—Our Lord quotes the verse of Deut. viii. 3. where the Israelites are reminded of the providence which fed them in the desert, and kept their clothes from wearing out. This is the first specimen of that doctrine which Our Lord developed afterwards by His example and words.

The astuteness of the devil is in his nature, and has been improved by thousands of years of experience. Simplicity only can withstand him.

The devil attacks us on our predominant passion.

Ist. Because we think a great deal of it.

2nd. Its suggestions are most pleasing.

3rd. We follow them with more vehemence.

Some are tempted by ambition; some by avarice; some by vanity, &c.

Find this passion out and take care.

Nothing has a more demoralising influence over poor people than starvation or famine. Hunger must be satisfied or death will ensue.

To feed the hungry is:

Ist. An act of charity.

2nd. A corporal work of mercy.

3rd. A distinguishing mark of the elect on the last day.

5. Tunc assumpsit eum diabolus in sanctam civitatem, et statuit eum super pinnaculum templi.

6. Et dixit ei: "Si Filius DEI es, mitte te deorsùm. Scriptum est enim quia Angelis suis mandavit de te, et in manibus tollent te, ne fortè offendas ad lapidem bedem tuum."

7. Ait illi JESUS: 66 Rursùm scriptum est: Non tentabis Dominum DEUM tuum."

5. Then the devil 'took him up into the holy city, and set him on a 'pinnacle of the temple.

6. And said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written: That he hath given his Angels charge of thee; and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest, perhaps, thou hurt thy foot against a stone.

7. Jesus said to him: It is written again: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

1Took Him up.-A few sacred writers say that Our Lord transferred Himself there, with the devil; but the vast majority, ancient and modern, say the devil took Him and carried Him through the air; and they say, after S. Gregory, that Our Lord could permit this without dishonour, just as he permitted the Jews to crucify him.

2 Pinnacle of the Temple.-Writers differ as to this precise spot. The Greek would suggest a wing or bastion like a Scotch turret, whereas the

simple construction would suggest a projecting corner of the parapet which surrounded the flat roof of the Temple.

3 The ingenuity of this temptation is admirable from the devil's point of view and ridiculous when one looks at it with the eyes of faith. He tempted Our Lord to the gross sin first-he never dared to breathe of impurity, because he saw no pre-disposition like hunger for gluttonyand then he mounts higher. When people given to devotion have overcome their grosser passions the devil attacks them by insinuating what good they could do in exercising their gifts and talents. Vanity and ambition come to his aid here, and many, alas, are the victims.

4 That He hath.-The devil is not sure of Jesus being the Son of God yet. What a fine evidence of his Divinity it would be if he flew off the pinnacle, and had angels around about him until he landed in the midst of the scribes and pharisees and people on the pavement! The devil quotes scripture for his proposition.

Thou shalt not.-God will protect you even by extraordinary means if you venture into danger by His will or order; but not if you do so through passion or some minor motive.