A Rainbow in the Desert

First Sunday of Lent 2015

One afternoon as I commuted home from work, I noticed the biggest and brightest rainbow.  I drove 70 mph straight into the colored prism beam.  What would await at the end?  A leprechaun pot of gold or precious pooches who made it across the rainbow bridge?  No, nothing of that sort.  Just a beautiful reminder of what we read about in Genesis:  God's promise to never destroy the earth again by flooding waters; a bow symbolizes this promise.  By the time I reached home, the rainbow was gone as rain droplets continued to fall from sunlit skies.  Quite a strange phenomenon during this time of the year when rain normally dumps from full black clouds.  I felt like God was smiling from heaven!

Mark's gospel recounts Jesus' temptation and fasting in the desert for forty days and forty nights. The Evangelist leaves out much of the details.  While meditating I wondered:  Did Jesus happen to observe a rainbow during his forty days in the desert?  If so, did the colorful spectrum provide him with the courage necessary to push away Satan's relentless provoking?  

During this period of Lent, we've entered our own desert experience.  We're praying, fasting, and giving alms.  We've made resolutions to give up old habits as we strive to form new ones.  But be warned: Satan is not giving up hope that we will slip, trip, and fall, deciding to give up on changing our lives for the better.  In fact, he enjoys when anxiety and negativity enter our minds:

Uh, I won't ever be able to give up drinking for a seven weeks!....  I can't let go of television for so long of a period of time.....Confession?  It's just not for me!.... Try to be nice to that irritating moron at work who bothers the dickens out of me?....Uh!  Who needs Lent!  What a waste of breathe!

Don't allow Satan to wrap his tentacles around your hearts.  He is trying his darkest to tempt you into bad behavior.  He has a way at picking at your vulnerabilities like an itchy old scab which never heals.  Fortunately, shooing away the Angel of Lies is an easy undertaking, especially during Lent. It just takes faith, hope, love, and charity.  Those four little words are like poisonous venom to the Devil.   The Lord provides us with a vast selection of spiritual weapons.  Power up with frequent holy communion.  Repent through fasting and alms.  Pray the rosary, a Chaplet to a favorite Saint, or a litany of protection to Saint Michael the Archangel.  Pray novenas.  Do whatever it takes to keep Satan away!  If the Lord was able to resist temptation while undergoing the 40 day desert experience we can, too!

-J.