What to do in times of Temptation

Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

It might surprise us where the Holy Spirit sends Jesus immediately after anointing him at his baptism: He drives him into the desert to be tempted. He did this so that Christ could enter fully into our fallen humanity, including into those aspects which are most painful and humiliating for us. Here it is important to distinguish between being tempted and falling prey to temptation, which is to sin. As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, Christ was tempted in every way that we are, but he remained without sin. What consolation it is that Jesus knows the difficulty and struggle of our most intense temptations! May we learn to run to him (and not away from him) with confidence every time we find ourselves tempted.