Thursday, February 19, 2015

Temptation


This is the monastery of the Temptation of Christ in the Desert. (clicking on picture enlarges it.)
In his extremely brief account Mark puzzles us by telling us that Jesus was "with the wild animals."  An appealing explanation that I came upon only this week is that this is intended as a reference to the "Peaceable Kingdom" (Isaiah 11: 6-9.)  Daniel Harrington, S.J. says, "His apparently peaceful coexistence with the wild beasts points forward to the new creation that Jesus' death and resurrection will bring about."
As we follow Jesus into the forty days of Lent we want to keep our eyes fixed on that new creation.

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