Day 3: The Temptation of Jesus (Mark 1:12–13)

By Sindhu Nadarajan · September 10, 2026

"At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him." (Mk 1:12–13)

1. The same Spirit

The same God gives us both good things and seemingly unpleasant ones. Job's wife told him to "curse God and die." Job replied, "We accept good things from God; should we not accept evil?" Through all this, Job did not sin in what he said (Job 2:10). We have an eternal God who desperately wants to help us navigate this broken, messy world.

2. He remained

Job remained, scratching his wounds on a heap of ashes. Mary remained in her confusion. St. Pio of Pietrelcina remained when he was not allowed to say Mass in public or hear confessions. Where are you being asked to remain?

3. In the desert

The desert is a place of radical confrontation and of temptation by Satan, who tries to frustrate God's work. Why does God allow it? He knows what he is doing.

Jesus in his humanity is ministered to by angels, which shows that God provides in our difficulties. This is also a prefiguration of paradise, where there will be harmony: the wolf will be a guest of the lamb (Isa 11:6–9). Elijah, too, was fed by an angel in the wilderness (1 Kgs 19:5–7).

Bring your dry areas to the Lord. Ask for the patience and grace to wait there, where he will speak tenderly to you of his love: "I will allure her now; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak persuasively to her" (Hos 2:16).

4. Forty days

Israel wandered in the desert for forty years. The desert was their school for learning to trust. Pray: Lord, increase my faith and my ability to trust in you. Whenever and wherever you find it hard, simply pray: Jesus, I trust in you. The Divine Mercy will lift us up.

5. Satan, wild beasts, and angels

While on earth, we have to fight the devil and his army, and God sends his angels to help us. He is present amid all of this: among us, in us, and working through us.

The early Christians were thrown to the beasts, yet they rejoiced and longed to hasten to their eternal reward, where there is no sorrow. But first they had to go through and endure their sufferings.

From the day's Collect: "…that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance." This is the lovely freedom to which the Lord wants to lead us: freedom from fears and frailties into everlasting joy.

From the day's first reading (1 Cor 8:6): "For us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist."

God never leaves us. Rather, we exist in him, and "all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28).