Fr. Foeckler’s Lecture Note, Feb 24th

[Michaela]

Fr. Foeckler’s Lecture Note, Feb 24th

First Sunday of Lent (Feb 22, 2026)

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”

Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, “”All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”

Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.

 

On the 1st Sunday of Lent, we also had a reading from Genesis, where Adam and Eve were tempted by a serpent.

Reading 1: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.

Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,
and placed there the man whom he had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow
that were delightful to look at and good for food,
with the tree of life in the middle of the garden
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.

 

The three main temptations: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.The three temptations of Jesus, which parallel the three concupiscence mentioned by St. John: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

The significance of the number 40 in various biblical stories, including its association with purification and testing.

• Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai, where he received the law.
• It rained 40 days and 40 nights during Noah’s flood.
• Elijah, after the confrontation of the prophets of Baal, he fled from Jezebel, queen of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, 40days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb.
• Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days
• The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 days.
• Jesus appeared to disciples for 40 days after the resurrection.

1st temptation from the gospel. Concupiscence is to fill up bodily joy. This is the basis of advertising. Pleasing to the eyes. Desire to learn more. Pride is excessive love of ourself. Pride if the root of every sin.

Love God. Love your self. Love your neighbor. But those temptations prevent us to do what God taught us to do. Primordial temptation is like “I decide that’s good for me, or not good for me”. That’s why pride is the root of sins. We disobey of the Lord.

Man does not live by bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)

2nd temptation of the devil. The order changed here, now to the “eyes”. Possession of  things. For the wrong price.

3rd temptation. The pride of life. You need to do it according to God’ plan, not by the devil’s temptation. God asked Jesus to obey him even to His death.

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (year A), the gospel says when Jesus announce His death, Peter rebuked Him. Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Devil is always around the corner. He went away but came back later, when Jesus is in passion. When Jesus died, He didn’t have anything, His clothes were given away, and even His mother was given away.

Because Jesus was obedient to His Father, Jesus conquered the temptation.

 

The temptation is the key for the meditation.

Jesus’ obedience to God, even to death on the cross. Humility and obedience is the key to overcoming temptation.

Reflect on our own experiences with temptation and to strive for obedience to God in our lives.

(Brad Pitre, commentator’s idea.)

 

3 practices of Lent

Fasting: Reduce what we have and what we like.

Almsgiving: Works of charity

Prayer: Helps us from the pride of life.

 

Some specific prayers every day

some specific fasting.

Act of charity for our family.

 

Next steps

All participants: Write down and post specific Lenten resolutions (fasting, almsgiving/charity, prayer) in visible places (e.g., refrigerator, mirror) as a reminder to follow through during Lent.

Make specific, personal resolutions for Lent (including type of fasting, acts of charity, and daily/weekly prayer practices) and review/keep them throughout Lent.

 

 

 

<<Divine mercy chaplet>>

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening Prayers (optional)

(Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, 1319)

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls,
and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world.
O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy,
envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us.

Repeat three times:

(Diary, 84)

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in you!

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen

Hail Mary

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.

For each of the five decades

On each “Our Father” bead of the rosary, pray:
V. Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
R. in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

On each of the 10 “Hail Mary” beads, pray:
V. For the sake of his sorrowful Passion,
R. have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Conclusion

Repeat three times:

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Closing Prayer (optional)

(Diary, 950)

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen.

Or:

(Roman Missal, Votive Mass of the Mercy of God)

O God, whose mercies are without number and whose treasure of goodness is infinite, graciously increase the faith of the people consecrated to you, that all may grasp and rightly understand by whose love they have been created, through whose Blood they have been redeemed, and by whose Spirit they have been reborn. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

 

 

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