Title of the work in Latin
MEDULLA S. THOMAE AQUITATIS PER OMNES ANNI LITURGICI DIES DISTRBUITA, SEU MEDITATIONES EX OPERIBUS S. THOMAE DEPROMPTAE
Compilation and arrangement by
FR. Z. MĂZARD O. P.
NOTE
All titles with an asterisk contain material that is no longer attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas.
6. Monday after the first Sunday of Lent: Christ was to be tempted in the desert.
Monday after the first Sunday of Lent
âJesus was in the desert for forty days and forty nights, and he was tempted by the devilâ (Mk 1:13)
1. â Christ, willingly, allowed himself to be tempted by the devil, just as he voluntarily surrendered his body to death; otherwise, the devil would not dare to approach him. Now, the devil prefers to tempt the solitary; for, as Scripture says (Ecc 4:12), âif someone is alone, two can resist him.â Therefore, Christ went into the desert, as to a field of battle, to be tempted by the devil in it. Hence Ambrose says that Christ went to the desert deliberately, to provoke the devil. For if he did not come to attack him, that is, the devil, Christ would not have conquered him.
But he adds other reasons, saying that Christ acted mysteriously to free Adam from exile; for he had been cast out of paradise into a desert. To show us, by his example, that the devil envies those who progress in good.
2. â Christ, by going into the desert, exposed himself to temptation. Chrysostom says: âAgainst the solitary, the devil employs all the strength of his temptation. Therefore, at the beginning, he tempted the woman when he saw her alone without Adam.â However, this does not mean that man should indiscriminately expose himself to temptation.
There are two types of occasion for temptation. One from man's side, as when we do not avoid the near occasions of sin. For such occasions we must avoid, as was said to Lot: âDo not look back or stop anywhere in the plain of Sodomâ (Gn 19:17). The other type of occasion comes from the devil, who is always envious of those who strive to be better. And we should not avoid this occasion of temptation. For this reason, Chrysostom says: âNot only was Christ led by the Spirit into the desert, but also all the children of God who possess the Holy Spirit, who do not consent to remain idle, but are anointed by the Holy Spirit to undertake great works; and this, for the devil, is to be in the desert, where there is no sin that he delights in. Also, all good works constitute a desert for the flesh and for the world, because they oppose the inclinations of both.â
Now, giving the devil an occasion for temptation is not dangerous, because the assistance of the Holy Spirit, author of perfect works, is greater than the attack of the envious devil.
III, q. XLI, a. 2.
(P. D. MĂ©zard, O. P., Meditationes ex Operibus S. Thomae.)
View quoted note â
