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Turn Away Temptation. Reflection for Marriages: Matthew 4:1-11

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From the Gospel according to 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.

Turn Away Temptation

We have just begun Lent, and the Gospel presents to us how Jesus is tempted by the devil.

Christ, of course, does not fall into those temptations — but what about us? We so often fall into the enemy’s game. We quickly ask God to work miracles, to turn stones into bread, or to change my spouse — who, in my eyes, is not the one I deserve. Yet He tells us to live by His Word, which is alive and speaks to us each day, teaching us to love our spouse precisely when they seem least deserving of it.

How many times, in the face of suffering or trials, do we ask Him to take them away — knowing that He can? And yet He tells us that He knows better than we do what we need; that we must not put God to the test. We ask God to satisfy our desires and passions; we insist that we have a right to be happy — even at the expense of our spouse’s happiness, our children’s, or those around us. And He reminds us not to fix our gaze on the world and its passing treasures. We are called to holiness in the vocation He has entrusted to us — and that call is infinite.

Let us live this Lent by giving ourselves to God through our spouse, accompanying Christ in the desert and preparing our hearts to walk with Him in His Passion.

 

Brought into Married Life:

Samuel: Hello, Beatrice! Look — at work they’ve given me a stay at the Parador in the Pyrenees for the whole of Holy Week! It’s the finest Parador in Spain! And do you know what the boss said? That I’m getting it because I’m the best in the office.

Beatrice: But… we had planned to spend Holy Week together with the children, truly living it, accompanying the Lord…

Samuel: Yes, but it’s the best Parador in Spain. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have an amazing time in the mountains.

Beatrice: But there aren’t even any nearby villages — it’s completely surrounded by nature. And it’s Holy Week…

Samuel: Oh. I can see you’re not excited. What a disappointment.

(After their spousal prayer, having placed everything in the Lord’s presence.)

Samuel: You’re right. I was being blinded by the luxury, by feeling important. I couldn’t see that it was a temptation — a trap to draw us away from the Lord.

Beatrice: Thank You, Lord, for this husband who is always willing to follow You and to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

 

Mother,

Remain always at our side, that we may not fall into temptation. Praised be the Lord.

Come and Follow Me. Reflection for Marriages Luke 5:27-32

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Gospel of the Day
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke 5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Come and Follow Me
Lord, how striking is Your gaze! A gaze that penetrates sin and reaches the heart of Matthew. How beautiful it is to contemplate how You reveal to us the merciful face of the Father: You have not come for the healthy, but for the sick; not for the righteous, but for sinners.
Thank you, Lord, because today You make me see how often my heart does not resemble Yours.
When my husband fails, when he hurts me, when he falls into sin… do I resemble more those who point the finger and condemn, or You, who draw close and lift up? Am I a refuge for my husband or am I judgement? Does my look push him further into his guilt or convey the hope that together we can rise again?
You, instead, Lord, draw near, look with tenderness and say unconditionally, “Follow me,” calling to a new life.
Lord, teach me to love with that same heart. Engrave deep within my soul this truth:
> “When he deserves it least, he needs me most.”
So that, instead of closing my heart, I expand it; so that, instead of distancing myself from my husband, I go out to meet him with mercy and a gaze that lifts and restores hope, just as the gaze Matthew found when You called him.

Grounded in Married Life
Helena: Aitor, today was so beautiful. To see so many couples welcoming the message with open hearts… some even with tears in their eyes… how the Lord was moving in their hearts! And afterwards, what an immense grace to receive Him in the Eucharist and feel how He confirmed in us the work that He Himself began.
Aitor: Darling, I experienced it the same way. When the priest said that we had been instruments, I felt such deep joy… and also fear. To think that something as fragile as us could become a channel of His grace. And… yet, shortly afterwards I showed my clay-like weakness with my angry reaction to the dog-owner.
Helena: Aitor, it was only for a moment… but yes… it hurt. That’s why I came to you and took your hand. When I said, “We remain the Eucharist out in the world,” it was the Lord gently correcting us.
Aitor: Helena, hearing you say that calmed me and I could understand that the Eucharist does not end when we leave the church; we are called to remain in His presence at every moment, attentive to the small tests.
Helena: Aitor! Today the Lord has given us two gifts: letting us experience how He can use our poverty, and at the same time gently showing us those places where He still needs to purify us.
Aitor: Oh… Helena… how fragile I am… and how infinite is the patience of the Lord, who has come out to meet me through you.
Prayer

Mother,
Teach us to look at one another with your eyes and to love with your heart so that in every trial we may respond with tenderness and hope.
Blessed and praised be You for ever, Lord.

To Give Ourselves with Him. Reflection for Marriages Matthew 9:14–15

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Gospel of the Day

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Gospel of Matthew 9:14–15

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”

To Give Ourselves with Him

What joy in this word of the Lord, in which He reveals Himself to us as the Bridegroom!

He is the Bridegroom, the Bridegroom of the Church. He nourishes us in the Eucharist, gives us His Body and says to us, “Do this in memory of me.”

What joy and what Good News that we, as husbands and wives, can go with Him to give ourselves to our spouse.

With Him — with His love, His gaze, His charity, His Body — everything is possible. And self-giving becomes easier, simpler and far more bearable. For as He Himself tells us, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Therefore, husbands and wives, let us turn to Him: to His Word, to His presence in Confession, to His real presence in the Eucharist. In this way we make Him present among us.

Thus we shall be able to love as He loves, to give ourselves as He gives Himself, and to welcome one another as He always welcomes His Bride, the Church.

Applied to Married Life

Clara: Hello Borja, I’m going to Mass — are you coming?
Borja: No, Clara, you go. Honestly, I don’t really see the point of going every day…
Clara: I’ve finished — I’m on my way home.
Borja: About time! I’m tired, and now we still have to make dinner…
Clara: Don’t worry, darling, I’ll do it. I’ll even make you a delicious little starter — cockles with lemon and some patatas bravas, just how you like them.
Borja: OK, come quickly — I’m hungry.
Clara: Yes, of course, I’m on my way.

(When she arrives home)

Clara: Children, dinner time — Daddy’s hungry. Ana, set the table. Carlos, slice the bread and put out the water.
Borja: Darling, what a delicious starter — and what an amazing dinner! Absolutely mouth-watering… You really know what I like! It’s wonderful to see your joy and your self-giving, especially after the day you’ve had.
Clara: It’s the Lord’s joy and self-giving, Borja.
Borja: Clara, I want that too — to have the Lord and to have His joy and His self-giving. Tomorrow I’ll come to Mass with you.
Clara: Of course, my love! The Lord only needs our little “yes”.
Borja: It’s incredible to think of the wonders the Lord has prepared for us. Thank you for bringing me closer to Him — and closer to happiness between us.

Mother,

Mother of Conjugal Love, lead us to your Son, so that together with Him we may reach communion between us.

Blessed be the Lord.

He Is the True Gain. Reflection for Marriages Luke 9:22–25

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Gospel of the Day

Gospel of Luke 9:22–25
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”

He Is the True Gain
How often we try to “save” our lives by imposing our own will and criteria, battling against our spouse. And what do we achieve? We lose life itself — joy and happiness fade because the distance between us grows and we drift away from God.
God loves us infinitely and wants to give us true happiness, fullness of life. Yet instead of welcoming that gift, we struggle fruitlessly to obtain the happiness we long for, and we end up exhausted and dissatisfied.
Only in God can we be filled. But self-love and pride prevent us from trusting Him. They stop us from recognising that He is the true gain, and that only by striving — with His grace — to purify our hearts will we attain that longed-for happiness: to live in Him.
Jesus came to save us from sin by dying on the Cross. We too must take up our daily cross — but He carries it with us.
Blessed are You, Lord!
Applied to Married Life
Marta (in prayer): Lord, I come to You wounded. I feel more and more alone, and I respond to my husband with pride and demands. I repay him with the “same coin”. I know this is not what You desire. I know that Paco is a gift for me, and that through him I can love You. But I rebel and seek my own will instead of Yours.
Lord, I want to walk with You and to embrace my small daily crosses, because with You I can do all things, and without You I am nothing.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, in You I trust.
Prayer

Mother,
You who remained with Jesus in His Passion and at the foot of the Cross, teach me to remain beside Him in every circumstance of my life. Give me your humility to always welcome the Father’s will, as you did.
Thank you, Mother, for your “yes”.

Focused on You. Reflection for Marriages Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18

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Gospel of the Day

Gospel of Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

Focused on You
My dear Jesus, today Lent begins. This time that our Mother the Church gives us so that we may prepare for Holy Week — Your Passion. That great mystery, the great secret finally revealed: the infinite love You have for me. You give Your life for me, suffering terribly, to pay for my sins, to rescue me and open for me the gates of Heaven.
Lord, help me to recognise my smallness, my nothingness without You, my everything with You. How am I living? Where is my heart?
This is a special time of prayer, of meeting You in the depths of my heart — to know You more, to know myself more, and to know my spouse more deeply.
A time to fast from those material things that have captured my heart, that consume my time (my phone, my plans, my… so much “me”), that distance me from my spouse.
A time for almsgiving — to give to others not what is left over, but to give myself. To give myself to my spouse.
And all this, not to be seen. Let no one see it, Lord — only You. We share it, You and I, in a loving intimacy. And we make it life, above all, within our marriage.
With this self-giving, You will work wonders. In You I trust.

Applied to Married Life
Alfonso: Ana, this Lent I truly want to live it well. I want to prepare my heart for that incredible moment which is Holy Week. It moves me deeply that our God comes down from Heaven to give His life for us.
Ana: Yes, it makes one tremble. I think it’s beautiful. Let’s write down three things we want to practise in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. And each day — when we wake up, at midday and at night — we can review how we’re doing. Without losing heart like other years if we slacken. If we fall, we simply rise again.
Alfonso: For prayer: every day, first thing, our conjugal prayer together. And I also want to set aside some time for personal prayer — to be alone with the Lord.
Ana: Me too. And I want to fast from overworking. I don’t want to arrive home late.
Alfonso: I will fast from my phone. No phone or screens after 9 p.m. Although I’m afraid… what if I miss something important?
Ana: I’m afraid too about reducing extra work. But let’s trust in the Lord. If we give the time to Him, He will take care of the rest.
Alfonso: For almsgiving, I’ll give you my leisure time. For you — for whatever you would like.
Ana: Me too. Let’s do it! It will cost us, but persevering together each day, with the Lord’s help, we will manage it.
Prayer

Mother,
Please help us to live this Lent focused on Your Son. May we live it as you did — in loving intimacy with Him.
Blessed and praised be God.