{"id":69711,"date":"2026-02-20T20:39:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=69711"},"modified":"2026-02-20T20:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:39:48","slug":"ars-praedicandi-first-sunday-of-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/ars-praedicandi-first-sunday-of-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ars Praedicandi: First Sunday of Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Edward Foley, OFM, Cap., February 20, 2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good friend has two sons.
When they were very young, 
the older loved school
while the younger disliked it with a vengeance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thus, after his first day at kindergarten,\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0when his father asked the youngest how it all went,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he declared his unhappiness with the whole affair
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and then with absolute seriousness asked\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDo I have to go back tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       The startled father masked his amusement
              responding with a firm \u201cyes,\u201d
              later confessing that he didn\u2019t have the heart to tell him
                     that he\u2019d have to keep going back
                      not just tomorrow but for the next 17 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Sometimes I feel a bit like that kindergartener:
not when it comes to school, but when it comes to Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not my favorite season,
And sometimes I ask God if I have to go back and do it again;
I am not sure God is amused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I could easily do Advent all year
with its spirit of joyful expectation
and uplifting readings from the great prophets,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lent requires serious work \u2013\u00a0
the spiritual equivalent to enduring a Chicago winter,
demanding special energy to survive one more polar vortex.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, I recently found an admittedly odd motivation
for entering into Lent more willingly this year:
which is the unfortunate state of our country and our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo summed it up well last month,
bluntly acknowledging that\u00a0
\u201cWar is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also seems that man-made famine,\u00a0
the suppression of civil rights,
and a frontal assault on human dignity is also back in vogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US it increasingly feels, at least to me,\u00a0
as though we are at war with each other:
left against right
White against Black
even our government against its own people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the U.S. consumer sentiment was reported to have fallen
to its lowest level in over a decade<\/a>,
with well over 75% of us rating the economy
as \u201cpoor\u201d or \u201cnot so good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder what the parallel rating might be if we had
a \u201cCivil Liberties Confidence Index\u201d
or a \u201cNational Human Dignity Barometer?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fear that it would be so low
that no amount of media spin
could raise it above the state of miserable.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that could sound like an exaggeration,
consider this experience: a few weeks ago,
I returned to Ethiopia to teach at my community\u2019s seminary.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 8th, I concelebrated the English Mass\u00a0
at our parish in the capital, Addis Ababa: populated by\u00a0
several diplomats from the surrounding embassies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the prayer of the faithful, after the usual intentions,
there was an explicit prayer for the US government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I audibly gasped as this so-called third world country
with a gross national product similar to the state of Mississippi,
was praying that the all-powerful US
might respect the human rights of its own citizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the only US-onian in this packed church,
I was humbled by this difficult gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And then it struck me: being humbled is an appropriate stance
for trekking back into the desert with Jesus
where the distractions are fewer,
the face of evil is unmistakable,\u00a0
and the Jesus way forward is uncompromising.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two powerful reflections on today\u2019s readings 
were especially helpful 
in nudging me back into the Jesus desert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One was a\u00a0brilliant exegesis<\/a>\u00a0of the Genesis reading\u00a0
by a favorite theologian,
who not only notes that this is our first biblical account of sin,\u00a0
but also that it distinguishes sin from its motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She writes: \u201cThe sin itself was disobedience,\u00a0
but the inclination that gave rise to it was a form of hubris:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
the desire to be like gods\u2026
It is admirable to want to be like God,\u00a0
But it is hubris to [try to act like God].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an ancient maxim that asserts that might is right,
but maybe with all that is unfolding in
Gaza and Ukraine\u00a0
Greenland and Venezuela\u00a0
Minnesota and Maine
\u00a0\u00a0we are learning that might is not always right,
but is sometimes just unadulterated hubris,
wielding power in the hope of becoming some kind of god.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s gospel exemplifies might not simply as right\u00a0
but as an exercise in discerning justice\u00a0
as power wielded not to be like God but to serve God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Testament consistently portrays Jesus as powerful,
\u00a0teaching with authority,
healing the sick,
even raising people from the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he never deploys his power
to diminish, humiliate or crush,
except if you were an evil spirit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Jesus never exercises power to burnish his own reputation,
like demanding that the Temple Mount be renamed after him
in return for some miracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Even when tempted to hubris
by a clever scripture-spouting demon,
he never gives in to self-aggrandizement,\u00a0
but instead offers a master class in kingdom living.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider today\u2019s spiritual tango
between the princes of peace and darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first demonic volley takes aim at Jesus\u2019 vulnerable humanity.\u00a0\u00a0
While the gospel does not indicate\u00a0
which Sunday in Lent the bread temptation was launched,\u00a0
the prince of darkness had been scoping out this rabbi\u00a0
ever since that thunderous voice proclaimed\u00a0
this raggamuffin teacher standing drenched in the Jordan
to be God\u2019s Beloved.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was a proposition\u00a0that must be tested.
So maybe on desert-day 23,
when this supposed god-man\u00a0
was sufficiently weakened by a lack of sustenance,\u00a0
it was time to pounce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wasn\u2019t a \u201cwanna cookie\u201d bribe
or \u201chow about a beer\u201d invite.

No. This was a \u201cwanna survive?\u201d assault,
a feigned \u201cyou\u2019re not looking well\u201d concern,
a clever \u201cyour blood sugar is dangerously low\u201d ploy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0The devil was goading God\u2019s beloved to stay strong
for all the tough messiah work ahead,\u00a0
reminding him what his and every mother says:
\u201cyou have to eat\u2026\u201d
\u201cSo, Mary\u2019s son, conjure up some grub,
just a small miracle for the new\u00a0Wunderkind<\/em>\u00a0from Nazareth!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Jesus\u00a0wasn\u2019t so easily duped,
and made it clear to the tempter\u00a0
that he didn\u2019t need to fill his stomach\u00a0
by conjuring a pepperoni pizza out of thin air.

More precisely, he had no desire to be full of himself.
Instead, he proclaimed his mission
not to fill his stomach, but to fill his soul:
saying \u201cno\u201d to hubris but \u201cyes\u201d to humility;
\u201cno\u201d to pretense but \u201cyes\u201d to holy presence,
reminding the dark angel
that the true nourishment provided by his Mom,
since she herself was \u201cfull of grace\u201d
was the sustenance that only comes from God.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, the pointed Jesus retort that nothing compelled him\u00a0
to practice a little magic,
to amuse the purveyor of evil,
or silence his grumbling stomach,
feed his ambition,
or boost his reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 26th<\/sup>, 1983
Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrove of the Soviet Air
Defense Forces was the officer on duty
at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow.
The world was a powder keg;
the Soviet Union had recently shot down
a Korean passenger jet,
and Cold War tensions were at a breaking point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, the sirens wailed.
Satellite screens flashed red with one word: “LAUNCH.”\u00a0<\/strong>
The system reported that the U.S. had fired five nuclear missiles,
now screaming toward Soviet soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrov\u2019s standing orders were clear.
He was a cog in a rigid military machine,
required to report the launch immediately
to his superiors.\u00a0\u00a0
If he followed the rules, the Soviet leadership\u2014
operating on a “launch on warning” policy\u2014
would have initiated a full-scale retaliatory
nuclear strike against the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrov knew that his system was top-of-the-line,
but he knew that something was wrong.
He reasoned that if the Americans were
going to start World War III,
they wouldn’t do it with just five missiles;
they would send hundreds to overwhelm Russian defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrov told his superiors it was a false alarm,
despite having no concrete proof
other than his own intuition.
He effectively gambled his career, his freedom,
and potentially millions of Soviet lives on the hope
that the computer was wrong.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world did not experience a nuclear winter
because Petrov\u2019s instincts and hopes for humanity were correct:
The “missiles” were actually sunlight reflecting off the tops of high-altitude clouds, which the satellite had misinterpreted.\u00a0\u00a0

However, Petrov wasn’t a hero in the eyes of the Soviet military.
He was interrogated, rejected for promotion,
and eventually reassigned to a less sensitive post before retiring.
He lived out his life in relative obscurity and poverty
because he exercised his power for the common good,
not for the glory of his homeland, later reflecting
“I was just doing my job.
But they were lucky it was me on shift that night.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The hubris of wanting to be god
ordinarily does not stop wars but starts them;
does not stop hunger, but exacerbates it;
does not stop human indignity but fuels it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And so with the poet we pray:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drag our feet like children to the sand, 
Reluctant in the cold and biting gale, 
While hubris seeks to grip the weary hand 
And whispers that the “mighty” must prevail.

But in the waste, the Raggamuffin King 
Rejects the crown that hollow power hides, 
And teaches us that Lent is not a sting,
But where the Spirit\u2019s breath alone abides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let us trek where Jesus leads the way, 
Beyond the spin, the hatred, and the pride, 
To pray for foes and neighbors in the fray,
With nothing but the Spirit as our guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like one lone man who stayed the hand of war, 
We seek the peace that God has made us for; 
To leave our hubris at the desert door 
And walk as humble children evermore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Christ our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Foley<\/strong>, OFM, Cap,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality Emeritus and retired Professor of Liturgy and Music at Catholic Theological Union, has authored or edited 33 books. His works are translated into 9 languages. A celebrated preacher and presenter, he received a major grant from the John Templeton Foundation for Preaching and the Sciences and another from the Lilly Endowment. A recipient of lifetime achievement awards from the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, the North American Academy of Liturgy, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, Aquinas Institute, and Barry University, as well as a preaching fellowship at Notre Dame University, he has lectured in over 70 dioceses throughout the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ED FOLEY, OFM Cap. — Jesus\u00a0made it clear to the tempter that he didn\u2019t need to fill his stomach\u00a0by conjuring a pepperoni pizza out of thin air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":69717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3294,1321],"tags":[3249,3253,4064,78,2044],"class_list":["post-69711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-praedicandi","category-homilies","tag-ars-praedicandi","tag-ed-foley","tag-homilies","tag-lent","tag-preaching"],"yoast_head":"\nArs Praedicandi: First Sunday of Lent - 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