Jesus gives faithful guidance, strength to fight temptation, pope writes

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The devil, who lies and sows divisions, tests everyone, even Jesus, Pope Francis said in a written homily.

Satan tries to convince people that the hungry cannot be fed, that "angels will not come to our aid when we are falling, and that at best, the world is in the hands of evil powers that crush nations by their arrogant schemes and the brutality of war," the homily said.

But the Lord has opened a new path of liberation and redemption, the pope wrote, so when the faithful are "tested," it does not have to end in failure. "By following the Lord in faith, from drifters we become pilgrims."

The pope's prepared homily was read by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, at a Mass concluding the Jubilee of the World of Volunteering March 9 in St. Peter's Square.

It was the third Jubilee Mass Pope Francis missed attending after being hospitalized Feb. 14 for difficulty breathing and then diagnosed with double pneumonia and other respiratory infections. However, his spiritual presence at the Mass was represented by a large cloth banner with his papal coat of arms hanging from the basilica's central balcony.

Thousands of volunteers, including religious men and women whose charism includes offering charity, filled the square, which was brightened by the neon and fluorescent jackets and gear worn by different local, national and international associations. Their bright yellow, blue, orange and red apparel created a vibrant rainbow with the purple vestments of prelates concelebrating the Mass.

The pope greeted the volunteers in his prepared homily, read by the cardinal. He thanked them for following the example of Jesus by serving "your neighbors unstintingly."

Their "generosity and commitment" in helping those in need, he wrote, "offer hope to our entire society. In the deserts of poverty and loneliness, all those small gestures are helping to make a new humanity blossom in the garden that is God's dream, always and everywhere, for all of us."

The bulk of the pope's homily was a reflection on the Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent and the devil's temptation of Jesus in the desert for 40 days.

"Let us reflect on the fact that we too are tempted, yet we are not alone. Jesus is with us, to guide us through the desert" and give "us the strength to resist its attacks and to persevere on our journey," the pope wrote.

"The Lord is close to us and cares for us, especially in times of trial and uncertainty, when the tempter makes his voice heard," he wrote. The devil, who is the father of lies, separates and divides; "whereas Jesus is the one who unites God and man, the mediator."

"The devil whispers into our ear that God is not really our Father, that he has in fact abandoned us," he wrote. "Yet just when the devil would have us believe that the Lord is far from us, and would tempt us to despair, God draws all the closer to us, giving his life for the redemption of the world."

"In the face of temptation, we sometimes fall; we are all sinners," Pope Francis wrote. "Our defeat, however, is not definitive, because following our every fall, God lifts us up by his infinite love and forgiveness. Our testing does not end in failure, because, in Christ, we are redeemed from evil."

"As we journey through the desert with him," the pope wrote, "Jesus himself opens up before us this new path of liberation and redemption."