Luke 4:1-13
For context for Prompts, refer to March 9 Homily.
Lead in: When asked by John the Baptist about his life, I can imagine Jesus responding, “I’m a carpenter by trade. But I feel like I’m being called to do more but I don’t know what that is.”
Prompt: Reflect on a time when you were being called to do more, but you didn’t know what that was.
Lead in: I then imagine John the Baptist affirming Jesus, “I see in you something special.”
Prompt: God sees in each of us something special that equips us for a work that only we can do.
Prompt: What might be that something special in you that equips you for a work that only you can do?
Lead in: In Luke 4 we hear, “Filled with the Spirit, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert.” But it was a foreboding place that he’d never been to before and little did he know the challenges that awaited him there.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when you were led to do something that you had never done before and were unaware of the challenges that lay before you.
Lead in: During his temptations in the desert, Jesus may have felt small and insignificant, questioning what his small efforts could accomplish.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when, like Jesus may have felt during his time of temptation, when you felt insignificant and questioned what your small efforts could accomplish.
Lead in: When his time in the desert was complete, Jesus emerges with a new sense of mission now ready to take on the work God was calling him to do.
Prompt: Think of some of the desert times you may have experienced in your life. Was there ever a time you emerged from your desert with a new sense of mission, more ready than ever to take on the work God was calling you to?
Lead in: In the desert Jesus was tempted by the lure of pleasure, power and prestige. The devil started by tempting Jesus with the pleasure of food, “Turn these stones into bread.” Of itself, there is nothing wrong with bread. We need food to live. But the devil was tempting Jesus to settle for a bread that doesn’t satisfy the deepest hungers of the human heart.
Prompt: In your experience, what is the “bread” that brings true nourishment to your life and feeds your soul?
