Vatican City, Feb 26, 2012 / 07:56 am
Christ’s 40 days in the desert teach Christians that temptations can be overcome in life if we stay close to Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI said Feb. 26.
“Man is never wholly free from the temptation... but with patience and true humility we become stronger than any enemy,” the Pope said in his Sunday Angelus address, quoting Thomas à Kempis’ famous 15th century devotional work “The Imitation of Christ.”
The Pope addressed thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on the first Sunday of Lent, giving a reflection on St. Mark’s Gospel account of Christ’s forty days in the desert when he was tempted by Satan.
Pope Benedict, citing his fifth century predecessor St. Leo the Great, suggested that Jesus “willingly suffered the attack of the tempter to defend us with his help and to teach us by his example.”