LIVE IT TODAY: Sunday, February 22, 2026 | First Sunday of Lent
You are My beloved—stand firm in My word, and you will overcome every lie of the Enemy.
LIVE IT TODAY: Sunday, February 22, 2026 | First Sunday of Lent
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GOD’S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
You are My beloved—stand firm in My word, and you will overcome every lie of the Enemy.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | 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.
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
Temptation attacks identity; obedience anchors it in the Father’s word.
The Spirit leads Jesus into the desert. This is not accident but appointment. The wilderness is a place of testing, echoing Israel’s forty years. Where Israel failed, Christ stands firm. Lent begins not with comfort, but with confrontation.
The tempter’s first words cut to the core: “If you are the Son of God…” Identity is questioned. The Enemy does not begin with blatant evil but with subtle doubt. Prove yourself. Satisfy yourself. Protect yourself. Control the outcome.
Each temptation distorts something good. Bread is good. Protection is good. Authority is good. But detached from obedience, they become idols. Jesus responds not with argument, but with Scripture. He does not negotiate; He submits to the Father’s word.
The Greek term for temptation also means testing. The desert reveals what governs the heart. When hunger is sharp and isolation heavy, the voice we trust becomes clear. Jesus trusts the Father.
This Gospel pierces the domestic church. Our homes are deserts at times—stress, fatigue, pressure. Temptation often sounds reasonable: ease the tension, grasp control, compromise quietly. Children learn how to resist by watching how we respond.
Identity precedes victory. Jesus does not fight to become Son; He resists because He is Son. When our identity rests in the Father, the Enemy’s whispers lose authority.
Temptation shouts; truth steadies. The one who worships God alone stands unshaken.
Build saint-forming homes by rooting your family’s identity in the Father’s love, pray over your children by name that they may recognize and reject the Enemy’s lies, and act boldly in the power of the Holy Spirit, choosing obedience over appetite and worship over compromise.
“Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation.” (CCC 539)
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
In My Heart: Where is the Enemy subtly questioning my identity or trust in God?
In My Home: How are we equipping one another to respond to temptation with Scripture and truth?
In My World: What compromise is God calling me to reject more decisively?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, name one temptation you want God’s help to overcome this week.
Then pray together aloud. As parents, place a hand on each person and pray over them by name, asking that they know God’s love personally, be freed from the Enemy’s lies about identity and worth, be strengthened to overcome temptation, and be filled with courage to worship God alone.
Daily Challenge: Memorize one short Scripture verse as a family to speak aloud when temptation arises.
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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