Fear is a great obstacle to the adventure of living a meaningful life. We are afraid doing something different will be hard. We are afraid of what others will think. We are afraid to make changes ourselves and afraid of telling others to change. We are afraid to miss out.
This is our third reflection for Lent on what I’ve been calling a meaningful life. I said that the path of a meaningful life is one which rejects money, power, pleasure, and fame as the means of happiness.
In this week's Gospel, Jesus is tempted by Satan. To paraphrase, he says to Jesus, “You must be hungry. Stop fasting and turn stones into bread.” Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says, “You can have all this.”
This is the first in a series of Lenten Reflections I want to share with you. Christian writers classically considered four things people seek to make them happy.