Pope Francis remembers that there is no dialogue with the devil

Pope Francis warned Christians during the Angelus prayer on Sunday, March 10 at the Vatican, about the dangers of dialogue with the devil: "With the devil, there is no dialogue. "

During his teaching, the Holy Father turned to the Gospel of this first Sunday of Lent, in which "the experience of Jesus' temptations in the desert is recounted." After having fasted for forty days, the devil Jesus tried three times. "

However, "in responding to the tempter, Jesus does not enter into dialogue, but responds to the three challenges with the word of God.That teaches us that with the devil there is no dialogue, you can not dialogue you can only respond with the word of God. "

In the first place, the devil invites Jesus "to turn a stone into bread, then he shows him from above the kingdoms of the earth and promises to become a powerful and glorious messiah, finally he leads him to the highest place from the temple of Jerusalem and invites him to throw himself into the void to dramatically manifest his divine power ".

The Pope explained that "the three temptations indicate three ways that the world always proposes to promise great triumphs: the greed of goods, the human glory, the instrumentalization of God. to lose ".

The first temptation, "the path of greed for possessions, consists in this insidious logic of the devil, taking advantage of the natural and legitimate need to feed oneself, to live, to fulfill oneself, to be happy, to then to believe that everything is possible without God, even against him ".

"But Jesus opposes to say," It is written, "The man will not live only bread." Recalling the long journey of the chosen people through the wilderness, Jesus affirms that he wants to To give up fully to the providence of the Father, who always takes care of his children. "

The second temptation is "the path of human glory." The devil says, "If you prostrate yourself in worship, all this will be yours." You may lose all personal dignity if you let yourself be corrupted by it. "Idol of money, success and power." "That's why Jesus responds:" It's only before the Lord God that you will bow down that you will worship Him. "

Finally, "the third temptation: to instrumentalize God to gain benefits." To the devil who invites him, invoking the scriptures, to seek out a shocking miracle from God, Jesus responds again with the firm decision to remain humble and to remain confident in God: & nbsp; It is written: Do not test the Lord your God & # 39;

Thus, "reject what may be the most subtle temptation: that of wanting to put God on our side by asking for graces which in reality serve only to satisfy our pride."

"These are the paths that have been proposed to us with the fiction of being able to achieve success and happiness, but in reality they are completely foreign to the way God acts, in fact, they separate us from God because they are the work of Satan. "

Finally, Pope Francis emphasized in his teaching that "Jesus, in confronting these trials in the first person, gains three times more temptation to fully adhere to the Father's plan, and this shows us the way to overcome temptation. inner life, faith in God, the certainty of His love, the certainty that God loves us, that He is Father ".