The Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent fittingly recounts Jesus' fast of forty days, followed by Satan's testing.In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict devotes the second chapter to an extended meditation upon "The Temptations of Jesus."The Pope concludes:

What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought?The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God. He has brought the God who formerly unveiled his countenance gradually, first to Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets, and then in the Wisdom Literature -- the God who revealed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honored among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the nations of the earth.He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him..... Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about our origin and destiny: faith, hope, and love..... The earthly kingdoms that Satan was able to put before the Lord at that time have all passed away. Their glory, their doxa, has proven to be a mere semblance. But the glory of Christ, the humble, self-sacrificing glory of his love, has not passed away, nor will it ever do so.