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From a commentary
by Saint Augustine, bishop
What does it mean that “Your
suffering does not belong to you. Let it pass through you into the hands of Christ”? Well, as
Saint Augustine explains in the following commentary, when we suffer, we are victorious only
because Christ suffered and overcame temptation for us. Therefore, your suffering belongs to
Christ, and so, when you suffer, let the suffering pass through you into the hands of Christ
to whom the triumph over temptation belongs.
In Christ we suffered temptation, and in
Him we overcame the devil
 ear, O God, my petition,
listen to my prayer. Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. See if it is an individual:
I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish. Now it is
no longer one person; rather, it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all His
members. What single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the
ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. It was said to Him: Ask of me,
and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your
possession. This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ,
this one Church of Christ, this unity that we are, cries from the ends of the earth. What does
it cry? What I said before: Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to
you from the ends of the earth. That is, I made this cry to you from the ends of the
earth; that is, on all sides.
 Why
did I make this cry? While my heart was in anguish. The speaker shows that he is present
among all the nations of the earth in a condition, not of exalted glory but of severe
trial.
Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial.
We progress by means of trial. We do not know ourselves except through trial, or receive a crown
except after victory, or strive except against an enemy or temptations.
The one who cries from the ends of the earth is
in anguish, but is not left alone. Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are His body, by means
of His body, in which He has died, risen and ascended into heaven, so that the members of His
body may hope to follow where their Head has gone before.
He made us one with Him when He chose to be tempted
by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the
wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ
received his flesh from your nature, but by His own power gained salvation for you; He suffered
death in your nature, but by His own power gained glory for you; therefore, He suffered temptation
in your nature, but by His own power gained victory for you.
If in Christ we have been tempted, in Him we overcome
the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of His victory? See yourself
as tempted in Him, and see yourself as victorious in Him. He could have kept the devil from Himself;
but if He were not tempted He could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.
—Saint Augustine, bishop
Office of Readings,
First Sunday in Lent
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