Welcoming & Embracing the Stranger: Lenten Reflections with the Artwork of James Tissot

February 23, 2026 - Monday of the First Week of Lent

This week's artwork from James Tissot pictures a scene that we are invited to meditate upon each Lent: Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. In this particular painting, we see Satan tempting the hungry Jesus with loaves of bread. Tissot depicts Jesus turned away from Satan, a posture of rebuff to the temptation. In a twist of imagination, we might imagine the same image as depicting a very different scene, the poor and hungry pursuing Jesus with hands outstretched. Jesus declined to turn the stones into bread for his own benefit when tempted by Satan, but he later turned scarcity into an abundance of bread to feed the five thousand. In one instance, he turned away from temptation. In the other, he turned his face toward the crowds with mercy. 

The language of turning and returning features prominently in the Lenten scriptures. Although neither word appears explicitly in today's readings, both offer a clear warning to those who would turn away from those in need. In the first reading, the Lord tells his people not to turn their backs on their neighbor (by defrauding them or withholding aid), their day laborer (by withholding wages), or their fellow countrymen (by harboring grudges or hatred in their heart). Although the Lord lists these different groups, he ultimately does not distinguish strictly among them. God's people are not to turn their backs on a stranger or foreigner any more than they are on a brother or fellow Israelite. Jesus intensifies this command in the Gospel reading by identifying himself with those in need. To turn one’s back on the stranger, he says, is to turn away from him (and thereby exclude oneself from God’s kingdom). 

Today's readings invite us to examine our own hearts lest we find ourselves unprepared for that day of judgment described in the Gospel reading. Are we turning towards God or away from him in our daily thoughts and actions? Do we give quarter to Satan's temptations in our hearts by harboring grudges? Do we look away when we pass the homeless man on the street? Do we rationalize when we see people in our community (the poor, the foreigner) treated inhumanely and unjustly? Or do we open our hearts to the One who identifies with the least of these? 

Convert us, O God our Savior, and instruct our minds by heavenly teaching, that we may benefit from the works of Lent. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Patrick R Manning, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of the Seton Hall University Center for Catholic Studies

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