Lent, fundamentally, is about harmony.

Practically and primarily, of course, the season is about bringing Catechumens into to the Church, those given the gift of faith brought within the communion of the body of Christ through baptism. It’s about bringing believers in Jesus to the font of eternal life and the altar of the living bread, establishing thereby the harmony Paul called a “mystery,” the reconciliation of all people in Christ.

But’s it also about the reconciliation of penitents, of those who by sin have fallen away from the Church. Early Christians fasted with those preparing for baptism; that is, they spiritually prepared alongside Catechumens as pilgrims with them. This is the beginning of what we know as Lent; it’s why this has become not only a season for Christian initiation but also a season of spiritual renewal and reconciliation for all. Because we’re all meant to walk with those who will soon be our brothers and sisters in the Church. These are the other harmonies of Lent: the forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation and renewal of peoples.

However, there is another harmony to note, one even more fundamental to Lent. And that’s the mind’s harmony in God. Such is the lesson of these passages from scripture this first week of Lent. The stories are of Genesis, about our fall in Eden, and then Jesus’s temptation in the desert. The first is a story of failure, of woman and man failing keep hold of what “God said;” by a failure of faith, they and we fell for the devil’s deceit. In Matthew’s gospel it’s different, however. It’s precisely the same attack Satan made in Eden that he makes on Jesus in the desert: maybe he will falter and forget what God said too. Yet, this time Christ remains faithful, adhering to the word of God completely. That’s all that’s required to defeat the devil: keeping the word. Which is why the devil left and better angels came.

And it’s the first lesson of Lent. In our various deserts, are we in harmony with the word of God? Working through penance, praying for our fellow Catholics, for those coming into the Church, are we in harmony, in our minds, in God? Do you know the word of God? Do you live on it like bread?

This Lent do something to draw nearer to Christ in his word. Draw near in Scripture and prayer. Do this not just because it’s good for you—it is—but also because of where we are: in a desert with the devil nearby, waiting on better angels.