
The second week in Lent shifts focus from food to sexual morality. We are warned about how what affects our body can also affect our soul. But we also learn that the danger is not necessarily how an external event directly harms the soul but rather how the thoughts and desires of our soul are themselves the root problem. 1 Thess. 4 and teaches against concupiscence. The Gospel reading strikes a slightly different note, showing the virtue of the Canaanite woman, how her faith overcomes her external condition. The Old Testament readings show the danger of sensuality in the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 27 and the evils of carnal vengeance in the Dinah incident of Genesis 34.