Here is the English version of the homily delivered by Benedict XVI last Ash Wednesday. Excerpt:
"This long time of silence and fasting was for him a complete abandonment to the Father and to his plan of love; it was a 'baptism,' that is, an 'immersion' in his will, and in this sense, an anticipation of the Passion and the Cross. To go into the desert and to stay there a long time, alone, meant to be willingly exposed to the assaults of the enemy, the tempter who made Adam fall and through whose envy death entered the world (cf Wisdom 2:24); it meant engaging in open battle with him, defying him with no other weapons than limitless confidence in the omnipotent love of the Father. Your love suffices me, my food is to do your will (cf John 4:34): This conviction dwelt in the mind and heart of Jesus during that 'Lent' of his. It was not an act of pride, a titanic enterprise, but a decision of humility, consistent with the Incarnation and the Baptism in the Jordan, in the same line of obedience to the merciful love of the Father, who 'so loved the world that he gave his only Son' (John 3:16)."
