Overcoming Temptation

05-03-2017 FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (A)

SCRIPTURAL READING:

1. Gen. 2:7-9;3:1-7

Ps. 51:3-4.5-6ab.12-13.14.17 (R. 3a)

1. Rom. 5:12-19 or Rom. 5:12.17-19; Accl; Mt. 4:4b
2. Gospel Mt. 4:1-11.

THEME: OVERCOMING TEMPTATION

The season of lent commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the desert in preparation for his years of preaching, which reached its high point in the cross and in the triumph of Easter. Forty days of prayer and penance, and at the end of them the temptations of Christ, which today’s liturgy draw our attention to.

The whole episode of the temptation of Jesus in the gospel reading is a mystery which man cannot hope to understand: God is here submitting to temptation, letting the evil one have his way. A mystery indeed. But we can meditate upon it, asking Our Lord to help us understand the teaching it contains.

This is the first time the devil intervenes in Jesus’ life, and he does so openly. He puts Our Lord to the test; perhaps he wants to find out whether the hour of the Messiah has actually arrived. Jesus allowed this intervention so as to give us an example of humility, and to teach us to overcome the temptations that we are going to have to undergo in the course of our lives.

St. John Chrysostom, one of the church fathers tells us, as the Lord did everything for our instruction, so he wished to be led out into the wilderness and there to enter into combat with the devil. He did this in order that the baptized should not be troubled if after Baptism they suffer still greater temptations, as though such were not to be expected. If we were not prepared to meet the temptations that we are to undergo, we would open the door to a great enemy-discouragement and gloominess.

Beloved in Christ, temptation is no respecter of status, or personage. No one is exempt from it and no one is above it. The preface of today’s mass, that is, the prayers we say shortly before the consecration, reminds us that Our Lord teaches us with deeds that we must overcome temptations and that we should derive benefit from all the trials that come our way.

The Lord allows temptation, and uses it providentially to purify us, to make us Holy, to detach us more and more from the things of the earth, to lead us where he is and by the route he wants us to take, so as to make us happy (in a life which may not be comfortable); so as to give us maturity, understanding and effectiveness in our apostolic work with souls, and above all, to make us humble, very humble. James 1: 12 says; “Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.”

The three sets of temptations Jesus went through are not far from what we go through in life. The devil tempts us precisely by taking advantage of the needs and weaknesses of human nature.

The first temptation:

After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Our Lord must have been very weak and hungry. The tempter chooses to come forward with the proposition that he should turn the stones that lie around him into the bread he needs and longs for so desperately.

Jesus’ response: Jesus not only declines the food which his body requires, but also rejects a greater temptation: that of using his divine power to solve, if we can express it so, a personal problem.

Lessons: 1. We learn humility from Jesus-we see how generous Our Lord is in humbling himself and fully accepting his human condition. He does not use his divine power to escape from difficulties or avoid effort. Let us pray that he will teach us to be tough, to love work, to appreciate the human and divine nobility of savouring the consequences of self-giving. 2. Man must learn that he does not live by bread alone. The physical alone will not satisfy. Man is spirit; therefore, he needs God and is dependent upon God. He cannot live without God. 3. Temptation is to be resisted by using the word of God. The believer must study and learn the word of God in order to withstand temptation. Psalm 119:9-11 says “how can young people keep their lives pure? By obeying your commands. With all my heart I try to serve you; keep me from disobeying your commandments. I keep your law in my heart, so that I will not sin against you.” 4. When needs arise, a person must always strengthen himself against temptation. The greater the need, the greater the attack of temptation.

Questions: 1. How often do I trust in my abilities and not in God? 2. How often do I front my abilities and rely in my own strengths and my own abilities to solve my problems? 3. How often do I have listened to God’s call to me to pray and seek his help to overcome temptations? 4. How often have I relied solely on God to help me by using the word of God to combat temptations? 5. How often to I pray when temptation come my way either saying those ejaculatory prayers or mantras? 6. Do I stress my physical needs over the spiritual needs?  7. How often do I having been placed in a position of leadership or power use my privileges to intimidate, oppress and humiliate others?

We need to ask ourselves these questions.

Second Temptation:

In this temptation, the devil took Jesus to the Holy City, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: “He will give his angels charge of you, and in their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him: “Again it is written: you shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

High points: it seemed a very cunning temptation: if you refuse, you will demonstrate that you do not trust God completely; if you accept, you oblige him to send his angels to save you, to your own personal advantage. The Lord will hear a similar proposition, with an almost identical text, at the end of his life on earth: He is the king of Israel; let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. (cf. Matt. 27:42).

Christ’s response: Christ refuses to perform pointless miracles which would simply be a matter of vanity.

Lessons: 1. We too have to be on the alert so as to reject similar temptations that arise in our own circumstances. The wish to excel can be caused by even the holiest of things; we must be alert to false arguments claiming to be based on Holy Scripture, and not ask for (much less demand) proofs or extraordinary signs in order to believe. God indicates the path of faith to us with sufficient graces and testimonies in our everyday lives. 2. The temple or house of worship is a place of special interest to the devil. It is the place where the worship of God is centered. Therefore, to cause some diversion, pride, or false teaching-anything that detracts and leads people away from God-defeats God’s purposes and ruins people’s lives, sometimes eternally. 3. Satan knew scripture and knew it well. It is possible to know the scripture and not know God. It is even possible to know the scripture and to stand against God, abusing and misusing His word.

Questions: 1. How often have I moved the attention from God and directed it God. 2. How often have I limited the grace of God upon my life? 3. How often have I trusted in idols than in the Lord? 4. How often have I visited shrines, consulted seers or Sooth-Sayers instead of trusting the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament? 5. How often have I used or applied the word of God wrongly? 6. How often have made God look so small to handle my challenge and gone ahead to consult mediums or belief in man as the solution to my challenge?

Third Temptation:

The devil offers Jesus all the glory and temporal power that any man could wish for. The devil, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and he said to him, ‘all these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Our Lord now sent the tempter away once and for all.

The devil always promises more than he can give. Happiness is very far from being his gift. Any temptation is always a miserable deception. In order to test us, the devil takes advantage of our ambitions. Probably the worst of these is that of desiring one’s own excellence at all costs, of systematically seeking ourselves in everything we do or plan. Our own self can often be the worst of all idols.

Neither should we fall down to worship material things, making of them false gods which will ultimately make slaves of us. Material goods cease to be good if they separate us from God and our fellow men.

We will have to keep up a constant watch, an unremitting struggle, because we still have the tendency to seek human glory, in spite of our having told Our Lord on many occasions that we want only his glory. Jesus speaks to us too: you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And that is what we want and what we ask for; to be able to serve God in the vocation to which he has called us.

Questions:

1. How often have I trusted so much in wealth than in my God? 2. How often have I substituted prayer for business, the Holy Mass for party, or visitation or hanging out with friends? 3. How often have I doubted the power of prayer to transform me so that I may transform the situation I am in? 4. How often have I resulted in solving matters my way instead of talking it over with God? 5. How often have I allowed friends, money, pleasure, fashion to come between me and God? 6. How often have I paid attention to only my body instead of my spirit so as to be rich in God? 7. How often have I deceived others just to have my way in my relationship with others, business, studies? 8. How often have I been stingy with my resources instead of giving generously to the Lord and to those in need? 8. How often have I allowed myself to used as an instrument to tempt others and bring them down just to dare and see what the person is made of? 9. Do I find myself arguing with temptation or fleeing from it?

Beloved these questions are what we need to reflect upon even as we journey in this Lenten season. Dear friends, the only way we can overcome these temptations is not relying on our strengths but in trusting more and more in the Lord. We must seek to humble ourselves before God and ask him to help us over come temptations that come our way. Temptations can be overcome if we truly seek the face of the Lord. Practice of constant mortification, guarding our external and internal senses. Constant prayer, fleeing from the occasions of sin, however little it may seem will do us some great good, for whoever loves danger will perish by it. Cf. Sirach 3:26. Overcoming temptation increases our confidence and if we are to overcome temptation, we will have to repeat confidently over and over again the petition in the Our father: and lead us not into temptation; grant us the strength to remain strong when faced with temptation.

Counting on God’s grace and cooperating with this grace will help us overcome temptation whatsoever. We need to attend Mass more regularly, go for the sacrament of penance; having a generous spirit, avoid idleness, devotion to our Blessed mother who is the comforter of the afflicted and refuge of sinners. We can always say confidently to our blessed mother: My mother, I trust in you.

Beloved in Christ, these are some of the ways in which when we employ it, we can stay away from temptation and remain victorious over it.