2-Mar-2014 Dear friend,
There are some who find themselves assaulted by temptations in the circumstances they find themselves in. There are others who court temptations and let themselves be tempted though they know the situations in which they are likely to fall. We may pray: 'Lead us not into temptations!' and yet let ourselves be tempted. However, temptations by themselves are neither good nor bad. Jesus himself was tempted and saints struggled against temptations. It is how we handle them and grow in spite of them that makes all the difference. Let's pray that with the Spirit's power we fight against evil always! Have a Word-empowered 'combating' weekend! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 1st Sunday of Lent - "Led by the Spirit! Fighting temptations in the desert with God's power!" 9-Mar-2014 Gen. 2: 7-9, 3: 1-7; Romans 5: 12-19; Matthew 4: 1-11; The first reading from Genesis reminds us that Noah alone was spared during the flood. God made a promise, a covenant that man would not be destroyed by the floodwaters and the sign of his covenant was the rainbow. God is faithful to his promise and each time we see a rainbow, it should remind us of a God who is faithful to His promise. All kinds of situations test us and there are times we will falter and fail, we may be unfaithful to our God, but God will not destroy us, He is faithful to his promise, He will save us. Radical Solution There is a story of a man who had an apple tree in his garden. He loved apples and believed he could not live without them. However, while the tree never failed to supply him with apples which tasted good, there was something definitely lacking in their quality. One thing was missing - there was no nourishment in them. He consulted a friend who was an expert on apple trees. The expert looked at the tree and pointed out some obvious deficiencies in it. It needed to be sprayed for its branches were encrusted with moss, the branches needed pruning. It could do with having the earth around it dug up and fertilized. The man listened and acted on the expert's advice. Yet the following autumn the apples, though slightly more plentiful were no more nourishing. The quality remained unchanged. The man was disappointed and once more consulted the expert. "What more can I do?" he asked. "You are wasting your time." The expert answered. "What do you mean?" "Obviously, the only thing to do is to cut the tree down and plant a new one in its place." "But what will I do in the meantime for apples?" "You will have to do without them, won't you?" came the answer. The question is: was the man ready for a radical decision, in order to have new and wholesome fruit? Anonymous The three synoptic evangelists situate the experience of the desert temptations with the baptism of Jesus presented shortly before. All three also say that Jesus was led by the Spirit. Jesus was to be tempted in the desert amidst wild beasts but at the same time angels were ministering unto him. Jesus' determination in the face of temptations corroborates the commitment of his baptism and opens the path for his own mission. In all three temptations Jesus uses the word of God to fight temptations and draw strength from God. When tempted he refuses to use his condition as God to his own personal advantage. Following Jesus is not a privilege placing us above others but rather a service. Jesus refuses to put God to the test; we should do likewise. All through our life we are tempted and that in itself is not a bad thing. It is how we deal with temptations that really matters. We are tempted to compromise on values, to go by the popular majority, to do the easy or more convenient thing rather than what is right and proper. While we may be surrounded by evil forces we are also supported by God's word and Spirit. The wild beasts and the angels will always be there in the desert experience. We too have to go through periodic training periods of discipline and testing called Lent. We too have to be ready to do battle with Satan and evil in this world. We consider it criminal if a soldier is sent to war without basic training, or to send a doctor into an operating theatre without adequate schooling and internship. Yet we casually assume that we can fight evil in us and around us without taking Lent seriously. Ready to change? Once, a king was walking through the streets of the capital city when he came upon a beggar who immediately asked him for money. The king did not give him any money. Instead he invited him to his palace. The beggar took up the king's offer. On the appointed day he made his way to the royal palace, and was duly ushered into the king's presence. However as he came into the king's presence he was acutely conscious of his rags and felt ashamed of them. They were an eloquent symbol of the wretchedness of his life. The king, an exceptionally kind man, received him warmly, took pity on him, and among other things gave him a new suit. However, a few days later the beggar was back to begging on the streets, dressed in his old rags. Why did he give up the new suit? Because he knew that to wear it would mean that he would have to live a new life. It would mean giving up the life of a beggar. This he was not prepared to do. It wasn't that the new life did not appeal to him. It did. It was just that a change of life would be slow, painful and uncertain. In other words he was too much steeped in habit to change. Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies' Vision Quest A young man accepted an invitation to join a group of people going to the Virginia Mountains to make a "vision quest." After a couple days of training in survival tactics and the discipline of spiritual exercise, the participants were sent out individually to spend four days by themselves in the mountainous wilderness. First, he said, there was the extraordinary quiet and a lack of the usual distractions; no TV, radio, computers, video games, phones, and the devices that have become so much a part of our daily modern lives. It was, he said, so quiet. He began to hear sounds he might ordinarily have missed: the breeze, songs of distant birds, his footsteps, insects and his own breathing. He also began to hear his inner voice. Questions were being put to him about his life. He found that being in the wilderness was a chance to do some serious thinking for the first time in his adult years. A couple things he saw in nature got him thinking. One day he came across a dead horse rotting in a field and a few moments later he saw a fragile new-born doe. These contrasting sights stirred questions in him about his basic life assumptions. He realised, when he reflected on the sight of the dead horse, that he had been investing his life in passing realities. The doe reminded him how fragile life is, especially young life. He decided during those four days, to turn his life around and dedicate himself to ministering to youth. He would quit his job, accept a lower paying position to be a youth minister in his parish. We asked if he had found being alone in the wilderness dangerous. "No," he said, "All the while I felt as if the wilderness were sustaining me." Maybe that's what it means when it says today that angels ministered to Jesus in the desert. Acting against temptations We can overcome temptations by doing something positive. There is a Greek legend about the Sirens who appeared like beautiful maidens sitting on the rocky shores of a dangerous, narrow strait through which ships had to pass. They sang so enchantingly that the mariners would forget their oars, leap aboard and the ship would drift onto the rocks and be destroyed. On one occasion as Orpheus sailed the same straits he himself sang and played so divinely on his lyre that the song of the Sirens was drowned and the sailors continued to be absorbed in listening to Orpheus. -When we are tempted we must be engaged in doing something positive which is the opposite of temptation. If we remain idle then we will surely fall prey to temptations. Elias Dias in 'Divine Stories for Families' Temptations A lark flying safely high in the air, observed a small object moving slowly along the path in a garden below. Out of curiosity it descended to take a closer look. He discovered it was a small wagon with a cat pulling it and chanting all the time, "Fresh worms for sale. Fresh worms for sale!" Interested, the lark alighted on the path -but at a safe distance. He asked what the worms were selling for. "Three nice worms for one feather from your wing." said the cat. The lark thought that was a bargain and pulled a feather from his wing and enjoyed the delicious worms. Then he took off and soared again but the thought of those juicy worms brought him down to the wagon again. This time he bought twice as many, and bartered away two more feathers. The same thing happened several more times. But the pussy cat was watching closely. Robbed of wing power, the lark was not able to get away when the cat sprang at him… and thus met his death in the garden where temptation had proved too strong for him. Msgr. Arthur Tonne in 'Tonic for the Heart' May we resist all temptations with the help of the power of God. Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
