Facing Temptations.

(Homily for March 5, 2017).

In his message for lent 2017, the Holy Father, Pope Francis says: “Lent is a favourable season for deepening our spiritual life through the means of sanctification offered us by the Church: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. At the basis of everything is the word of God, which during this season we are invited to hear and ponder more deeply.” In the temptations of Jesus, satan quoted from the bible but Jesus being grounded in the Scripture did not fall for it. This lent, we must realize that satan will try everything possible to bring us down through temptation, hence we must apply fasting, prayer, almsgiving and a constant study of the word of God to be victorious. Don’t just read the bible so that you can quote it, read the bible so that you can know the mind of God, recognize temptations when they come and overcome them as Jesus did.

While our first reading reminds us of how Adam and Eve fell, our Gospel passage tells us of how Jesus was able to succeed in overcoming temptations. In other for us to overcome sin, we must know how to deal with temptation. In fact, in the three temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness, we find a candid summary of all the temptations that we are to constantly expect as human beings. They are according to St. John: “…the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life….” 1 John 2, 16.

The lust of the flesh corresponds to the first temptation of Jesus of turning stones to bread. This is the temptation we face when our bodies begin to crave for carnal satisfaction in terms of food, shelter, beauty or pleasure. Although we have a natural and legitimate instinct for these desires, Jesus says: “Man shall not live by bread alone but every word that comes from God.” This means that the essence of life is not simply to satisfy our bodily desires lest we become no different from the animals in the field. The key to overcoming the lust of the flesh is FASTING. By consciously depriving the body of its cravings, we subdue its power over us.

As St. Paul teaches us in Galatians 5, 19 to 21: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit,  envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” These things characterise our lives when we simply grant the desires of the flesh without restriction. Going Further, St. Paul says: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5, 24. We cannot serve two masters! We are either ruled by the flesh or controlled by the spirit.

The second temptation is the lust of the eyes! Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, the beautiful things that life has to offer and said they would be his in exchange for his worship. This temptation is what we face daily in our insatiable quest for material possessions. We are ready to do anything to get rich so we do not mind worshipping Satan by disobeying God’s commandments. We steal, we kill, we tell great lies, we falsify figures, we prostitute our bodies… in short we do all manner of evils for money. Jesus said to Satan, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Worshipping God demands that we let go not just of what we have but the very desire to own things. Hence, the cure for this temptation is ALMSGIVING. By giving to others, we let go of the security money tends to offer us and we make God himself our security.

As Pope Francis teaches us, “A right relationship with people consists in gratefully recognizing their value. Even the poor person at the door of the rich is not a nuisance, but a summons to conversion and to change. The parable (of the rich man and Lazarus) first invites us to open the doors of our heart to others because each person is a gift, whether it be our neighbour or an anonymous pauper. Lent is a favourable season for opening the doors to all those in need and recognizing in them the face of Christ.”

The third temptation is the pride of life. Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and ordered him to throw himself down JUST SO THAT PEOPLE MAY SEE. Satan even quotes the Bible to assure Jesus that God will send Angels to protect him if he jumps. Again, this is our basic temptation, to make ourselves gods in the eyes of others. We want people to praise us, revere us and even worship us instead of God. We go to any extent to acquire power be it, political power to rule, demonic power to control people, or even occult power to perform magic and so on. Hear what Jesus says to Satan: “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

We tempt God whenever we try to be like him or replace him in our lives. Adam and Eve fell for this temptation because Satan said, the fruit will open their eyes and make them like God. We fall for this temptation each time we become proud. Pope Francis in his message for lent tells us that the rich man’s problem was pride. “The lowest rung of this moral degradation is pride. The rich man dresses like a king and acts like a god, forgetting that he is merely mortal. For those corrupted by love of riches, nothing exists beyond their own ego.” Pride is a rebellion against God’s authority and superiority over our lives, and the cure for this temptation is PRAYER. True prayer brings us down to our kneels; it is self-humiliation, it is the ability to recognise our nothingness before God.

In conclusion, therefore, we can see that with prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we empower ourselves against any form of temptation satan may throw at us and by so doing, we would finally gain our Freedom from the captivity of Sin. However, when we pray, fast and give alms, we must do so in the right spirit otherwise they become mere external show of religiosity and self-aggrandizement. 

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, endow me with the grace to overcome temptation always. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (First Sunday of lent. Year A. Bible Study: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19 and Matthew 4:1-11).

Fr. Abu.