Living Catholicism

The temptation of the devil was three-fold: Physical need, spiritual overconfidence, and worldly power. So how do these applies to us?

Physical Need - The human person, bound to certain physical needs, can become dependent on those needs, can make those needs an end in and of themselves. Do not some of us long for certain material things? Materialism is a consuming beast that attempts to suck all of us in. We can find ourselves wanting the nicest, best things be it food, drink, cars, clothes, homes, etc. Do we possess our possessions or do we allow them to possess us? Can we say with Jesus:

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God - Mt 3:4

We must long for God's Word in Scripture and in the Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, the Word made Flesh. Do these hold sway over our lives or do our decaying material goods?

Spiritual Overconfidence - Are we reckless in our relationship with God? Do we deceive ourselves by saying "Oh I love God", but then live lives focused on the world, hardly strivig to grow closer to our Lord, hardly committed to the path of holiness. Think about...what has changed since last year? How much further along the way of the cross (Mt 16:24-25) are we? I gringe as I type these words knowing my own inadequacies, my own failings... It's a question of are we serious? Do we really love and long for God? Or do we take that step off the temple saying "All will be well..."?

Worldly power - This temptation is probably the one that most of us would say doesn't really apply to us. We tend to believe that it applies to those in positions of authority, but does it? This is something I ask young people preparing to go to college or beginning a new career..."What is your purpose?" Do we seek education in order to better understand, to grow in knowledge or do we seek it to advance ourselves in the world? Do we begin a career because we believe that this is the work God desires us to lay our hand to or because we stand to make the most money in doing it thus benefitting our earthly endeavors? It's a question of what drives us, what is our motivation...what is our God. Christ answers:

Begone, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." - Mt 3:10

My dear brothers and sisters, Lent is that time of serious probing, that time of checking ourselves? The desert is that place that removes from us the distractions of the world, the place where we can see the temptations of the devil for what they are...emptiness and dust. In our world today, we must strive to place ourselves in the desert with Christ...to answer the devil's temptations with Christ...to fast (i.e. give up) those things that we are attached to. Giving up little things, having ashes crossed on our foreheads, abstaining from meat, going to a penance service should all point us back to this reality. They all should renew in us that desire to serve God and walk the path of holiness.

Again, what has changed since last Lent? It's a question each of us must answer. Let us "hunger" for God as Christ does.

May Jesus Christ give us His Grace to love as He loves and to follow after Him. Amen.

In Christ,
Joe