Lent - Day Five - Temptation and Grace

Gospel	Luke 4:1-13 ©

The temptation in the wilderness

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

  Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

You must worship the Lord your God,

and serve him alone.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:

He will put his angels in charge of you

to guard you,

and again:

They will hold you up on their hands

in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’

But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:

You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

We arrived at the oasis late on Saturday night.  We tended the camels, put up our tents, and ate a wonderful dinner and sat around the campfire together.  Some of our number, myself included left the circle and went to the neighboring caravan where a party was being held and to say that we joined in would be the understatement of the decade.  The wine was flowing, the dancing was beautiful and after a hard day of labor, it was great to let loose.  That is where the problem came in for me.  My head was dizzy with wine and I saw her.  Her face was the face of the woman of my dreams, her nose was perky and her eyes shimmered in the light of the bonfire. Her movements to the music were like the moves the cobra uses to confuse and hypnotize his prey.  I was hypnotized and approached her.  She smiled at me and pulled me into the circle.   I began to move in time to the music always watching those dark, mysterious, shimmering eyes.  A shudder went through my body and I reached and touched her face with the back of my hand and felt cool, smooth flesh and I looked and her smile beckoned me to do more.  I had been in the company of bearded men now for five days and had not seen a woman in that time so I would have been interested in her even if she had a humpback, harelip, and smelled like a goat.  I was entranced.  She danced and I followed her every move and she got closer and closer to her tent and with a coy smile, she entered it.  I made the move to follow so as to sample the treasures this desert blossom would provide.  Then, something made me stop.  I was a married man, I had no right to sample the charms of this desert flower, the Master had explained how sacred was the bond between man and woman when they married that no one on earth could break that bond asunder.  I turned on my heal and ran from the party, the men sitting around who had been watching me laughed and pointed their fingers at me.  The vixen came out of the tent when I failed to enter and something made me turn and look at her.  I then saw that her beauty concealed danger.  And being laughed at or not, I made my way back to our caravan and with my head still spinning I took my place at the fire.  I noticed then that the Master was looking intently at me. He gestured to me and I came to Him and we adjourned to a private place away from the others.  We sat facing one another and I looked into His eyes.  There was no disdain or even judgment in them only a love that ran as hot as lava and as deep as the ocean.  I felt compelled by my conscience to tell Him everything that had transpired, how I had allowed myself to be tempted and how I willingly would have violated my wedding vows had I stayed at the party for even a moment longer.  He said this to me:

"My son, I understand what happened to you for I was tempted sorely by the devil himself after a fast of forty days.  He offered me food, power, and treasure and I can honestly say that for just a moment, I thought that I might accept a small piece of bread for I was very hungry.  But then I realized that should I do so, my mission here would be over because the devil would have won.  He quoted scripture to me, and I spouted it back to him.  Eventually, I wore him down and he departed in disgrace.  What you did, drinking until drunk and then allowing the devil to tempt you with a loose woman was sinful because you made the choice yourself to drink and to consort with a prostitute and you walked that path with full knowledge that it would have you away from God.  Your punishment should you have had to stand before The Father would be terrible.  But I, your Master, offer you forgiveness if you grant me your word that you are sorry."

Tears formed in my eyes and I told the Master that I was heartily sorry for all my sins and with help of God's grace, I would sin more and stay away from things that were sinful.  He said that "This is all that is required.  Go and sin no more. I absolve you of  all of your sins."

One of my companions who had accompanied me on the excursion to the party sat down next to me and told me how all of the men in the other caravan were laughing and wagging their head at me because I did not prove my manhood by entering the tent of the woman.  He said that he did and was going to regale me with what happened when he happened to see the Master looking intently at him, gesturing him to come and visit.  My friend looked at the Master and shook his head, left the fire and retired to his tent to sleep off the wine.  The Master sat back in His chair, visibly saddened.  I looked at him, He saw me, our eyes met and the universe was made a better place by His smile.  Tomorrow was Sunday, we would rest here at the oasis and no labor other than the preparation of meals and the tending to the camels would be undertaken.  Considering the amount of wine I had consumed, this rest would be needed and would be a good thing.  I fell onto my cushion.  I heard the voice of Samuel speaking to one of his fellow camels and then I fell into a restful and very deep sleep.

It Is God's Will

MARK 1: 40-45
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged  him and said,  "If you wish, you can make me clean."

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him, 
"I do will it. Be made clean."
Leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

We have no idea what it meant to be a leper in the time of Jesus. First of all, many different skin conditions could be considered leprosy some of which were not.  The people of the time thought that leprosy was very contagious and so a person with a suspected case was cut off from his community. He was fated to live a life outside the family that loved him and he was forbidden to even come close to the temple or synagogue and that for an observant Jew was the worst thing about the condition, he was cut off from Yahweh's people.  Worse than that, the common belief was that he was being punished for some sin that he or one of his ancestors committed so he was not the target for any sympathy from the populace.  

The leper in our story had heard of Jesus and how he had been able to cure some people. It was hard for him but he presented himself to Jesus and prostrated himself and said that if Jesus would will him to be clean, he would be clean.  Jesus was moved with great pity and noted the man's humility and faith and told him that it was His will that he be cured. The man was immediately cured and Jesus asked him not to make a big deal about it and told him just to make the required thank offering at the temple as Moses had commanded but the man spread news of his cure far and wide. 

There is a terrible disease that is affecting a lot of people today.  It is not a pretty disease and it ravages those that have like no other plague ever seen by man on this earth. It is a killer disease and is one-hundred percent fatal to those who refuse treatment for it, and many do refuse because they think that they are healthy.  The disease is self-righteousness which is afflicting many of us.  We have lost the sense of sin in our lives.  Some of us delude ourselves in thinking that our life is one in which we have defeated sin and we are blameless before God and man.  This spiritual myopia is a quite curable if we want it to be cured.  All we need to do is to take the medicine that has been offered by Jesus. For us Catholics, we need to sit back and examine our conscience after asking the Holy Spirit to reveal our sins.  An honest review is the first step. Our leper friend knew he was a leper when he approached Jesus, we must know and acknowledge that we are sinners as we approach Him.  Then what?  Do we pray to Jesus asking for forgiveness?  Sure, why not?  But we must not stop at this point.  We must, with all humility, face our sins, face to face with Jesus and His Church in the sacrament of reconciliation.  It is here that we receive the forgiveness of Jesus for sure and forever. Here too we receive the wisdom on how to avoid committing sins again, and it is here that we prayerfully express our sorrow and receive the forgiveness of Christ and His Church.  Why do we need the forgiveness of His Church? This is because no sin is committed that does not affect the Body of Christ in some way, shape, or form.  We sin in community and the community forgives us and we heal the brokenness of our relationship with Christ and His community. 

Confession? Is this really necessary?  Verbalizing our faults will make us own them and let us see we are not as perfect as we had thought ourselves to be.  We will begin to see us as God sees us and because we have humbly expressed our sorrow and asked to be made clean, just like the leper, we will be welcomed back into the community and we will take our place as a follower of Christ. 

Sin can be forgiven in the confessional and that restores the relationship between us and God. What remains is the effect of sin on our soul.  The poor souls in Purgatory are saved by Christ's death on the cross and will attain heaven. What they are doing in Purgatory is removing the attachments to sin that may be left on the soul. They need our prayers.  Please pray for them today. So many are there who have no one to pray for them.  Say this prayer for them today:

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”