Category: Liturgical Year A

March 1, 2020 – First Sunday of Lent

Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030120.cfm)

Homily

What are your experiences of temptations? Sometimes, students are tempted to watch their favorites tv series or play “Mobile Legends” rather than to study. As a result, a temptation to cheat during exams can be possible. Workers or employees are sometimes tempted to steal from their company or employer perhaps because of a need at home. Husbands or wives are also tempted and sometimes succumbed to the temptation to engage in extra-marital relationships perhaps because their relationship with their partner has become cold and sour. This could make a relationship unsatisfiable and emotionally toxic. Others are tempted and succumbed to alcohol and drug abuse or worst to commit suicide to forget or end their overwhelming problems.

There are still many kinds of temptations that we experience in life. Temptation, in the biblical understanding, means a “test” – that is of putting a person to a test. Temptation is also the urge or desire to engage into something that may have a long-term consequence. Thus, it is also inclined to committing sin.

But, we may ask, why would God bring us to the test? The common understanding in the bible is that, God tests His people to put them in situations that would reveal the quality and sincerity of their heart, of their faith and devotion. In trials, God strengthens their patience and hope, matures their faith and assures them of his love.

Though God allows trial and suffering but it is the devil who brings forth the suffering and pain. The devil’s intention is to bring people into hopelessness so that we may give up on God. The devil tries to deceive us to choose what is easy and what is naturally appealing to us, to make short cuts, and more reasons for giving up. 

As we celebrate the First Sunday of Lent, our readings today bring us deeper to understand better temptations and our attitudes towards our human desires. 

The first reading tells us of the experience of Man and Woman who were tempted by the devil and gave in to the temptation. They knew that it was forbidden to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and its punishment was death and separation from God. However, as they were tempted, the serpent engaged the woman into a conversation, which was actually the devil’s trick. In engaging into conversation with the devil, the temptation became more convincing and appealing to human senses. Indeed, the woman saw that the fruit was really good and will make her and the man, wise and to be like God. But then, the decision they made was actually a separation from God because of that desire to become gods themselves.

 Thus, as soon as they have realized that they have sinned symbolized by their nakedness, they covered themselves. They felt guilty and so hid their nakedness and of their sins from God. This tells us how sin and guilt destroy our integrity and intimacy with God.

However, let us also see how such temptation was treated by Jesus. The Gospel tells us that Jesus was alone in the desert but was filled with the Spirit of God and the devil came to tempt him in three different situations.

The first temptation of the devil was to turn the stone into bread. Jesus by that time was so hungry. He was so weak and so the devil used the weakness of Jesus to tempt him. This temptation was an offer to give in to the basic “human needs.”  It was a temptation to respond immediately for one’s “self-satisfaction.” Yet, the Lord understood well that his mission is not to satisfy himself but to do the will of God. Thus, Jesus chose to be hungry so that He too will experience how to be hungry and so will be able to fill hunger not just for food but for love, for affection and for God.

The second temptation was to test the goodness and faithfulness of the Father to Jesus. Jesus was alone in the desert and had surely felt loneliness and abandonment from God. This experience was used by the devil to tempt Jesus to test God’s faithfulness. The devil knew that Jesus had become insecure of what lies ahead. Being human, the future is always uncertain. But then, Jesus did not give in to that temptation to make certain God’s love and faithfulness by testing God to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. He showed the devil that there is no need for testing God’s goodness to be certain of it. He showed that true faith in God is to embrace trust and hope amidst uncertainties and doubts.

The third temptation of the tempter was to worship the devil instead of the Lord God in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world with their riches and power. Jesus has nothing, no material possession, and no influence. The devil knew this and that’s why the devil offered Jesus riches, power and dominance. However, Jesus chose not to worship Satan, not to worship riches and wealth, not power and dominance over others, not control and influence or independence from the Father. Jesus chose to be powerless and vulnerable like the poor, the sick, the dying and oppressed.

All those things that the devil offered were not necessarily bad or evil. To satisfy oneself, to be certain of our life, riches and material possessions are good in themselves.

However, these good things will be used by the devil to allure us and keep us preoccupied, anxious, doubtful, fearful and insecure; thus, keeping us away from the grace of peace that God gives us. That is why, when something preoccupies us and makes us anxious other than serving God, then, it comes from the devil.

That something could be our own hunger for attention, for love and affection, and intimacy, which is always directed for self-gratification. It happens when we immediately choose what is only comfortable and beneficial for ourselves without considering others or even at the expense of others. This will not lead us to God but to ourselves. 

That something too can spring up from our desires to be self-sufficient, the desire to exercise power and dominance over others, to become famous and successful. However, when our possessions, gadgets, work, our fame and name, career and ambition preoccupy our heart and mind, then, we allow the devil to work and control our life. 

That something too can also be our anxiety to be certain at everything about life. This anxiety can be very strong because when it occupies our mind and heart then we begin to lose our peace of mind and become doubtful of God’s goodness. We will lose our self-confidence because we become fearful in making mistakes and taking risks. The temptation lies in our tendency to be masters of our own lives, to be independent from God. This will not surely bring us closer to God but in fact, we choose to be isolated from the grace of God.

It is indeed a very good feeling to be served, to be self-sufficient, to have anything you need and want in an instant, to be praised, to be famous of what you did and of what you are doing. It is really a good feeling to be able to exercise influence and power over the inferior ones. But, then, all of these when they only serve the ego (self) and feed oneself, then, the self begins to be corrupt and will worship oneself or worship one’s gifts, success and influence, fame and power. We will tend to worship ourselves rather than God, the Giver of everything and the source of all riches.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus was actually led by the Spirit of God into the desert to be tempted. Jesus was victorious over the temptations because his chose life and hope not death and chose God rather than the devil.

The message for us today is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into our own deserts, to face our own struggles, difficulties and problems. We are called not to escape from our own difficulties and challenges in life but to face them with courage and faith. Like Jesus, we too are assured that the Holy Spirit is with us. Hopefully, we may discover and reaffirm God’s tremendous love and forgiveness for us in this season of Lent, to renew and transform us. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR

First Sunday of Lent – March 1, 2020

Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030120.cfm)

Homily

“What would you do if your boss offered you big amount of money and promised you a high-paying job and much better job position, if you only betray your innocent supervisor and bear false witness  against him in court for money-laundering?”, a priest once asked this question to his three friends. 

The first friend answered, “No, I will not take the money and the lucrative offer.” The priest said, “You are stupid foolish man.” The second friend retorted, “Well, Yes I will take the offer. I will not waste such special opportunity.” The priest said, “You are crooked criminal”. The third friend replied, “I really don’t know what to do? Will I overcome my evil inclinations? Or Will my evil inclinations overcome me to claim for myself what is not mine and to do what should not be done? I really don’t know. But if God will blessed and strengthen me to go against all my evil inclinations, I will not accept the money and offer of my wicked boss.   The priest then said, “You’re right, and you are a good wise man.”

Everytime we pray the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father”, we specially ask the Lord to lead us not into temptations in life. This is because in our experience, temptations are very real in life. Part and parcel of our daily struggles is to deal with temptations that comes our way in life, all the time challenging and testing our faith, values and principles in life. Nobody among us here can claim that we are never been tempted or burdened by temptations in life. Each one of us in one way or another, had dealt, have been dealing and still dealing with a number of temptations in our day to day lives. 

We might say that we have three ways or approaches in dealing with life-temptations: We may Get-rid, Get-into, or Get through temptations in life.

First, we may “Get-rid” of life-temptations. Whenever confronted with temptations, here we may resist, fight with and fly from these temptations. We do it on our own in overcoming our evil inclinations and the temptations. The priest called the first friend as “stupid fool” because he choose to deal with (get rid of) temptation on his own. He doesn’t know himself – believing that he is strong enough to resist and deal with temptation on his own. No one even saints, (except Jesus), has ever overpowered temptations in life. Usually temptations overcome us not because we are weak but because we are too proud to think that we are strong enough to overcome temptations. Getting rid of temptations is a stupid and foolish option. 

Second, we may “Get-into” the temptations. Whenever confronted, we just get into and allow ourselves to submit and be overcome by temptations itself. We do nothing ourselves but be corrupted by temptations – hurting not only others but also ourselves along the way. The priest called the second friend a “crooked criminal” because he opts to get into temptations – willingly claim what he is not due him, and do wrongdoing, without any qualms whatsoever. For such kind of men, temptations are opportunities for them to take advantage of others for their own benefits and glory. Getting into temptation is a crooked criminal approach to temptation. 

Third, we may “Get-through” of temptations in life. Here whenever we are confronted with temptations in life, we willingly face and struggle along with these temptations – aware that on our own we are weak and limited but also we steadfastly believe in God’s power with us to overcome such temptations. The priest praised the third as “good and wise” because he knows that like all of us, we are basically weak people. He hopes that in the midst of temptations, we will be strong enough to do what is right and our part. But he also knows that we can only do this with God’s help and strength, and we are most willing to ask and pray for God’s help. He knows that in dealing with life-temptations, there is always a struggle-within as well as reliance in God’s help. Getting through temptations is a good and wise option in dealing with life-temptations. 

Easy for us indeed to fall into temptations. The biggest problem in dealing with temptations is our lack of self-knowledge, our lack of recognizing and overcoming the evil within ourselves. We struggle with the evils of others and in our society but the toughest struggle is to acknowledge and overcome the evil within our own selves, the evil in our own hearts. We were born with conflicting goodness and evil within. That is why we can be good and can do good, but not easily, since there are always tensions and struggles within ourselves. Moreover, we can only withstand these difficulties, if we are wise enough to rely not only in our strength but in God’s help and power. 

If we think we can overcome these life-temptations and evils only by and through own strength and power, we are surely wrong and are doomed to failure for we don’t have the power and capacity to resist temptations. But like Jesus, if we are wise enough to acknowledge and ask for, and rely on God’s help, strength and will, surely we can overcome evils and temptations in others as well as within ourselves.

Notice Satan mainly tempts us in life in order to prove to God that we don’t care about God and others but only care about ourselves. Temptations usually happen then whenever we only care about ourselves, not about God and others. But by our faith and reliance in God’s help and power over temptations, we prove Satan wrong and proclaim our Love and Care for God and others. 

In praying then to God not to lead us into temptations, we pray to God to guide us through not in getting rid or getting into but in getting through life-temptations because we care less about ourselves, but we care more about God and others in life. 

Father, lead us then not into temptation.

Shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR – a Filipino Redemptorist Missionary in South Korea