At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1). As Adam and Eve were tempted, so Jesus experienced the temptations of Satan, the serpent, the father of lies, the accuser, the slanderer. Satan and his demons seek division and we dismiss the reality of their presence at great risk. On the other hand, we often give them more power than they deserve. Jesus was tempted directly by Satan himself, but unlike Adam and Eve, he did not succumb. Jesus remained grounded in the will of his Father, in the knowledge of his Sonship, and this is why Satan had no power over or was able to sway him.
Jesus could have dismissed Satan, yet he endured his temptation to teach us “how to triumph over temptation” (St Augustine 1976, 87). By our baptism and calling on the name of Jesus, we to will overcome Satan. The weakest Christian is more powerful than Satan because he or she can call on the name of Jesus. This is not some magic incantation, but when we call on the name of Jesus, he, in the fullness of his humanity and his divinity, is present with us. God has given Jesus the name above every other name so that as his word is spoken, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth (cf. Philippians 2:9-10). Just as a floodlight shines in the darkness, the darkness gives way to the light. This is even truer with Jesus. Where Jesus is present there is love, such that no fear or evil can remain.
I had a dream some time ago, some decades have passed since, but it is still just as vivid. I was sitting on a couch on the first floor of a house. The scene shifted as I witnessed myself from above sitting on the same couch and then my view was redirected to the attic. I spied a misshapen, dark figure rummaging through old boxes and newspapers. Typing this, I can still hear the rustling in my ears. This figure embodied pure evil. I was petrified as I felt the depth of evil present and then I was back in my body, sitting on the couch, and I knew this creature was now moving out of the attic and coming down the stairs to the room I was sitting in. My heart was pounding as I heard its steps drawing closer. I was frozen in fear. In a few more moments, he came into view. What I saw was not the misshapen figure in the attic, but a well groomed man. As he continued closer my fear increased, I knew he was the same creature, and I was afraid he was going to touch me. Then a hymn came to mind. He stopped the moment I began to sing, my fear began to dissipate, and I woke up.
Evil tends to present itself as an apparent good, as normal, and appears safe. Otherwise, we would reject the temptation outright. Satan and his demons are active through whispers and nudges, they look for our weaknesses and through the same tactics as peer pressure, seek to inject their poison and manipulate our actions. I am not talking about possession here, I am just talking about their divisive influence. The most dangerous evil is the one masked in faith. Someone who can speak the verses of a Bible and quote chapter and verse does not a Christian make. The devil can do the same thing as we saw in today’s Gospel from Matthew when he tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the parapet of the temple.
To call on Jesus through his name is one thing. To know Jesus is not just a historical figure of the past, to know and to build our relationship with him is a different matter. As I shared, calling on the name is no incantation to ward off evil. When we call his name, we invite him to be with us. The more we do so, the more we recognize that he is already here, just waiting for us to invite him to help, to guide, to expel Satan and his minions from our midst.
This Lent we are invited daily to examine our conscience and assess honestly who we are serving. As with the Parable of the Talents, we cannot sit on our hands and do nothing like the wicked servant. That is the most effective tool Satan has, that he can influence us to do nothing, to be indifferent in the face of the dehumanization of the person in all of its forms. Another horror is when we rationalize what we know is unacceptable in ourselves as well as others, such as giving in to the temptations of gossip, prejudicial, and/or divisive talk, that lead to actions, such as the centurions who placed a robe and crown of thorns on the bloody, scourged body of Jesus and mocked him.
May we see this icon of Jesus, scourged, bloody, wearing a crown of thorns, and mocked in our minds eye whenever we are tempted to or justify anyone who would, even in the smallest of ways, belittle, demean or degrade the dignity of another person, through thoughts, words, and/or actions. We need to remember St. Mother Teresa’s Five Finger Gospel – “You-Did-It-To-Me”: what we do to the least among us, we do it to Jesus (cf. Mt 25:35-45).
We need to resist the temptation of beating ourselves up when we have sinned, when we have forgotten the truth that we are God’s beloved daughters and sons. Beating ourselves up is a lie. May even appear good, but doing so keeps the focus on us not God. We are still caved in upon ourselves instead of opening up to the love and forgiveness of God and one another. God does not define us by our sin and our worst mistakes. As Pope Francis has said, God never tires of forgiving us, we tire of asking for forgiveness.
Jesus shows us the way to defend ourselves against Satan’s temptations. When we are tempted with disordered pleasures, let us fast, for: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” When we are tempted with pride, a disordered self-love, putting ourselves in the place of God, let us not put “the Lord, your God, to the test” but instead pray and trust in Jesus. When we are tempted with grasping for possessions, seeking happiness in them, remember we do not worship things: “The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” Let us give alms to release our attachments to the material.
We need to assess our day, our thoughts, actions, and words with the Holy Spirit honestly and humbly. Thank God and be grateful when we have chosen to follow Jesus, and acknowledge and repent when we have placed ourselves or something or someone else before Jesus or given into temptations of the enemy. We leave less room for the enticements and temptations of Satan when we seek our security not in ourselves, but in our relationship with Jesus. This Lent let us fast to free ourselves from disordered pleasures, pray to turn away from pride and back to God, and give alms to trust in God alone so not to be possessed by the things of this world.
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Photo: Quiet moments like these helps us to breathe, pray, and remember who we are and whose we are.
Quote from St. Augustine in The Liturgy of the Hours. New York: The Catholic Publishing Co., 1976.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 