Temptations


(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)


As we are aware, schizophrenia causes a person to see things that are not really there. To the person who is schizophrenic the delusion is just as real as the reality, so distinguishing the two takes a lot of determination and effort. There are many profound insights that may be gleaned from Mr. Nash’s courageous life. The way in which the movie depicts Mr. Nash’s struggle to say “no” at every moment of his life to schizophrenic delusions, which hound him, personifies the battle that each one of us engages in in our fight against the temptations to sin. These are a part of human life. Temptations wake up with us each morning, share our working day, invade our family life and sit perched on our pillow, so to speak, when we return to sleep.

Like John Nash, we must identify the “spiritual delusions,” the temptations to evil and sin in our lives. As Christians, we are called not simply to recognize temptations and learn to not pay attention to them; rather, we are called to overcome and dispel them through the power of Jesus Christ. Msgr. James Turo writes in the February issue of Magnificat: “A formula for banishing temptation, drawn from the example of Christ [is] no dalliance whatever with the suggestion of evil; it is to be summarily put aside. ‘The devil comes without invitation, but leaves only when commanded’ (W.E. McCumber)” (p. 255).

Genesis chapter 2 recounts for us Original Sin. Sin is essentially the assertion of our will over God’s. Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden not so much to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden as to doubt and disobey God. This is the disposition we have inherited as the children of Adam and Eve. We must daily choose God’s way or our way. Adam and Eve chose their way, not God’s.

St. Paul in Romans chapter 5 compares the choice and its effects of the first Adam with the choice and its effects of Jesus Christ, the “New Adam.” Each day brings us many opportunities in which we, like Adam and Eve, like Christ, must make choices, must decide. Perhaps the basic temptation facing us as contemporary Catholic Christians is this: shall we live life on our own terms, or shall we live life on God’s terms? Shall we give way to temptation in our lives, or shall we resist and live the Christian life? Shall we choose to focus on ourselves alone: our way, our wants, our dreams; or shall we live as a member of the Body of Christ in unity and communion? If we live self-centered lives, then prayer, penance and almsgiving, the three works of Lent, find no place in our lives. Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God, and, therefore, an expression of our growing intimacy and love, our true dependence upon God. Penance is an expression of self-discipline and inner freedom. By becoming more self-disciplined, we become free enough to break away from selfishness, pride and other evils in order to choose generosity, service of others, and giving of self. Almsgiving and charitable acts are a deliberate turning away from self to focus on the needs of others.

Lent is that time of year in which we live more intently the way that we should, as Christians, be living all year long. The word “Lent” originates from the old English word for spring, because Lent is a time for new beginnings, growth in love of God and neighbor, rediscovering who we are as a son or daughter of God, and reaffirming the responsibility each one of us accepted at baptism. The season of Lent is linked to the events which are described in Matthew chapter 4. After His baptism in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert.” He remained in the desert praying and fasting for forty days. At the end of this period of prayer and fasting, the Evil One appeared to Him and tried to tempt Him in the very same areas in which we are tempted: desiring selfish pleasure, hankering after esteem, and exchanging love for power. Like Christ in the desert, we must use all of our strength to overcome the temptations offered us by the Evil One.

Yes, Lent is a 40-day retreat in which we, like Christ, pray and fast in order to be strengthened to overcome temptation and to come closer to God. Lent purifies us from our earthly attachments and allows the power of the Holy Spirit to surge in and through us as it did through Jesus.

Perhaps for most of us, the most mature kind of restraint that we can impose upon ourselves during Lent would be to wrench ourselves away from the insistent demands of everyday life and spend a few moments each day thinking about God and the implications for our lives of his love for us. There is no better way than this to manifest the conviction that everything does not depend on us. And he who cannot spare a few minutes for reflection and contemplation is surely convinced that everything does depend on himself.

The season of Lent is upon us! The universal Church is on retreat. We are on retreat. We leave the world for a time, like Jesus, to spend time with God and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us use this time to take stock of the spiritual delusions by which we are tempted, those lies of Satan we have believed, and resolve to return wholeheartedly to God. Today we have a choice: shall we observe Lent or shall we ignore it? You and I have to decide. I encourage each of us to decide to make this season of Lent a true springtime in our lives: a time of new growth, a time of new life, and a time of new beginnings. Let us choose life — life and freedom in Christ!

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Bp. Paul S. Loverde is the bishop of the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia.

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