Triumphing Through Temptation

I know a priest who did a retreat in the desert of North Africa at Tamanrassat.  He had a deep experience of God beneath clear skies, in the vastness of open space.  He told us about his spiritual joys, but also about dryness in prayer and trials of spirit. 

We may not often have such heightened awareness, yet the story strikes a chord in our hearts.  It also reflects today’s Gospel.  We are all conscious that our mind can err, our will-power is faulty at times and we tend towards what is wrong; while also we’re capable of greatness.  All this is traceable to the story of the 1st reading and the original sin of our First Parents.  St Paul in the 2nd reading offers healing in our salvation by Christ.

Jesus’s own trials in the Gospel show a light to guide us.  He’s tempted in the desert after his long fast there.  The temptations occur in the three major areas that also come our way:  to seek personal glory, to desire excessive possessions, and to satisfy illicit wishes.  Christ chooses the way of God in each case.  We are called to do the same. 

Prayer, being on guard, avoidance of evil situations (where possible), love of Eucharist and Reconciliation, kindness, and self-discipline are among the great remedies of temptation.  Scripture and the saints show us the way. 

‘Let us keep vigil with our heavenly Lord, in his temptation and his fast.’

(from Lenten hymn of St Gregory the Great)

Fr. Eamon Flanagan, C.M. 

10th February, 2008