February 18, 2024
Jesus in the desert. Adam and Eve in the Garden. We, every day. The evil one is always attacking us. What should we do?
Key Points
- Jesus reveals Satan’s tactics.
- The evil one is powerful, astute and cruel.
- We need to be sober and humble.
- Temptations are not sins.
- By trust in Jesus, with Mary, we can overcome him.
This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable. It has not been verified by the author.
“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert. And he remained in the desert for 40 days, tempted by Satan.” One of the great services that Jesus is rendering for us here is exposing the presence of satan. Satan is almost always trying to hide himself, because he’s more dangerous when we’re not aware of him. And so Jesus, by doing this through this Gospel, Jesus is exposing his presence to us. And that’s one of the things I think that’s happening in our world as the presence of satan becomes more evident in our world. One of the things the Lord is permitting, is that his presence be exposed. And many people who are cooperating with him be exposed, because they’re feeling very confident, they feel that their triumph is coming. And that is helpful, because we need to realize the presence of the evil one. It’s striking that, of course, that it’s even, even to Jesus and even, and, and that the satan comes to attack. And one of the things that reminds us is that satan, even in holy places, can come to tempt and to attack, like in the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Eden, which was a very holy place that God had created. And yet the serpent came there. And even, you know, for instance, here at our little mission, that the evil one is always trying to tempt and to attack. And even, for instance, even there in the desert, which was free of – the monks, in the early centuries, they went out into the desert to be away from all the distractions and seductions and all the other junk of the world. But even there in the desert, satan came to attack Jesus. And so that’s good to remember that even when we’re maybe making a special effort, maybe to pray, to go to adoration, to go to Mass, we can be discouraged because I’m trying to do this holy thing and I have all these ugly thoughts that are coming to my mind. And we say, well, people think, well, what’s the use of even trying to do this, because with all these thoughts that come into my mind, but on the contrary, those temptations, in some ways can be a good
sign that the devil is very concerned about what you’re doing. And so he’s trying to attack you, especially when you’re trying to do things that are good and holy things like praying. And so don’t give into discouragement. But on the contrary, be prepared, that when we make those spiritual efforts, that’s the time in which he’s often going to attack us. Particularly because we can sometimes think, well, I’m trying to follow Jesus, so now things, now the devil will leave me alone. But on the contrary, it’s when we’re, the more we’re seriously trying to follow the Lord, the more the devil is, needs to attack us, because we become much more dangerous to him. And another thing that’s striking, of course, Jesus in the desert, that’s a challenging time. And He’s not eating, eating anything so physically He’s getting, it’s harder, He’s weaker. And so that’s also another important lesson about the temptations of the evil one, that he attacks us most in our most vulnerable moments. He has no sense of fair play, you know that, you know, don’t kick a man when he’s down. On the contrary, the more we’re in a vulnerable situation, the more he sees his opportunity, so to be aware that when we’re in vulnerable moments, that also the evil one tries to sneak in, in these moments to separate us from the Lord. So St. Peter, we had a reading today from St. Peter, the first letter of St. Peter, and this is from another part of that same letter, where he says, “Be sober, be watchful,” because he’s telling us what to do in temptation. He says, “Be sober, be watchful, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” So he said to be like a soldier on guard duty. That’s not drunk, not distracted. We’re in a dangerous situation, unfortunately, here in this world, we’re in a dangerous situation. And so we have to be aware of that. We have to be alert, paying attention, like if a person is drunk, then like if a soldier is drunk, then he certainly can’t do his guard duty, and it’s very easy for the enemy to penetrate, if the soldier is asleep also. And so we need to be alert. due to the presence of the evil one. And with humility. St. Peter talks about him as a roaring lion. And that makes us aware of our weakness, our weakness, our spiritual weakness and our ignorance, the devil is so much more astute than we are so much stronger. And so if we think that we can resist them by our own efforts, by our own capacities, we’re a very easy prey for him. But if we humbly recognize that our faith is in God, then that gives us strength so that we don’t have to be afraid of him. If we trust in the Lord, we recognize that the devil is stronger than us, but he is no match for God. And so that frees us from excessive fear of the enemy because his power is great, but it’s limited. And his time is limited. And I think that’s one of the reasons that things are becoming so intense these days, because he knows that his time is limited. God has permitted him in God’s mysterious design a certain time, but as time has grown very short, and so we’re, I think, reaching the latter stages of that. And so that’s why the attacks are becoming so intense. And so this gospel also reminds us that temptation is not sin. Temptation is not sin, it’s an invitation to sin. And the thing is, when we’re tempted, we often feel very contaminated. Because these thoughts come into our mind, and we feel very, very contaminated. But if we don’t consent to those thoughts, there’s no sin. Just the fact that bad thoughts come to us, is in itself, not a sin. It’s an invitation, and it’s also an attack. And the Psalms, a lot of the language of the Psalms is language about battle. And the Roman catechism interprets this language of the Psalm, as above all about our spiritual battle, it will, for instance, where it says, The Lord in the Psalm, it says,
“The Lord teaches my hands to fight.” And so that’s, above all, about the spiritual battle that we’re in. St. Paul speaks of this battle when he says, in Ephesians, six, “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” So not the strength of our mind, and the strength of His might, “be strong in the Lord, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may stand against the wiles of the devil, because we are not contending against flesh and blood.” So we’re not just fighting against human powers. And that’s what’s going on in our world today in all the different domains of our world. It’s not just fighting against human adversaries. But it says St. Paul says, “against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness, in the high places.” So against the spirits of darkness. And that’s always important for us to realize that, oftentimes behind the human opponents that we’re aware of, there’s this much more dangerous component. And so temptations I said, are a battle. And oftentimes, in those temptations, we only look at it at our falls with very discouraged by the time that there’s some things that we’re tempted by over and over again. And maybe we fall many, many times. But the thing is also that we don’t look at our victories because each time there’s a temptation, it’s a battle, it’s an opportune moment of choice. And each time we turn to the Lord, that’s a victory. And so, for instance, if we’re spending hours to say like you’re trying to pray, and it just seems like you spend a whole hour constantly battling temptations, and that can seem very discouraging and pray well, that prayer was no good because I Oh, I’m just struggling all the time with all these temptations. But on the contrary, that prayer might be very valuable to the Lord, because of all the victories that you’re winning for him. Each time you turn to the Lord when you’re in temptation, you’re winning a victory. But what about when we fall in temptation? Because we all do. And so I think that there’s two key things, I say this a lot, but it’s good to remember because – I haven’t done Judo but I think that in judo that you’ll learn to fall and to fall and also maybe to get back up very quickly – And so it’s important for us to note what we do when we fall, when we fall spiritually. And so first is one thing is to just to make an act of humility just to recognize humbly, the truth of our fall, because already that is putting us back in the truth. And so that’s already helping us to get back on our feet. So an act of humility to recognize our sin. But then the second thing is even more important, which is an act of trust in God’s mercy. He knows much better than we do, how difficult the struggle is, He knows much better than we do, how extreme are the attacks that we’re being subjected to today. And so He has great mercy, infinite mercy for His children. And so He wants us to trust in His mercy. That’s why He’s given us, especially for this time, the great message of Divine Mercy. Because when we put our trust, one of the good things about this situation of having fallen, is it helps us too, it helps break through our pride. Sometimes I think that’s the reason the Lord permits our struggles is to break through our pride, of thinking that we can handle this by ourselves. And so when we realize that I’m weak, but instead of putting, instead of being discouraged, because I experienced my own weakness, I put my trust in the Lord, then that can be an opportunity for great growth, putting our trust in the Lord, because that’s the key to the victory over satan. And that’s what St. John says, in his first letter, what wins the victory over satan in the world, he says, our faith, our faith in Jesus. And so, I just quoted you from the first letter of St. John. But now also St. John, in the great book of Revelation
says, “Now is salvation come and strength in the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb,” the very blood that we receive here in the Holy Eucharist. He’s talking about the statement, his army says, “They shall make war with the lamb, but the lamb shall overcome them.” The lamb, Jesus, the Lamb of God, the very lamb that we hear, proclaimed, right before Holy Communion, Behold, the Lamb of God, that’s the lamb, who will triumph over the power of satan. And so this mass is an opportunity, to turn to Jesus, and that’s why it’s that we have that that image there, especially during this time of lent, it’s an opportunity to turn to Jesus, to look to Him, not relying on ourselves, but on Him. And I’ve often said this, that in a difficult moment, of great confusion and complication, and agitation, we need something very simple. We need a very simple instructions. And that very simple instruction is Jesus, Jesus, to turn to Jesus, even just repeating the name of Jesus is so powerful. So like, Jesus asks us to be like a child in those vulnerable moments, to not try to win the battle by ourselves, but to turn to Him. And so this is emphasizing the New Testament, shows us the power of faith. So St. Peter says, resist the devil, this roaring lion, resist him firm in your faith. So what is faith? Faith is trusting in God’s power, not mine. So that’s how we resist the devil, by putting our trust in the Lord. And St. Paul, in that passage of Ephesians says, when he talks about taking the whole armor of God says that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And we’re living this evil day right now, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So to resist in this battle, he says, taking the shield of what? The shield of this, what does St. Paul say? The shield of faith – “the shield of faith with which you can quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” So flaming arrows. So that’s a very strong way of putting these attacks of the evil one, the way he’s attacking us, and what is going to be our shield against those attacks. He says, the shield of faith, faith in Jesus. So that’s not easy, right? It’s not easy sometimes to have faith, to trust. The devil attacks our shield. But this shield is very powerful if we use the shield, it’s very powerful. And we have a great example of our Blessed Mother, the woman clothed with the sun, who crushes the head of satan, by her humility, and her faith in Jesus. And so that’s another great help calling on Jesus and calling on Mary. And St. Louis De Montfort says, “the devil, in a certain sense, has even more fear of Mary than he does of Jesus. Because to be defeated, by a humble creature, is even more humiliating for his pride than to be defeated by God Himself.” And so to call on Mary. So, in conclusion, be sober; St. Peter says, “Be alert, be sober and alert.” But he says, but not afraid, and not discouraged, alert, but not afraid or discouraged. Humbly recognizing our weakness, but putting our trust in Jesus, with our Blessed Mother, we pray, Jesus, we trust in You. Amen.
KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Mark 1:12-15