First Week of LentATTRACTIONS LEAD TO TEMPTATIONS!Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Mathew 4:1-11 Good morning dear friends in Christ Jesus! How are you all?
Can I ask you a question? What is the meanings of attraction?
Have you seen any attractive things, or person in your life? (Because)
Attractions lead to temptations!
What is the meaning of an attraction?
Dear friends, we all know that, magnets always attract the iron. In the same way every human being has magnetic powers within themselves to attract others either positively or negatively. When this magnetic power works simultaneously between two persons or things then there is positive growth but when the magnetic powers works subjectively (only one side) then it ends in negative results. For example: iron and magnet works simultaneously then there is a positive attraction.
Just imagine, today is your wife’s birthday. You are taking your wife to a shop to buy a saree. The shop keeper shows different designs of sarees, if the Sarees does not attract her she will not buy. Is it not? On the contrary, if one particular saree attracts her very much and she wanted to buy that Saree. But at that time, you say, this saree is too costly, I do not have enough money, so let us buy next month. Then there will be two kinds of responses. 1. Knowing the family situation, if she buys for the less cost then there will be joy to both of you. On the contrary if she demands you to buy only that saree then you have to find any wrong ways and means to buy that Saree at what cost. Is it not true? So dear friends, in the beginning there was only an attraction towards saree and the attractions turns into a temptations and finally the temptations results in committing sin. In the same way towards money, power, position, fame, name etc.
Dear friends, love is a contagious word which all of us know. When I start loving my neighbour at the same time when my neighbour too loves me then we become good friends. Today though we have not seen each other, or spoken to each other yet we all of us have so many friends in Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. How? It is only because of the magnetic power of attractions. When I write or post something in Facebook it always attracts my friends either positively or negatively. Thus attraction plays very important role in every human being. As the philosopher Aristotle says that man is a social being. Since he is a social being either he/she is attracted or he/she attracts somebody all through his/her life.
Dear friends, Today we are in the first week of lent. And this first Sunday’s liturgy invites us to reflect how all our attractions are turned in to temptations. And how, the temptations separate us from the love of God and our own neighbours.
Do we have temptations? Are the temptations holy or sinful?
Dear friends all of us have temptations. Including the God-man Jesus too was tempted. The book of Hebrews 4:15 we read that ‘Jesus was being tempted in every way as we are yet did not sin’. Secondly, by nature temptations are not sinful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that temptation is an attraction, either from outside of oneself or from within. Therefore, by nature temptation is not a sin. Rather temptation is tool to test the holiness of the person like Gold in the furnace. But if you yield to temptations then you commit a sin. Hence, though Jesus was tempted but he did not sin.
Who gives temptations? God or Satan?
First and foremost we must understand that God cannot tempt people. In the Letter to James 1:13 we read that “God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one”. Also Satan also cannot tempt people St. James in his letter 4:7 he says that “submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. When the devil flees from you Devil cannot tempt you. Therefore, neither God gives the temptations nor the devil gives the temptations. Then who is the case for temptations? Our desires are the cause for the temptations and the temptations come from our own desires. Example: James 1:14 “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire”. Galatians 5:16 we read that “do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (the desires of the flesh are fornications, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, envy, drunkenness, etc). Thus, desire is a cause for all our temptations.
How the human desire leads to sin:-
How the human desire leads to sin, is beautifully narrated in today’s first reading of the creation story. God took time to create everything beautifully. And God saw that His creation was so good. After seeing the goodness in every creature including the tree which was forbidden by God, He placed a man in the Garden of Eden and said “you may freely eat of every tree of the garden” Adam and Eve were happily living their life in the garden. They visited, round about the garden, climbed the tress, ate the fruits of the tress, thus, they enjoyed the beauty of the garden. Also they saw God, they spoke to God. Life was so good in the Garden. Though they were happy in the garden yet their desire was rounding around only the forbidden tree; (how the wife’s desire was rounding around the attracted saree). Thus, we understand that, attractions leads to temptations.
As we read in the book Genesis 3:6 that “when the woman saw that the forbidden tree as good for food, and it was delight to the eyes and that tree was to be desired to make one wise etc”. Dear friends once if you desire for a particular thing or person even if God says it is not good, it is very difficult to change the mindset of the person. This is what happened to Adam and Eve also it happens even today in our life situations too. For example; just imagine if the boy or girl attracted to each other they will never mind the words of their parents. In the same way when God said do not eat the fruit of the forbidden tree yet their desire was so strong. Hence, they tempted to eat the forbidden fruit and their sinful life begins in their lives.
Usually people condemn others for their sinful acts and find difficult to accept that they are sinners. This also we see in the first reading when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and committed sin against the Lord they were not able to accept their mistakes rather they begin to condemn each other; Adam says “the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruits of the tree and I ate” also Eve says “the serpent beguiled me and I ate”. Thus by committing sin we feared about the punishment of God. So it is difficult to accept that we are sinners. Attractions and temptations are unavoidable in our life, we have to face and overcome it.
According to the evangelists there are three kinds of temptations that every human being undergoes in his/ her life. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). Adam to Jesus all were tempted based on these three kinds of temptations. And for every sin that we commit will be preceded by at least one of these temptations.
Lust of the Flesh
The human flesh gets attraction towards some form of physical pleasure from some sinful activities. It involves all type of sinful activities that will bring pleasure to the body. For examples the lust of the flesh may include the following factors like Sexual sins, Gossip, Physical violence, use of Drugs (pills, cocaine, alcohol, etc.) also St. Paul gives us a beautiful example of the works of the flesh in his letter to Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are plain Adultery, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, envying, murder, drunkenness,” etc. Hence, with our own flesh we commit so many sins.
Lust of the Eyes:-
The lust of the eyes is that the temptation to look upon things that we should not look upon, In other words, it is to cast our eyes upon something with desire or pleasure, even though God has told us not to look upon those things. In the gospel of Mathew 6:22 we read that ‘the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is not sound your whole body will be full of darkness’. In the 10th commandment God says that “thou shalt not covet”. Covet means to have a strong desire to have something that rightfully belongs to someone else. For example; the story of King David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:2). Thus, the lust of the eyes gives desire and desire gives temptations and temptations leads us to sin.
Pride of Life
The pride of life is that sinful temptation of greediness for things, power, position etc. Pride itself is one of the sins that God hates most. It is this sin that made Lucifer (the beautiful angel) turn into Satan (the adversary). This sin also includes like: Desiring to get credit or glory for things that others (or God) did, Desiring for others to worship us or hold us in excess esteem, to make a name for ourselves, Desiring to feel valued or more important than others around us, desire to power over others etc. This is what happened to Satan himself, who was so filled with pride that he wanted to become like God: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14).
Therefore, every sin we commit on this earth will involve at least one of these three temptations. Also we could see how Satan used all three temptations with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and with Jesus in the New Testament. Eve yielded to the temptations, yet Jesus resisted them:
Eve’s Temptation by Satan:-
As we read in Genesis 3:6 ‘when the woman saw that the tree was good for food’ (lust of the flesh), and that ‘it was pleasant to the eyes’ becomes a (lust of the eyes), and a ‘tree is to be desired to make one wise’ which shows the (pride of life), finally after encountering these three temptations Eve took the fruit and ate it also gave to her husband; and he too ate it. (Genesis 3:6).
Jesus’ Temptation by Satan: -
In today’s gospel we read that the tempter came to Jesus and said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones to become bread” (lust of the flesh). But Jesus answered to Satan, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.
Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down: for it is written, He will give his angels charge of you: and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone” (the pride of life). But Jesus said to him it is written again, “you shall not tempt the Lord your God”.
Again, the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them (the lust of the eyes) and said to him, “All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me”. But Jesus said to Satan: “for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:3-10).
So dear friends, basically we must understand that God created to taste the delicious food. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a delicious meal (we have to eat in order to live), but gluttony is a sin. God also created sex. There is nothing wrong with enjoying intimacy with your spouses, but adultery or fornication is sin. There is nothing wrong with looking at beautiful things. All the more by nature everything is beautiful because God saw everything is good. But when we lustfully look upon things that God has commanded us to avoid, such as pornography, other people’s spouses, or other people’s possessions etc. it becomes sin. Finally, there is nothing wrong in having greater ambition or desiring to work hard. However, in course of time our ambitions and work etc. becomes our first priority and God becomes a second place. Thus we encounter the pride of life.
So dear friends, as we have begun the Lenten season, let us reflect our own life situations. Because attraction lead us to Temptations and the temptations leads us to commit sins. If you say I am attractive then remember either you are going to tempt others, or you will be tempted by others. So dear friends, during this Lenten season we make so many penances, prayers, sacrifices etc. Today I like to give one way to practice our own penance. As a human being we cannot avoid attractions or temptations. But we can overcome our own temptations like Jesus. Therefore, try to list out the ways how you can overcome your own attractions and temptations and how can you connect yourself to God.
Attractions lead to temptations!
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