We all struggle with temptations

February 10, 2008 -- First Sunday of Lent

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What temptations do you wrestle with on a consistent basis? 2. Is idolatry a problem in your life? 3. Which of the words in the Lent lexicon are important to you?

So soon we are back into Lent. Our Lenten lexicon is filled with words that are mysterious and terribly significant: words like sin and temptation, mercy and forgiveness, death and life, transgression and acquittal, fidelity and disobedience, repentance and righteousness.

L e n t

Because the Lenten vocabulary is so rich and complex, we need many Lents to fathom the meaning of these words and realities. On the first Sunday of Lent, we do well to ponder just one of the words from our Lenten lexicon, that is, temptation.

Disobedience! The story coming out of the garden of Eden tells of that tree bearing knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps if we eat of that fruit, we will not die. Are we not all tempted to escape death and its apparent finality and absurdity? Yet we know the paradox that we come to fullness of life by dying to our selfishness. In yielding to the serpent, in becoming disobedient to this dynamic of dying/rising, the husband and wife in Eden now had to live with shame and guilt.

Satiation! The hungers of the heart and body are many. Perhaps if our pantries have enough food, our vaults enough money, our mind enough knowledge, we will be at peace. Turning stones into loaves of bread would seem to do the trick. One of the big temptations in our current culture is to take more than what we need. A missing word in our vocabulary is "enough." There seems never to be enough: enough pleasure, enough power, and enough wealth, enough praise. The grace needed here is that of discernment: to know when enough is truly enough.

Irreverence! Jesus' second temptation involved tempting God. Rather than embrace the condition of human nature with all of its limitations, perhaps one can be an exemption.

If we touch fire, we will not be burned; if we hate another, there are no consequences; if we don't pray, our relationship with God is not affected; if we throw ourselves off a parapet, angels will be sent to rescue us. God does not play games nor ought we. There is law of compensation that permeates the universe and the sooner we respect that law, the more reverence we show to God.

Idolatry! Even though we know the Ten Commandments and the prohibition against worshipping false gods, we all struggle to make God the center of our lives. The contemporary altars that call for a secular genuflection are many: the altar of money, the altar of fame and prestige, the altar of possessions (cars, homes, clothes far exceeding needs), the altar of pleasure and disordered sexuality, the altar of the ego. It is no surprise, therefore, that Lent is a season of repentance and transformation. Our call is to put God at the center of our existence and to evaluate everything from the divine point of view.

Each field has its lexicon, be it aviation, computer science, sociology, or cooking. Our Lenten lexicon contains words that, if understood and lived, have the power to bring us new life. May the angels who came to Jesus after his temptations in the desert, barge into our lives and lead us into the way of obedience and faith.

(Bishop Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)