Considering who it comes from, what it’s meant to do, what in fact it does, and who we are, it’s any wonder we don’t succumb to temptation every time we experience it.
For sure, all kinds of ideas pass through our minds. Most of these thoughts come from us. We remember something we were meant to do, or someone we haven’t seen for a while. That’s the way the mind works. Certainly, this should be how we best understand distractions, say, in prayer: they’re just thoughts from our active minds, which we need to place somewhere before returning. Some ideas come from God; these we can call inspiration. And then there are some ideas which come neither from us nor from God; these we call temptation.
Temptation is a kind of thought which comes from the evil one, who is very interested in our choices. He knows all about our past and present; he uses that knowledge and mighty intellect of his to scheme against God. He is locked in a battle against God, and he means for us to be the spoils of his war: any soul he saps is one less soul God gets. Satan is the enemy we don’t love.
But the good news begins with knowing our free will is our own. Sure, we’ve completely lost the gift of bodily immortality: some day we pray not soon, we shall die. But we’ve not completely lost our free will: it’s weakened, yes, but it’s still ours. And if it’s weakened, then it can be either strengthened or further weakened by us.
This means we’re susceptible to temptation, but not necessarily dominated by it. Temptation will be stronger if we have more than a casual acquaintance with that area of sin. But thankfully, sin isn’t inevitable. Because we’re responsible for our actions, we can resist temptation and choose goodness instead, but we have to work for it.
The devil’s temptation therefore isn’t mind control: it’s an idea put before us of a possible bad action which brings some good, which is usually pleasure. For us to sin gravely and so ruin our souls, the devil needs us to want sin, to want the bad thing. But if sin appeared in our mind as only bad, we’d run far from it, naturally oriented as we are towards goodness. So, temptation is the ultimate wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing moment: temptation dresses up the bad action as something good, something which we want.
So, because temptations are ideas and our wills are weakened, we need to become stronger. We need to grow towards self-control. This is what Lent is for. And I have three suggestions for how we might grow towards self-control this Lent.
Firstly, go to confession. Please, come to confession. Having our sins forgiven takes them out of the hands of the devil as leverage for temptation. Confession gives us freedom from sin, freedom from being controlled by sin. Here at St Dominic’s, confessions are heard six days each week: there’s a curtain for anonymity and a card with all the prayers so all you have to remember is your sins. Please, please, come to confession.
Secondly, take up private penance. This is different from private punishment. Private penance is about forgoing something we can easily control so that we can do away with something we do not yet control. Do give some thought, not to what you’d like to “give up this Lent”, but what you’d like to give up altogether from your life, and work backwards to decide what to give up this Lent.
Thirdly, pray. The Apostle Paul has great advice about praying. Quoting the prophet Joel, he says: “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” I offer you the witness of my experience, that calling on Jesus’ name is effective when tempted. Remember, Jesus’ name means “God saves”: so, when we use Jesus’ name in prayer, we’re asking him to carry out his mission in us. A beloved, venerable tradition is The Jesus Prayer, which goes: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We won’t be without help when we’re tempted if we call on Jesus.
The Lord Jesus was tempted but did not sin. He died but rose from the dead. And he can help us therefore to rise up from our weaknesses when we’re tempted. This Lent and always, we entrust ourselves to him who resisted all-temptation and won out against the devil. May the name of our Lord Jesus be glorified in you.
Fr Paul Rowse, OP
Parish Priest