February 21 Homily by Father Tom - Catholic Community of Jeffersonville ~ Saint Augustine and Sacred Heart Catholic Church



Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine Parish Website		Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine & Sacred Heart Homily by Father Thomas E. Clegg 1 Sunday Lent C St. Augustine Sacred Heart 2010 Luke 4: 1-14 Let me get this straight! Jesus…was led by the Spirit Into the desert To be tempted by the devil. I don’t know about you, but those lines seem strange to me, They seemed out of place. They cause me to ask a lot of question. Jesus… was led by the Spirit Into the desert To be tempted by the devil. Why was the Spirit leading Jesus into the desert to be tempted? Is temptation something good for us? Like exercise is for an athlete…it makes us stronger? And if temptation is good for us, then why did Jesus teach us in His most famous prayer, to say to God: Lead us not into temptation? Is temptation something that is good for Jesus, maybe even necessary for him, but something that we should try to avoid? You see, all these questions were going through my mind this week. And so when I started this homily, my goal was to answer those questions: I was going to tell you what temptations were. I was going to tell you why they might be necessary. I was going to explain to you ways to deal with your temptations. And I was going to tell you what role the Spirit plays in temptations. In short, as I began this homily, I was tempted to act like I had all the answers. And I even wrote that homily… had it pretty much finished and then put it aside yesterday (Friday) afternoon. When I picked it back up (earlier this morning) (yesterday morning) I wasn’t happy with it, because I realized that I hadn’t answered those questions at all. And so what I offer you now are not answers to those questions— As I was originally tempted to try to give you— But what I offer you now are just a few reflections about what is happening in the Gospel And what it might be telling us about the temptations that we all find in our lives. And the first thing we see in our Gospel reading is that temptations are tricky… Everything the devil tempts Jesus with appears to be a good thing. He’s going to give Jesus power…He’s going to give Jesus Glory. Indeed temptations are tricky…and we all have them in our lives. The temptation to eat when we’re on a diet… The temptation to drink when we know we shouldn’t… The temptation to procrastinate… The temptation to lie to our parents or our spouses…. The temptation to have an affair. Temptations are all around us. They’re like mirages that we encounter when we drive down the highway on a hot summer day. It looks like a puddle of water, but it’s not. Temptations are like that, they appear to be good things, but they’re not. And so that’s the first thing that our Gospel shows us: Temptations are those things that look, at first glance, like they are good for us, but in reality they’re not. Experience tells us that it’s easy to rationalize as we give in to our temptations: What’s wrong with having a few beers after work; I work hard; I deserve it… This really isn’t gossip, because I think it’s true. Why not have affairs, my wife doesn’t understand me And besides, I deserve some happiness in my life. Temptations are like mirages, but with a major difference. A mirage will disappear as you approach it on the road. Temptations do not. Ignoring that you drink to deal with your problems, Won’t make the drinking or the problems go away. Ignoring that you’re gossiping because you think it is true… First of all, doesn’t make it true, and secondly, even if it is, That doesn’t mean that it’s still not gossip. Ignoring the fact that you are searching for companionship, Because you’re afraid to talk with your spouse doesn’t make your marital unhappiness end. My friends, if we can learn anything from our Gospel reading today, Perhaps we can learn something from how Jesus deals with temptations. First of all, he doesn’t rationalize his way into accepting them Secondly, he confronts them head on. Jesus knows that temptations are not mirages. He knows that they will not disappear. He knows that they are real. And so he prepares for them…like a boxer training for a fight… He prepares for them with prayer and with fasting. Physically, he is weak, but the Holy Spirit is with him; And so spiritually he is strong, ready to stand his ground. The devil knows he’s hungry— How ‘bout a little bread? But Jesus stands his ground and faces temptation straight on… One does not live on bread alone. How about a little power, a little glory? But Jesus stands his ground and faces temptation straight on… You shall worship God alone. How about a little safety and protection? But Jesus stands his ground and faces temptation straight on… You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test. Just like Jesus, we too are faced with temptation And we might try to rationalize our ways through them, But deep in our hearts we know we can’t. We try to ignore them, but we know that only makes them worse. What we need to remember is what we learn from Jesus today. One, just as the Spirit led Jesus, so too does the Spirit lead us. Two, just as the Spirit helped Jesus to be stronger, so too will the Spirit help us. And Three, Confident that God’s Spirit is with us, we never face our temptations alone.

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