Sunday March 13, 2011

The Temptation in the Desert

Father Rolo said in his homily today that temptations are only suggestions. Everything is only suggestions. Choices are different and those are all ours.

An idea I've been toying with loudly this past year is that, at the end of the day, all the things that excuse behavior are ultimately worthless. Because whatever trauma or neglect or just lack of love or being taught basic decency that you have, that only explains your bad behavior rather than excusing it. Because there's not a part of ourselves, of our past, that doesn't belong to us.

Our hungers, those things we think we need, are a part of us. Our compulsions and addictions are ours. I think this most of all is something Lent is supposed to remind us of. Now that there are not set proscriptions more than ever we are bound to examine our lives and eradicate those things that would make us break everything, if only those stone would become bread. Our addictions are not outside us. They are us. We own them. We are responsible for them. We will be held accountable for our actions concerning them. It is our duty to know that we have power over them, that they do not own us but we them.

Our ambitions, our aspirations and dreams, are a part of us. That one we know now a days. But the ways do not justify the means. The actions that we take, how far we are willing to go - those limitations and those impulses to push against them - they are also ours. Our ambitions and our ruthlessness belongs to us. They are us. We own them. Not they us. We are responsible for them and will be held accountable for our actions. We must know that we have power over them, that they do not own us but we them.

Our desire for power and glory, our fears, are a part of us. Every self-aggrandizing, even every selfish thought, belong to us. That tendency to have tunnel vision for what will bring us glory. To want everything. We own them. Not they us.

God is more important. God is stronger.

If we ignore and repress, we will think that our desires control us rather than the other way around. We can rein ourselves in, we can choose to look for good, we can harness our ambitions and channel them into God's service. We are responsible for that. For our actions. Because everything else is just a suggestion. We don't have to listen. We don't have to act on it. The choices are ours.

Lord God, may I always turn to You in times of crisis. Lord God, may I always choose Your will. Be with me, my Lord, that I may always know that I can overcome, as You overcame. With Your blessing, let me overcome that which would keep me from You.

And Lord, my God, please, bless and keep all those harmed by the tsunami. Protect them, however You can.