When I was younger and through my seminary years, I had usually seen the crucifix and Jesus’ suffering on the cross in somber tones. It was my sin that put him there, that had made him suffer. The cross was something that compelled a silent reverence, and suggested to me that I meditate deeply on what Jesus had to go through. Perhaps, too, I would think of Mary and John and the other women beneath the cross, mournfully beholding Jesus slowly and painfully dying.
These were heavy and somber notes, but deeply moving themes.
In addition, the crucifix also called forth memories that I must carry a cross and go through the Fridays of my life. I needed to learn the meaning of sacrifice.
Liturgically I also saw the crucifix as a way of restoring greater reverence in the Mass. Through the 70s and 80s, parishes had largely removed crucifixes and replaced them, quite often, with “resurrection crosses,” or just an image of Jesus floating in midair. I used to call this image “touchdown Jesus” since he floated in front of the cross with his arms up in the air as if indicating a touchdown had just been scored. In those years we had moved away from the understanding of the Mass as a sacrifice and were more into “meal theology.” The removal of the crucifix from the sanctuary was powerfully indicative of this shift. Many priests and liturgists saw the cross as too somber a theme for their vision of a new and more welcoming Church, upbeat and positive.
A cross-less Christianity tended to give way to what I thought was a rather silly, celebratory style of mass in those years, and I came to see the restoration of the Crucifix as a necessary remedy to restore proper balance. I was delighted when, through the mid-80s and later, the Vatican began insisting in new liturgical norms that a crucifix (not just a cross) be prominent in the sanctuary and visible to all. Further, that the processional cross had to bear the image of the crucified, not just be a bare cross.
Balance Restored – I was (and still am) very happy about these new norms because they restore the proper balance in seeing the Mass as a making-present of the once-and-for-all, perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It is also a sacred meal, but it is the sacrifice that gives it its power. I further thought that such a move would help restore greater and proper solemnity to the Mass, and to some extent this has been true.
All of this background is just to say that I saw the Cross, the crucifix, in somber, serious tones, a theme that was meant to instill solemnity and sobriety, a meditation on the awful reality of sin and on our need to repent. And all of this is fine and true.
But the Lord wasn’t finished with me yet and wanted me to see another understanding of the Cross.
In effect, he wanted me to also experience the “good” in Good Friday. For while the cross is all the things said above, it is also a place of victory and love, of God’s faithfulness and our deliverance. There’s a lot to celebrate at the foot of the cross.
It happened one Sunday in Lent of 1994, one of my first in an African-American Catholic Parish. It being Lent, I expected the highly celebratory quality of Mass to be scaled back a bit. But, much to my surprise, the opening song began with an upbeat, toe-tapping gospel riff. At first I frowned. But the choir began to sing:
Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name!
Ah, so this WAS a Lenten theme! But how unusual for me to hear of the cross being sung of so joyfully. (You can hear the song in the video below; try not to tap your toe too much).
It was something quite new for me. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been, but it was. The 70s and 80s Catholicism that had been my experience found it necessary to remove the cross in order to celebrate. But here was celebration with and in the cross! Here was the good in Good Friday.
The Choir continued:
I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within; There at the cross where He took me in; Glory to His name!
Congregation and choir were stepping in time and clapping, rejoicing in the cross, seeing it in the resurrection light of its saving power and as a glorious reflection of God’s love for us. Up the aisle the procession wound, and the last verse was transposed a half-step up, an even brighter key:
Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in; There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean; Glory to His name!
Yes, indeed, glory to his name! A lot of dots were connected for me that day. The cross indeed was a place of great pain, but also of great love; there was grief, but there was also glory; there was suffering, but there was also victory.
Please do not misunderstand my point. There IS a place and time for quiet, somber reflection at the foot of the cross. All the things said above are true. But one of the glories of the human person is that we can have more than one feeling at a time. We can even have opposite feelings going on at almost the same moment!
The Balance – Some in the Church of the 70s and 80s rejected the cross as too somber a theme, too negative. They wanted to be more upbeat, less focused on sin; and so, out went the cross. There was no need to do this, and it was an unbalanced reaction. For at the cross, the vertical, upward pillar of man’s pride and sin is transected by the horizontal and outstretched arms of God’s love. With strong hand, and outstretched arms the Lord has won the victory for us: there at the cross where he took me in, glory to his name!
And the Balance is for the individual and for the Church. For some prefer a more somber meditation on the cross to prevail, and others feel moved by the Spirit to celebrate joyfully at the foot of the Cross. The Church needs both, and I suppose we all need some of both experiences. Yes, it is right to weep at the cross, to behold the awful reality of sin, to remember Christ’s sacrifice. But rejoice, too, for the Lord has won the victory for us, right there: Down at the Cross. There’s a lot of good in Good Friday.
Here is the song I heard that Sunday in 1994, sung in very much the style I heard.
I have often thought that the second greatest prayer ever written is the Universal Prayer attributed to Pope Clement XI. Most people have never heard of it. But it is magnificent. Its sweeping themes cascade like a fountain and it is comprehensive without being too detailed so that it loses its poetry.
So many themes are covered in its short verses: faith, trust, beginnings and ends, wisdom, justice, mercy, mindfulness, purity, repentance, journey, judgment, authority, greed, gentleness, generosity, apathy, fervor, prudence, courage, justice, temperance, fortitude, vigilance, and our last end, just to mention some.
If you are among the many who have never heard of this prayer, click here to see it:
And yet as I pray it, the prayer is so sweeping that I often feel overwhelmed by its sheer volume. It’s as though I am standing before an open fire hydrant with a little Dixie cup trying to capture the water. Most of it rushes past me.
So for Lent I have thought to pray this prayer every day but also to take one line and meditate on it in particular. Here is a version of the Prayer that I have numbered so as to focus on a particular line for each of the forty days:
I hope the Universal prayer will bless you as much as it has blessed me. Consider this practice. Print out the PDF files and use them when you can. I think you’ll find that the prayer provides a lot on which to meditate.
In case you would like the Latin original with a literal and poetic translation it is here:
The Gospel today says that Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the desert. Hebrews 4:15 also affirms: For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
How exactly a divine person, with a sinless human nature, experiences temptation is somewhat mysterious to us. And yet the text affirms that He does experience it. A Lenten antiphon from the Breviary teaches that he did this, or allowed this, for our sake: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering (Invitatory Antiphon for Lent). Hence, even without pondering too deeply the mystery of how he was tempted or how he experienced it, we can still learn what Jesus teaches us about how to endure temptation and be victorious over it. (More on the question of how Christ was tempted HERE.)
Before we look at each temptation, we might learn a few general aspects of what the Lord teaches us in electing to endure temptation.
1. Temptation and Sin – The fact that the Lord is tempted, but did not sin, tells us that there is a distinction to be made between temptation and sin. Too often the very experience of temptation makes us feel sinful, makes us feel that we have already sinned. But that is not necessarily the case. For Jesus, who never sinned, experienced temptation. Therefore experiencing temptation is not simply to be equated with sin. One of the tactics of the Devil is to discourage us into thinking that the mere experience of temptation is already sin. It may be true that some of our past sins influence the amount and degree to which we feel tempted, but, in and of itself, we need not conclude that we have already sinned, or newly sinned, merely because we are tempted. Rather than to feel shame and run from God, we ought to run to him with confidence and seek his help. But do not conclude you have sinned merely because you are tempted.
2. Temptation and Scripture – Notice how, to every temptation, Jesus responds with Scripture. This is not to be equated with merely proof-texting, or pronouncing biblical slogans. Rather we ought to see it as indicative of the fact that Jesus was deeply rooted in Scripture, in the wisdom of the Biblical vision. In rebuking temptation in this way, Jesus is teaching us to do the same. It will not be enough for us to know a few biblical sayings. But, to the degree that we are deeply rooted in the wisdom of God’s truth available to us through Scripture and the teachings of the Church, we are able to strongly rebuke unholy, worldly, or fleshly thinking. Half the battle to defeating temptation is knowing instinctively its erroneous vision and stupidity. Having our minds transformed by the teachings of Scripture and the Church is an essential weapon in fighting temptation. Scripture says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). Ephesian 6:17 also speaks of the Word of God as “the sword of the Spirit” with which we are properly armed for spiritual warfare. Thus, we are taught here by the Lord to be deeply rooted in his Word.
3. Temptation and Strength – Notice that Jesus is tempted three times, after which the devil leaves him. In a certain way the spiritual life is like the physical life, in that we grow stronger through repeated action. After lifting weights repeatedly, our physical strength increases and we are able to overcome increasingly difficult challenges. It is the same with the spiritual life. An old Gospel songs says, Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you, some other to win. Scripture says, Resist the Devil and he will flee (James 4:7). We need not conclude here that Jesus needed to be strengthened (he did not) in order to understand that he is still teaching us what WE need to do. The battle against temptation is not a “one and you’re done” scenario, but an ongoing battle wherein each victory makes us stronger and the devil more discouraged. Eventually, as we grow stronger, he stops wasting his time tempting us in certain areas. At times the battle may weary us, but in the long run it strengthens us. Jesus illustrates this with his threefold battle with Satan.
Having reviewed a few general principles, let’s look at the three temptation scenes.
Scene I: The Temptation of Passions. The text says. At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
Hunger, as a desire, is a passion. It is not evil per se, for without it we would perish. The same is true with other natural desires for things like life, drink, and propagation (sexuality). Other sorts of passion also exist in us such as anger and love, joy, aversion, hatred, hope, despair, fear, courage, and so forth. In and of themselves, these passions are neither good nor bad, but become so only in relation to their object, or insofar as we allow them to become inordinate.
Hence there is nothing wrong with Jesus as he experiences hunger. What the devil tries to do is to draw Jesus into sin by yielding to his hunger and using his power inappropriately. Remember, Jesus had been led into the desert to fast and pray by the Spirit. This is his call. His hunger is real and without sin, but now he is tempted to set aside his call, and to yield to his hunger in an inappropriate way, by rejecting his call to fast. He is tempted to serve himself. Now he has the power to do this, to turn stones into bread, and so a second aspect of the temptation is to use his power inappropriately, not to glorify His Father, but rather to gratify and serve himself.
What about us? We too have passions. And they are not wrong in and of themselves. But what can happen is that we freely allow them to become inordinate, or we gratify them in unlawful ways. Remember we, like Jesus, are called to fast. Our fast is from things like sin, injustice, unrighteousness, sexual impurity, unlawful pleasures, excessive indulgence, and so forth. And we too have it have it within our power to choose to reject our fast and to gratify our desires by rejecting our call to serve God. And the devil says: reject your call and use your power to gratify your passions: lie, cheat, steal, vent your anger, fornicate, be gluttonous, greedy… and so forth.
But notice how Jesus has recourse to God’s Word:Man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus says to Satan that He would rather live and be sustained by the Word; that his food is to do the will of his Father.
What about us? Can we say with Job: Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12)? Can we, like Jesus, say that God’s Word is more to me than my desires for satisfaction, sex, self-preservation, popularity, worldly joys, power, prestige, or possessions? My strongest desire is for God and things waiting for me in heaven, and I will gladly forsake all I have for it.
Scene II. The Temptation of Presumption – The text says, Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
There is a value in trusting God, but this is not an invitation to act recklessly. There will come a time when Jesus will throw himself down on the Cross in complete assurance that the Father will raise him. He has this command from his Father. But now is not that time and he must act to preserve and protect his life so as to accomplish his full mission.
For us, too, there is no sin in trusting in God’s care for us. But that is not a license to act recklessly. Presumption is a terrible problem today. Too many people think that they can go on sinning and that there will be, or should be, no consequences. This is true in worldly ways and in spiritual ways as well. Too many people engage in risky and ruinous behavior and figure, “I’ll be OK….I’ll escape….I won’t be a statistic….I won’t get caught….I won’t lose my job. Many say, “I can use drugs and not get addicted, I can have evil friends and still stay good and live morally, I can skip school and still get good grades and get into college, I can be promiscuous and won’t get an STD or AIDS….I won’t get pregnant. They think, I can drive recklessly and won’t have an accident or kill someone…I can be disrespectful and still be treated with respect.” In all this, people are simply “cruisin’ for a bruisin’.”
And regarding the moral presumptiveness of thinking that no matter what I or others do, heaven will still be the result, the Lord warns
Sirach 5:4 Say not I have sinned, yet what has befallen me? For the Lord bides his time. But of forgiveness be not overconfident adding sin upon sin. …Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day for mercy and justice are alike with him.
Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well‑doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.
Hosea 8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
Psalm 81:11 “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. “If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!
God is clear to warn us that sin sets us on a path that hardens our hearts and makes our final conversion increasingly unlikely. He is pleading with us in this Lenten season to be serious about sin and its consequences. Sin renders us not only unfit for heaven, but simply incapable of entering it.
Bad idea – Simply presuming that everything will be fine is not only a poor strategy, it is a temptation and snare of the devil, who seeks to cloud our minds with false hope and unreasonable expectations. Jesus has a very clear message for the devil and for any of us who would engage in presumption (a VERY common sin today): “Don’t you dare put the Lord your God to the test in this way. Obey him out of love, but do not put Him to the test.” Presumption is a very bad and foolish idea.
Scene III. The Temptation of Possessions – The text says, Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”
There is here the obvious temptation of worldly possessions. Everything, EVERYTHING, is offered by Satan to Jesus in exchange for a little worship of the devil. Now, it may seem strange to us that having an abundance of things would be linked to worshiping the devil and forsaking God, but scripture attests to the connection elsewhere:
Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Matt 6:24)
All pretty blunt. We want to have both, but the Lord is clear in rebuking the temptation by insisting that we have to serve God alone, to adore God alone. The inordinate love of this world causes us to hate God more and more and to bow before Satan in order to get it. Don’t kid yourself. If this seems extreme, then we are calling God an extremist. The Lord is warning us that there is a major conflict here that steals our heart. For where a man’s treasure is, there is his heart (Matt 6:21). It is not wrong to desire what we really need to live, but it is our wants that get us into trouble. And the desire for riches ruins us and makes God seem as a thief, rather than a savior. This is a very severe temptation and Jesus rebukes it forcefully. Him ALONE shall you serve.
We need to beg God for a single-hearted devotion to him. The Book of Proverbs has a nice prayer in this regard: Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest in my poverty I steal or in my riches I say “Who is the Lord?” (Prov 30:8-9 gloss).
In the end, temptations are real, and we either accept God’s grace to fight them, or else “we are going down.” The Lord wants to teach us today about the reality of temptation and how to fight it, by his grace. Remember, the battle is the Lord’s, and no weapon waged against us will prosper if we cling to God’s grace. But in the end, the choice is clear: either tackle temptation (by God’s grace) or risk ruination (by Satan’s “ministrations”).
(Photo credit above right: Evolutionary Times (right click on photo for URL))
This song says, Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you, some other to win. Fight valiantly onward. Evil passions subdue. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Ask the Savior to help you, comfort strengthen and keep you; he is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.
There was a tendency in ancient plays in Greece and Rome to introduce something that was called a deus ex machina solution (literally “God from a Machine”). For very often, the playwrights had concocted a plot so complicated, with so many subplots and difficult situations, that they themselves really couldn’t resolve the mess they’d written. Thus, “gods” (marionettes or actors really) would be lowered down onto the stage from above, using winches and other machines. These “gods” would simply and magically solve all the problems. Hence the expression deus ex machine has come in English to mean “a contrived or unlikely solution.”
Somehow, I thought about that as I saw the cartoon below. I also thought a lot about the mess that we’re currently in in our culture, and throughout the whole world. For where, really, aren’t things just an awful mess? Marriage, family, sexuality, and the meaning and purpose of life, are all confused. Social order, self-restraint, and any moral consensus, let alone the practice of virtue or even common sense, are becoming hard to find.
How are we ever to clean up this mess? The depth of confusion and increasing social chaos, along with base and reprehensible behavior that many actually celebrate, make it hard to imagine that we’re going anywhere, except to a very bad place, and with increasing rapidity.
Yes, it’s a little bit like the ancient playwrights of Greece and Rome who had written themselves into such a chaotic corner that they had to use fake gods to bail themselves out. As for us, only the one, true God can snatch us out of the quicksand.
In the cartoon below, there is a secret agent man who seems to think he has everything under control. But even as the cartoon opens, we can see he’s a bit foolish, unsteady on his feet, and can barely cross the street without getting killed. Let’s call this secret agent man “Modern Man.” He thinks he amounts to something, but he ain’t all that.
There comes into “Modern Man’s” life a pesky pigeon that he just can’t beat. Let’s call the pigeon “Consequences.” For all Modern Man’s gadgets and apparent smarts, the pigeon Consequences just keeps outsmarting Modern Man. In fact, it is exactly Modern Man’s technology that the pigeon, Consequences, is able to exploit. In effect, the pigeon hoists Modern Man with his own petard.
And though utter disaster is ultimately avoided by Modern Man, as the video draws to its conclusion the pesky pigeon is still there. He’ll never go away! Then comes a surprise ending, a kind of deus ex machina solution.
What does all of this have to say to us modern men (and women)? Well, very much like “Modern Man” in the cartoon, we too have been hoisted with our own petards. Despite our bravado and our prideful self-assurance, we ain’t all that. We can barely cross the road without getting killed. In other words, it is only by the sheer mercy of God that we have not annihilated ourselves with nuclear weapons, etc.
But like Modern Man in the cartoon, we are increasingly dogged by the consequences of our many bad choices. Like the man in the video that just can’t beat the pigeon, we just can’t seem to get away from the consequences that afflict us. And it is often our modern way of life and technology that are the very things that cause the greatest harm.
And while we have somehow avoided complete disaster, it becomes increasingly hard to imagine how we can ever get out of this mess that we are in. Yes, only a solution from above, only God, can save us.
How he will do it? I don’t really know. I am afraid that the only way I can see of pressing the “reset button” in a world gone mad would be for some awful calamity to happen that would so rock us back on our heels that we would actually have to start living ordered lives again.
But of course, I am not God, thanks be to God! God has in the past effected great reforms, seemingly out of the blue. For example, even as the Roman Empire crumbled in the 4th Century and the Church lost all of North Africa to the Muslims in the 7th Century, God worked the miracle that the Barbarian tribes of the north suddenly began to embrace Christ.
At another great crisis in the “Dark Ages,” when much seemed lost to plague and social disorder, suddenly people like Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic appeared on the scene. And later came St. Bernard, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross, ushering in great reforms in response to the Protestant Revolt. And when millions walked out of the Church in Europe, nine million came in in Mexico, through Our Lady of Guadalupe.
We can only pray that God will do it again; namely, effect a great reform, as if out of the blue. Lord knows we were in an awful mess emerging from the Satanic 20th-century. It’s going to take a miracle, or a calamity (I hope not), to reset and restore the modern world seemingly gone mad.
For the sake of Thy sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.
Anyway, enjoy the cartoon. It’s a good little allegory about a prideful secret agent who thinks he’s all that, but he ain’t; and how a little pigeon practically pecks him to death. Only a solution from above can save him from the awful bird called “Consequences.”
The themes of early Lent are pretty basic. The ashes of Ash Wednesday announce the simple truth that we are going to die, and thereafter we will face judgment. Hence we need to repent and come to believe the good news that only Jesus can save us.
The reading for Thursday after Ash Wednesday features Moses laying out the basic reality that all of us have a choice to make. He says to us,
Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom…
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. (Dt 30:15, 20)
So there it is, our choice: life or death, prosperity or doom. An old Latin expression says, Tertium non datur (no third way is given). We often like to think that we can plow some middle path. But in the matter of the last things, there is no middle path, no third way. Either we choose God and his kingdom, and then reflect that choice in all of our smaller decisions, or we do not.
To those who think that a middle path is possible, I would say that it is in effect the way of compromise, ambivalence, and tepidity. Walking such a path shows a lack of real commitment and a refusal to witness to Christ. These are not virtues that belong to God’s Kingdom; they pertain more to the kingdom of darkness. Jesus says, Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. (Matt 5:37). He also says, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matt 6:24)
So we are back to a choice: for the Kingdom of Light or for the kingdom of darkness; for the world and its ways, or for God and His ways. Do we choose to gratify the flesh or nourish the spirit, to serve Satan and his agenda or to serve Christ and His will and plan?
You are free to choose, but you’re not free not to choose. That is to say, you must choose. And if you think that you can go on simply not choosing one or the other, I’ve got news for you: not choosing is choosing the kingdom of darkness.
While it is true that many do not directly choose Satan, but rather indirectly choose him by following his ways, we are asked to directly choose God by accepting the gift of faith and basing our life on what the Lord commands. Faith is not some sort of “default position” we can have by accident. Faith is the supernaturally-assisted and transformed human decision for God and all that that choice implies. Faith is a gift freely offered, and one that we must also freely accept; it is a choice that will not be forced on us. And through many daily choices, we are called to reaffirm, by grace, the choice we have made for God.
So again, life is about choices: the fundamental choice of Faith, and all the daily choices that either affirm or deny the reality of our faith.
We live in times in which people like to demand free choice, but also like to evade the responsibilities that come with making choices. Moses goes on in the reading today to describe the fact that the choice we make for or against God will have consequences:
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. (Dt 30)
Yes, choices have consequences. And even little daily choices have the cumulative affect of moving us in one direction or the other, toward God and our goal or away.
Many little choices also have a way of forming our hearts. Deeds become habits; habits become character; character becomes destiny. Many little choices form our hearts, establish our character, and move us into one future or another.
And while it is true that sudden and dramatic conversions are possible as long as we are still living, it is more common that, as we make our journey, our hearts become more fixed, and our fundamental character becomes less and less likely to change. As we get older, it’s harder to change because that’s what choices do to us: they move us in a certain direction, down a certain path. And the further along that path we go, the less likely we are to turn back.
Therefore daily choices are important, and making frequent examinations of conscience and frequent confession are essential. Each day we ought to ask and consider the question, “Where am I going with my life?” If we go on too long living an unreflective life, it is easy to find ourselves deeply locked in sinful habits and patterns that are harder and harder to break. Thus frequent reflection is necessary, and we ought not make light of small daily decisions.
We live in times in which, to some degree, it is easier to insulate ourselves from the immediate consequences of many choices we make. Medicine, technology, social safety nets, etc. are all good things in and of themselves, but they do tend to shield us from immediate consequences, and they help cultivate the illusion that consequences can be forever evaded.
We also live in times in which, perhaps more than ever before, the community is often willing to bear the burden of many bad individual choices. Again, this is not in and of itself a bad thing, but it does become an enabler of bad behavior, and fosters the illusion that consequences can be avoided forever. They cannot.
Our own culture is currently under the weight of a colossal number of poor individual choices, ones that have added up to a financial, spiritual, moral, and emotional debt that we cannot pay. Sexual misconduct, divorce, cohabitation, abortion, STDs, the use of hallucinogenic and addictive drugs, the casting off of of discipline and parental responsibility, the rejection of faith and ancient and tested wisdom, rebellion, silence in the face of sin and injustice, greed, consumerism gone mad, factions, envy discord and on and on… all of this is creating a tremendous toll. The consequences are mounting and it is becoming clear that even the most basic functions of society such as raising the next generation, preserving order and stability, and ensuring the common good are gravely threatened.
And what is true collectively is also true for us as individuals. Lots of bad little choices quickly draw us into self-destructive patterns that get deeper and deeper. And without regular reflection and penitential seasons like Lent, we lose our way too easily! St. Augustine noted this in his Confession, in which he described himself as being bound, “not by another’s irons, but by my own iron will…For in truth lust is made out of a perverse will, and when lust is served, it becomes habit, and when habit is not resisted, it becomes necessity” (Conf 8.5.10)
Moses’ warnings are before us as never before.
Back in 1917, a beautiful and holy Woman (Our Lady) appeared to three little children. She explained that the horrifying war (WW I) was finally coming to an end. But, she warned, if people did not turn back to her Son Jesus and start praying, a worse war would ensue; Russia would spread her errors and great disaster would befall this world. Do I need to tell you what happened? Of course not! Any even casual assessment of the 20th Century would find it hard to conclude that the century was anything but satanic.
Life and Death, prosperity and doom. What will you choose? What will we choose?
Traditional Catholic theology has distinguished the “Four Last Things” : Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. We are admonished to meditate upon these things frequently. We WILL die, be judged, and spend eternity either in Hell or in Heaven (likely after some time in purgatory).
Beginning with the end, or starting with the last things, is, paradoxically, a good place for Lent to commence.
Regarding Death – All men are appointed to die once, and after that face The judgment (Hebrews 9:27) The video posted below is of a song by Johnny Cash on the topic of judgment. Here are some of the words:
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time,
run on for a long time
Sooner or later
God’ll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar, go and tell that midnight rider Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down.
We will all die one day, or as the song puts it, be “cut down.”
Regarding Judgment – Scripture says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5:10). And of the unrepentant St. Peter says, but they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5). And in Hebrews, For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearsome thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31). And of this salutary fear we should have of our Judgment Scripture says, Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13). And Jesus himself warns, But I tell you that for every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. (Matt 12:36)
Regarding Heaven – Heaven is our true goal, not all the other stuff we run after endlessly. The heart of heaven is to be with God, to look upon his beautiful and serene face and become fully alive with him for all eternity. As Scripture says, there is a deep longing in us for this look: My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I seek! (Psalm 27:8). This is really what our desires are all about: God, and the healing, fulfilling, and beatific glory of being in His presence forevermore, transformed by the Look and the glory of his love.
So glorious is this promise that it cannot be reduced to words; eye has never seen it, nor ear heard it. Scripture says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:2).
Jesus said to St. Catherine that if she ever saw the state of a human being fully alive with him in heaven, she would fall down and worship because she would think she was looking at him (Jesus). This is our dignity and our call. Heaven is beyond what we could ever imagine in its glory and beatitude.
Regarding Hell –The teaching of Hell bothers a lot of modern Christians who have had God’s love emphasized to the exclusion of just about everything else about God. For example, they have learned that He is Truth and utterly Holy, that nothing unholy can tolerate His presence, and so forth. No one loves you more than Jesus does, and yet no one warned of Hell and judgment more than Jesus did – in parable after parable, warning after warning.
God does want to save us all and have us live with him forever. This is clear in Scripture. But God has also made us free, and wants us to love Him freely and accept His invitation. This is His respect for our freedom.
And though everyone wants to go to heaven, it is a heaven as they perceive it. But not everyone wants to go to the real heaven, which is God’s Kingdom in perfection. You see in heaven, God’s Kingdom, there is love for the truth, love for chastity, love for the poor, love for justice, love for one another, esteem of mercy and forgiveness, and at the center, God himself. But NOT EVERYONE wants these things. Not everyone wants the truth, or wants to be chaste; not everyone wants to forgive and to love everyone. Not everyone wants God to be at the center; they prefer that spot for themselves or some other idol. Many people can’t stand to go to Church at all, or if they do, they want it to be as short as possible. If we don’t want to spend time with God here, what makes us think we will want to do so after death? If the liturgy is boring or loathsome to someone now, what makes him think he will enjoy the liturgy of heaven? And the Scriptures clearly describe heaven as primarily a liturgy of praise (cf esp. Rev 4-8) centered on God.
So God invites, but not all accept or are even interested in the real heaven to which God invites them. In the end, God respects our choice. This is why there is Hell; it is for those who do not want what the Kingdom of God is.
We ought to pray for a deepening desire for heaven. Death is on the way; sooner or later we will all be cut down. And the Lord Jesus will judge us, among other ways, by asking this question: “What is it that you want?” Do not think that we will magically change at that moment. By that time our choice for the Lord and his Kingdom, or for something else will be firmly fixed. Behaviors become habits; habits become character; character becomes destiny.
The Four Last things are actually a pretty good place to begin our Lenten reflections.
At the opening of Lent, Bishop Paul Loverde has written an important and encouraging pastoral letter on the disturbing and increasingly pervasive issue of pornography. The full letter was released today and you can read it here Bought With a Price
It is good to see bishops address moral issues with clarity. And Bishop Loverde surely does that here. There are many things I like about the letter but let me highlight a few things here.
1. We live in a culture that makes light of sexual sin in general, and pornography in particular. Many people speak of it as a victimless crime, etc. It is not. Producing and peddling pornography is a grave offense against human dignity and a complete distortion of one of God’s greatest gifts. Bishop Leverde is extremely clear on this point, drawing from both Scripture and the Catechism. He emphasizes very strongly that the peddling and use of pornography is a grave, mortal sin – a sin that severs our relationship with God. It must be repented of. For those who struggle with compulsive or addictive behaviors, help must be sought. The bishop is clear. Whatever one’s struggles, we must not go on calling good, or no big deal, what God calls gravely sinful.
Jesus says we ought to be more willing to endure serious bodily harm than to intentionally look with lust at another.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’e But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matt 5:27-30)
The good Bishop also uses other arguments and scriptures to strongly refute arguments that make light of the serious sin of pornography. It is good to read these strong teachings unambiguously articulated. Bravo!
2. While not failing to address all the faithful, he addresses the letter with a special emphasis on men. He does this not only because men are more prone to access pornography, but also because he summons men to leadership in seeking to protect their families from the great damage of pornography.
This approach comports well with my own pastoral experience. For though men can and do experience temptations to pornography, men also respond well as a general rule to being summoned to battle for what is right. Men do have a protective instinct that can be appealed to. Sadly, many in recent decades, in the wake of feminism, have shamed men for this instinct, or have sought to deny that it exists.
As a pastor and confessor, it is evident to me that the struggle with internet pornography has reached epidemic proportions. Many confessors struggle to know how to counsel those who are contending with compulsive and addictive tendencies. Among the approaches I use is to call these men to battle and to remind them that when they view pornography they are playing on the wrong team and lining Satan’s pockets with money. Even if they don’t actually buy it, each time they click on a site or picture they increase the page ranking for the site. And this increases its revenue.
To arms! Fight the good fight of faith. Do not provide recognition or resources for Satan’s evil design. Pornography is clearly a satanic attack on our families, on Matrimony, on women, and on children. It is a great darkness on our land. It must be resisted. Our families must be protected. Yes this is a great battle and the Lord is looking for some good soldiers strong enough to resist the tide. An old gospel song comes to mind: “I’m a Soldier in the Army of the Lord.”
3. Bishop Loverde makes good use of Scripture as well as sociological and natural law arguments. In the past I have read too many statements from the Bishops conference that make little or no reference to Scripture. About ten years ago the conference issued a statement on the problem of cohabitation and did not use a single quote from Scripture. When we have asked certain bishops about this they have indicated that since they are addressing the world, it is important to use sources upon which all agree. But of course the world includes Christians. I realize that using only Scripture may be less effective, but any document from the Bishops ought to quote “The Boss” from time to time! Bishop Loverde gets the balance right here.
Please take time to read the whole letter. There are many other good aspects in the letter such as a pastoral exhortation to priests, a message for parents, and a helpful study guide.
Some final thoughts from the Wisdom tradition, which we have been sampling in the Liturgy of the Hours, just prior to the arrival of Lent. The following two Proverbs from Ecclesiastes come to mind, along with some concluding advice at the end of that Book. These sayings seem especially apt for those of us who engage and struggle with our troubled culture, and they help us to keep things in perspective.
Do not in spirit become quickly discontented, for discontent lodges in the bosom of a fool.
We certainly do live in times that challenge our sense of well-being. There is much to lament in these times of broken families, confused sexuality, secularism, and greater hostility to the teachings of our holy faith.
And yet, in all of this, we must not yield to the temptation to become too sour. Or as the proverb says, we ought not become too quickly discontented.
At the center of every Christian heart should be a deep and abiding gratitude to God for his many, indeed countless gifts. Into every life, every family, every community, every culture, and every nation, there are admixed many beautiful blessings, along with struggles and hardships.
The proverb here warns us against “discontent.” The word comes from the past participle of the Latin word continere meaning to contain or hold. And thus to be discontented amounts to refusing to hold within us the joy and gratitude that we ought to have for so many rich blessings, even in the midst of difficulties.
Every day, ten trillion things go right and only a handful of things go wrong. It is no exaggeration to speak of ten trillion things going right when we consider that every aspect of every cell within our body, every molecule that makes up those cells, every atom that makes up the molecules that make up our cells; all those things are up and running and functioning by the grace of God.
And beyond our bodies is a vast ecosystem with myriad complex interactions such as photosynthesis enabling plants to produce oxygen for us to breathe, the Gulf Stream moderating our temperature, the Van Allen belts protecting us from the harmful radiation of the sun, Jupiter and Saturn out there catching comets, the Earth’s orbit maintaining itself carefully, a mere 3° from being a perfect circle, keeping our temperatures more stable. Our sun remains stable, unlike many other stars, and we live in a relatively quiet section of the Milky Way galaxy, free from the usual space debris that flies about in other areas.
And troubled though America is, people are still (literally) dying to get here. We drive on paved roads, have a functioning and reliable electrical grid, a stable government, and a good market system.
We ought to be filled with immense gratitude, with large doses of wonder and awe at the countless blessings that God bestows on us from moment to moment.
To become quickly discontented, and even more, to allow discontent to lodge in our hearts, is deeply foolish. It is foolish first of all, because it is so myopic. Refusing to see, or to reflect frequently on our manifold blessings is a kind of self-imposed blindness.
Consider a rich man who thought himself poor. Only a fool would close his eyes and refuse to see the millions he actually had in the bank. Why live poor and run from creditors? There is no one would not agree that a man of such resources claiming to be poor must either be blind, or a fool, or both.
So much more so for us who have even more blessings. And yet how easily we become discontented and negative.
Thus, even though there are things about which we must be very sober, there are also many other things about which we must be exuberantly joyful. Without this balance we are, as a Proverb says, foolish.
Do not say: How is it that former times were better than these? For it is not in wisdom that you ask about this.
Here too is an important caution for those of us who lament many things in these difficult days. We may tend to look to previous decades see them as more idyllic than they actually were. All ages have struggles particular to them, but they have blessings too. Some look to the 1950s with nostalgic affection but they forget the nuclear arms race, the Korean War, and the Cold War. The 1940s had the second World War; the 30s had the Great Depression; and the 20s was a time of rather widespread immorality and organized crime. The 1910s had another major world war. The 1900s was a time of great economic recession, and waves of immigrants were often made to live and work in horrifying conditions. And so forth with every decade going backward in time. But each of these decades also had its blessings.
The fact is, whatever strengths or struggles there were in the past, whatever strengths or struggles there are in the present day, we are living now. Accept your assignment with humility, and seek to influence positively the many difficulties faced in these current times. And do not fail to be grateful for the many blessings we have today such as medicine, technology, and many creature comforts that make life a little more pleasant.
Be actively grateful and gratefully active.
Finally, then, comes this word from Ecclesiastes, as we look to Lent and to essential goal of our life:
The last word, when all is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all; because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.
Yes, look to your own judgment. Have a healthy Fear of God and a sober appreciation for the fact that judgment awaits us all. Prepare for your own judgment and help others prepare for theirs, insofar as it is your duty to remind and prepare them.
If you have suffered injustice, or grow weary of these sinful times, remember God sees all and others will answer to God for what they have done if they have not repented. Pray that they do repent; for nothing will be unrequited and every idle word will have to be accounted for (see Mat 12:36).
Do not delay your own repentance either. Tomorrow is not promised, but judgment is.
Jesus our Judge says, For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. (Luke 8:17-18)
Jesus gets the last word!
This video is an allegory of a woman who rejects the offer of truth and order. Truth offers his friendship. After being rejected, he warns, admonishes, and offers again. But the woman’s rejection of truth persists and great is her ruin.
