First Sunday in Lent A.   March 13, 2011.  Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30, 6PM.  Genesis 21:7-9, 3-7.  Romans 5: 12-19.  Matthew 4: 1-11.

Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong temptation can be. In fact only people who resist temptation know how strong they are.  A sure sign of weakness is that we give into whatever we are tempted to do and do whatever appeals to our senses and desires without thinking, struggling and choosing.  A good life and a moral life always involves struggle.  The moral sense of some people is so damaged and disfigured that disgusting sins involving killing, stealing or sexual infidelity and abuse are really not even temptations anymore. This kind of distorted conscience allows people to do whatever they want even when it does grave harm to other people.  We call a person without a conscience a sociopath. When we can do anything and everything that we want to do simply because we want to do it, there are no temptations; there are only new invitations to selfishness and doing whatever gives us pleasure.  Some of the people involved in our recent business scandals, sexual abuse scandals and terrorist activities would appear to be people who lack a functioning conscience. This is a very grave psychological disorder. God gave Adam and Eve the freedom to chose and decide in the Garden of Eden – Conscience is a gift that we should cherish and form in the ways of truth. True freedom is based on the ability to say yes to good and no to evil.  Whenever we say yes to evil we diminish our freedom because we have chosen to live outside of the truth.  Whenever we are out of sync with reality we have lessened our freedom.  The devil tricked Adam and Eve by twisting their consciences.  As a result our first parents damaged their relationship with God, lost the Garden of Eden and bulldozed their own personal freedom.

Temptations happen at two levels in our lives.  The first level of temptations invites us to choose between good and evil.  For the most part, this basic level of temptation is covered by the Ten Commandments.  We are not to kill, to steal, to commit adultery or to speak what is not true.  The Ten Commandments are the foundation of our entire moral life.  Keeping the Ten Commandments is not easy.  It is a struggle to choose good over evil with the help of God’s grace.  Some in our society and in our Church have gravely violated the Ten Commandments as scandals in business, sexual abuse and violence remind us.  Tricking us out of the Ten Commandments is the devil’s first strategy to destroy our freedom.  The devil works by getting us to diminish and rationalize the meaning of killing, stealing and adultery so that we can do what we want and just give it a different name.  The devil said to Eve, “Did God really tell you not to eat of any of the trees in garden?”  God said clearly what he meant – Eve was tricked into disagreeing with God.

The temptations of Jesus in the desert are all on a higher level than the Ten Commandments.   The devil tempts Jesus to make bread out of stones because Jesus is hungry.  This is not a choice between good and evil.  There is nothing wrong with working a miracle to make bread out of stones when Jesus is hungry.  Jesus sees this temptation as a choice between two good things, bread and the Word of God.  While it is not bad to choose bread it is much better to choose God’s Word.  Jesus says, “One does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  In choosing between two good things, the Word of God is clearly the best and highest choice for us. Jesus leads us from choosing small good things to great good things. Chief Federal District Judge John Roll was known for his devotion to studying the Bible.  He had just been to daily Mass, which was his usual practice, on the day that he was murdered in the attack on Gabrielle Gifford in Tucson. Yes, even in the world of government and politics “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  Is God’s Word the food that we seek most?

The devil tempts Jesus to jump off the tower of the temple to prove that God will protect him.  Jesus chooses simple trust in God saying “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”   Great displays of faith are not wrong and often needed. Recently I met two parents who have adopted several special needs children with simple trust in God’s provident care.  Simple trust in hidden things may be a higher value that a great public display of goodness.  The temptations of Jesus call us to do the better thing always.

The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms and all the power of the world if Jesus would worship him.   Success is not wrong.  Power is not wrong.  Wealth is not wrong.  In a world that often values success, power and wealth apart from God and even in place of God the response of Jesus to the last temptation of the devil is the most important.  Jesus said, “Get away from me Satan: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”  Thomas Moore, the Chancellor of all England and second in command to King Henry the VIII tried hard not to have to choose between earthly power and God.  When his conscience forced him to oppose the King he was sentenced to death by being beheaded.  Before he died St. Thomas Moore said, “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”  Thomas lost his head in loyalty to God just as Jesus died on the cross in solemn testimony to the absolute priority of God in his life.  “The Lord, your God shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”  The greatest and hardest temptation is to make anything or anyone – even the best in creation, come before God in our lives.

Our conscience is a great gift from God.  During Lent may we protect and educate our conscience so that we can live in true freedom.  May we follow Jesus in always reaching higher and in seeking God above all things.