Dear Friends,
On this First Sunday of Lent, we are asked to keep our eyes
fixed on Jesus as He is being tempted by Satan. Jesus had to struggle to understand how
wily the devil really is and to disentangle the half-truths artfully contained in
the three temptations. In fact, Satan offered appealing options to Jesus: food,
oversight for His safety, power over all that is desirable in the world. What’s
not to like? But Jesus saw through the enticements of Satan and resisted them.
This is the first time but not the last time we experience the
resistance of Jesus in the Gospel. Resistance
is the refusal to accept, be part of, grasp and take in what others presume to be
eminently valuable. Resistance recognizes and refuses to accept options that
are in conflict with our values, moral
principles and commitments and loyalties. As His public ministry
unfolds, Jesus chooses to resist His enemies, as well as well-meaning people
who want Him to do things their way. He resists the plaudits of the crowds, self-satisfaction,
the desire to be first or to have much. We’ll see much more of Jesus the
Resistor as He approaches His Passion.
For our part this Lent, let’s follow Jesus’ example by becoming
more resistant to the things that diminish us as disciples of Christ.
Like what?
In our search for a full life with Christ, resist being
limited by commonly accepted boundaries. Boundaries are often separations of
human making: race, nationality, gender, wealth. What boundaries are you
ready to resist this Lent?
Resist being other than who we are. It’s easy to
make-believe we have qualities we don’t. God accepts each of us as we are.
Shall we do in like manner?
Resist taking, but not sharing.
Resist despair and fear.
Resist authority that leads us down into the pit
instead of upward to life.
Strengthen your sense of resistance to temptation by eating
the bread of Life that God gives to nourish us. Mass on the weekend joins us
with the largest set of believers with whom we can unite, but if that’s not
possible, go to a weekday Mass, where the nourishment is likewise given. We
cannot resist alone. We cannot resist without dependence on God.
The good news of the Gospel comes at the end of this
passage, where it is said that at the end of 40 days, the angels came to
minister to Jesus.
That means that God is with us in our resistance to
temptation and sin and even in our temptation and sin. It means that God who
has created us so lovingly and has seen us as good, will not abandon us to our
quirks, our rebellious moments, to the beaten down aspects of our lives.
Finally, it means that Jesus is God for us and with us in
the hard, hidden struggles of our lives.
Take Jesus the Resistor by the hand and go with Him into these
Lenten days. Go on! Don’t be afraid! Emerge at Easter strengthened by the
convictions savored throughout your journey together.
~Sister Joan Sobala
