{"id":3340,"date":"2013-04-17T23:29:52","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T22:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=3340"},"modified":"2013-04-17T23:31:06","modified_gmt":"2013-04-17T22:31:06","slug":"3340","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=3340","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Reflections from The Archdiocese"},"content":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday of Lent (17.03.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

GROUNDBREAKING\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Political warfare made to look like religious righteousness is especially hideous.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, contemporary events bring home to us, with clarity, a Gospel truth. On the 5th. Sunday of Lent, (17th. March) we read St. John\u2019s account (8:1-11) of \u2018The Woman Caught In The Act of Adultery\u2019. Recently the media reported a 15-year-old girl in the Muslim Maldives islands being sentenced to a public flogging of 100 lashes for \u2018fornication\u2019. The report revealed that the girl had been repeatedly raped by her stepfather and another man. There were no reports of civil action against the men who abused her.<\/p>\n

The men who detained the woman caught in adultery in John\u2019s Gospel were repugnantly self-righteous. They carried with them the stones they intended to use to kill the adulterer \u2018in the name of God\u2019. The intended entrapment of Jesus was a bonus, but you cannot entrap the truth. Truth is powerful. It can reach through sophisticated prevarications to a person\u2019s core. \u201cLet the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone at her,\u201d was Jesus\u2019 truthful response (John 8:7) to the attempted entrapment.<\/p>\n

Jesus did not deny the woman\u2019s adulterous guilt. He demanded that her accusers acknowledge their own guilt in parallel situations. His message is clear. We can only condemn others after we\u2019ve first eradicated everything in our lives worthy of condemnation. Who knows what we\u2019ll discover in our own lives once we stop concentrating on other people\u2019s misdeeds? We could actually be led to repentance instead of insisting that others repent.<\/p>\n

Just as it cannot be entrapped, truth does not resort to entrapment. Jesus\u2019 words were received in silence. It says something about the core goodness in human nature, specifically in this Gospel extract relating to the scribes and Pharisees that they heard, accepted and acted upon the truth, on this occasion. The consequence was groundbreaking as it reverberated under the impact of so many stones being dropped. It was an audible sound.<\/p>\n

Had today, 17th March, not been a Sunday, the Church would have been celebrating the Feast of St. Patrick. His missionary life, too, was groundbreaking.<\/p>\n

What St. Patrick brought to Christianity is sometimes trivialized with stories about shamrocks and snakes. How many thank St. Patrick each time we experience the healing calm of God\u2019s forgiveness through private confession and private penance in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?<\/p>\n

In the late fifth century, going against all contemporary church regulations and practices, St. Patrick instructed his priest monks to give private penances to members of their monasteries when they came for spiritual direction. Up to that time, all confessional penances had to be carried out in public. The severity of the penance made public much about the penitent.<\/p>\n

According to Church law, this meant that after someone performed his or her public penance, they could never again receive Church forgiveness for their sins. This regulation led many, like St. Augustine, to delay their baptism until late in life, keeping open their once-in-a-lifetime confessional forgiveness.<\/p>\n

Without Patrick\u2019s innovation of personal penances, peoples\u2019 growth in faith could easily have been choked. Thankfully, common sense prevailed. No one seems to have seriously challenged Patrick\u2019s drastic change in Church practice and regulation. It worked, so it was kept. This Sunday\u2019s first reading reflects the frame of mind all true followers of God should either have or acquire. Through his prophet Isaiah, God says:<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember not the events of the past,
\nthe things of long ago consider not;
\nsee, I am doing something new!
\nNow it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
\nIn the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.
\nWild beasts honour me, jackals and ostriches,
\nfor I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland
\nfor my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself,
\nthat they might announce my praise.\u201d (Isaiah 43.16)<\/p>\n

Today we are living in historic times. A Pope resigns and there\u2019s a clear anticipation that his successor as Bishop of Rome has to be a man of deep faith, a man capable of innovation as well as a pastor of compassion and firm management. To those who voluntarily \u2018take up their cross and follow\u2019, God extends on-going formation in true love. Jesus learnt, as he lived here on earth, how Isaiah\u2019s prophecy was being fulfilled. Jesus\u2019 \u201cKingdom of God\u201d preaching ministry resulted in his death \u2026 and Resurrection.<\/p>\n

Isaiah\u2019s prophecy also underlines the words of St. Paul in this Sunday\u2019s 2nd. Reading (Philippians 3:8)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor his (Christ\u2019s) sake I have accepted the loss of all things
\nand I consider them so much rubbish,
\nthat I may gain Christ and be found in him,
\nnot having any righteousness of my own based on the law
\nbut that which comes through faith in Christ,
\nthe righteousness from God,
\ndepending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
\nand the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
\nif somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

St. Patrick believed that God continues to be at work in the present in the same way that God had worked in the past. The authors of our Readings for this Sunday, were they to be among us now, would probably tell the Church to develop new methods of ministry, as the old ones aren\u2019t working. Jesus sends his Holy Spirit to lead God\u2019s people down uncharted paths, inviting them to open formerly unopened doors, often because the doorways themselves were either unknown or overlooked.<\/p>\n

Jesus and St Paul and St Patrick \u2014 help us to see new ways of looking at and judging human relations, new ways of ministering in communion with, as well as to, others. From Paul\u2019s letters, the Gospels and from the practice of St. Patrick, we learn that the discovery of the \u2018new\u2019 has never stopped, even after Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. If it had stopped, only Jews could be Christians today, and confession would still be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Could it be that young people today are not attracted to a Church that emphasizes more the preservation of past customs and antiquated procedures than the development of a living faith in Jesus of Nazareth?<\/p>\n

Jesus always laid emphasis on the sacred and irreplaceable value of each individual. While on earth, Jesus would never have countenanced subordinating an individual\u2019s value to protect the good name of an institution, even were that institution to be his embryonic Church on earth. The will of the Ascended Lord is no different.<\/p>\n

Assembled for worship we pray, \u201cI confess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters\u2026 \u201d A more accurate reflection of our mindset might be, \u201cI confess (with no shortage of excuses) to almighty God and I accuse you my brothers and sisters\u2026 \u201d When St Patrick opened the door for private penance he showed a pathway to those Jesus addressed: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u201d (Matt 11:28) The Lord placed no limit on the number of occasions when we might call upon him for forgiveness. The only requirement is that we be genuinely contrite with a will to amend our ways. A contrite person has no interest in casting stones!<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone \u2026 \u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4th Sunday of Lent (10.03.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel we hear again the age-old story of the prodigal son \u2013 so packed with food for thought and reflection.<\/p>\n

Prodigal means wasteful. Most of us can be guilty of being wasteful where God\u2019s grace is concerned. We can misuse or even hide, ignore or deny his gifts to us. We can squander life\u2019s opportunities for good.<\/p>\n

Thankfully and fortunately for us, God is prodigal with His forgiveness!<\/p>\n

Consider the case of the younger son in this parable. His sin was the height of selfishness, ingratitude and irresponsibility, for which he paid a big price. Heretofore, having lived in the lap of luxury in his father\u2019s house, he now finds himself alone and destitute in a foreign land – having squandered his whole inheritance – being hopelessly exploited by his employer.<\/p>\n

In such degradation he comes to his senses, realises the enormity of his sin, and how he has hurt and disappointed his kind and loving father, and overcome with shame, remorse and guilt, he decides to return home.<\/p>\n

It took a lot of courage and humility to come back \u2013 knowing well what people were thinking and saying about him since he left, and aware that he did not deserve to be called a son, but was quite willing to be accepted as a servant. Who could describe the unfathomable joy of that moment of reunion and reconciliation between father and son and the ensuing royal celebrations!<\/p>\n

What about the elder son and his reaction to this incident! How would we feel in his shoes!
\nWorth pondering\u2026..<\/p>\n

As for the father, who in turn goes out to meet and plead with this son to \u201cbury the hatchet\u201d and \u201c let bygones be bygones\u201d re. the young repentant offender, and to come in and join the celebrations.<\/p>\n

How sad to discover that he has now lost his elder son, who has lived all these years dutifully faithful, reliable and hard-working, never giving an ounce of trouble, but who is now unable to accept the magnanimous generosity and love shown to this waster of a brother of his. He is ridden with resentment and anger, and cannot find it in his heart to forgive either of them.<\/p>\n

If we look more deeply into our own hearts, we might find qualities of each of the three main characters in this story competing to shape our lives.
\nLet us always remember that no matter however or how often we may stray, our heavenly Father\u2019s door is always open and the light on to welcome us back with outstretched arms, as soon as we humbly acknowledge our guilt and \u201dcome back to Him with all our heart \u2013 not letting fear keep us apart\u201d.<\/p>\n

The following appendage \u2013 by an anonymous author \u2013 might appeal to some:-
\nThe prodigal girl:<\/p>\n

Great poets have sung the beauties of home, its comfort, its love and its joys,
\nHow back to the place of its sheltering dome I welcome the prodigal boy.<\/i><\/p>\n

They picture his father with pardoning smile, and glittering robes to unfurl;
\nBut none of the poets thought it worthwhile to sing of the prodigal girl.<\/p>\n

The prodigal son can resume his old place as leader of fashion\u2019s mad whirl,
\nWith never a hint of his former disgrace \u2013 not so for the prodigal girl!<\/p>\n

The girl may come back to the home she had left, but nothing is ever the same;
\nThe shadow still lingers o\u2019er the dear ones bereft, society scoffs at her name.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why when the prodigal girl gets lost on life\u2019s devious track;
\nShe thinks of the lips that will scornfully curl, and hasn\u2019t the heart to come back.<\/p>\n

Yes, welcome the prodigal son to his place; kill the calf, fill the free-flowing bowl;
\nBut shut not the door on his frail sister\u2019s face \u2013 remember, she too has a soul.<\/p>\n

3rd Sunday of Lent (03.03.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The Light of Life<\/b><\/p>\n

For humans, life without light is unimaginable. People in developed nations take 24\/7 illumination for granted. We are accustomed to light coming from the sun\/moon or from a manufactured source. There is another light source that originates within us. This light is incalculably powerful because it is the presence, within us, of God, the Holy Spirit. Others can sometimes see God\u2019s presence in us more easily than we can see Him present in ourselves. Unlike sun\/moon or manufactured light, this interior light neither burns nor dazzles nor mesmerizes. Its speciality is revealing to us \u2018The Truth\u2019.<\/p>\n

This interior light can only be effective within us when we have made an enduring choice, a commitment, to seek \u2018The Truth\u2019. In other words, to seek God, who is \u2018The Truth\u2019, in a deliberate and positive way. Jesus answered the questioning Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u201d (John 14.6)<\/p>\n

Take Saul the Pharisee and leading persecutor of the early Christians, for example. Saul believed passionately that he was doing God\u2019s work in hunting down the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth. His \u2018Damascus Road\u2019 experience was as dramatic as his life. It convinced Saul of the error of his ways. His three-day blindness was lifted when Ananias, a disciple of Jesus who lived in Damascus, imposed hands on him. (Acts 9: 10-12)<\/p>\n

Saul, who became St. Paul, was gifted with a revelation of \u2018The Truth\u2019 about the person and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. The depth and immediacy of this revelation completely changed Saul\u2019s life and the lives of countless others through the centuries. The depth and immediacy of this revelation also says much about Saul\u2019s personal total commitment to God as a Pharisee. Without Saul\u2019s honest, but mistaken, commitment, \u2018The Truth-Light\u2019 would not have flooded his life. It also tells us how God personalizes, tailors if you like, His revelation to best address each individual.
\nOur potential to be illuminated from within by this, let\u2019s call it \u2018Truth-Light\u2019, tells us that this light source is within us from even before we are conceived. \u201cBefore I formed you in the womb,\u201d God says, \u201cI knew you \u2026\u201d (Jeremiah 1:5) The Biblical meaning of \u2018knew\u2019 here indicates God knowing us and loving us through and through unconditionally. If God is present to us before we have matter and form in our mother\u2019s womb, then \u2018Truth-Light\u2019 is present.<\/p>\n

This \u2018Truth Light\u2019 within us has been partially and cleverly obscured by the wiles of Satan since our first parents turned away from God to follow the Evil One\u2019s seduction. Pope Benedict highlighted this on Ash Wednesday 2013 when he said: \u201cThe tempter (Satan) is sly: he doesn’t push us directly toward evil, but toward a false good, making us believe that power and that which satisfies our basic needs are the true realities. In this way, God becomes secondary; He is reduced to a means, becomes unreal, no longer counts, disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Satan cannot destroy the \u2018Truth Light\u2019 within us but he can dazzle\/mesmerize us with the false lights of this world thereby countering what the \u2018Truth Light\u2019 would have us realize. Our life, in this world, is a continuous choice between \u2018Truth Light\u2019 and false light.
\n\u2018Truth Light\u2019 is uniquely attractive. It has a wholeness, honesty, integrity that draws us even when The Way is hard. These personal moments of invitation from God invite us to truly open our hearts. If we do and are sincere, then God reveals to us His \u2018Truth Light\u2019, in a personal way, inviting us to become our true and holy self.<\/p>\n

Moses features in the First Reading for this Third Sunday of Lent (Exodus 3). God reveals himself through the firelight of a burning bush that is not consumed by the flames. Middle Eastern shepherds moved their sheep in the early dawn and late afternoon. That way they avoided the punishing heat of the direct sun. The light of a burning bush would be highly visible. God makes his \u2018Truth Light\u2019 visible to us in the way best suited to attract our attention.<\/p>\n

Moses, a Jew by birth, knew his people\u2019s history through his real mother being engaged by his foster-mother to nurture him. (Exodus 2:7-10) Despite having grown up in the Court of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Moses\u2019 spiritual perceptivity matured from his earliest years. Encountering \u2018Truth Light\u2019 is an enriching and loving experience. It carries no fear but there may well be mystery for we move at God\u2019s pace not our own. \u2018Truth Light\u2019 grows in us as our faith in God becomes more grounded. That said, our initial encounter with \u2018Truth Light\u2019 might have begun before we were capable of recognizing its presence.<\/p>\n

God constantly seeks to share our life indicating his presence in a variety of ways. If we choose to welcome God, faith begins to grow quietly within us. At various milestones along life\u2019s path, Divine providence presents us with opportunities to engage our interiorly nurtured faith with its own \u2018burning bush\u2019 in the form of people, communities and sets of successive circumstances.<\/p>\n

Our modern world is seriously flooded with manufactured light that distorts \u2018Truth Light\u2019. These distortions also damage the likeness of God with which we are born. A person of any age group can become a victim of a trauma leaving a lifetime of interior and, sometimes, exterior scarring. Moses\u2019 early grounding in his Jewish faith protected him from the lavish excesses of Pharaoh\u2019s court.<\/p>\n

Because the \u2018Truth Light\u2019 is interior is has the power to protect, heal and restore, to make strong and deepen commitment. Jesus tells the crowd in Mark 4:21 \u201cFor everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.\u201d
\nWe may be daunted, at times, by the tasks God asks. God\u2019s answer to Moses, centuries ago, stands us in good stead.
\n\u201cBut when I go to the Israelites,\u201d (Moses asks God)
\n\u201cand say to them,
\n\u2018The God of your fathers has sent me to you,\u2019 if they ask me, \u2018What is his name?\u2019 what am I to tell them?\u201d
\nGod replied, \u201cI am who am.\u201d Then he added, \u201cThis is what you shall tell the Israelites: \u201cI AM sent me to you.\u201d
\n(Exodus 3:13-15)<\/p>\n

Living by \u2018Truth Light\u2019 amidst the deceptions of this world is no walk in the park or the wilderness. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews also makes this clear in 10:32ff:
\n\u201cRemember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.
\nYou suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living by the \u2018Truth-Light\u2019, today, is costly. If that\u2019s not our experience as The Baptised, the Body of Christ on Earth, then maybe that\u2019s the tell-tale inviting us to question which light we are following.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

2nd Sunday of Lent (24.02.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Motivation<\/b><\/p>\n

Motivation is the firing-pin for the choices we make. What motivated Jesus to invite Peter, James and John to climb the mountain with him on the occasion we know as \u2018The Transfiguration\u2019? The simple answer is we do not know. Jesus gave no explanation. This Sunday we read St.Luke\u2019s account of Jesus\u2019 Transfiguration (9:28-36).<\/p>\n

There were benefits to Peter, James and John resulting from their presence at The Transfiguration. Did their presence bring benefits to Jesus, too, and if so what might these be?<\/p>\n

Jesus, aged 12, by staying behind at the Jerusalem Temple, had demonstrated his commitment to his heavenly Father (Luke 2:51). Years later and now an adult, Jesus stood on the bank of the River Jordan (Luke 3:21). Though not dissimilar in appearance to other male Jews of similar age; to those \u2018with eyes to see\u2019 Jesus was different. He was his own man, able to engage others by his quietness and directness.<\/p>\n

Jews responded to John-the-Baptiser\u2019s preaching by accepting his \u2018baptism of water\u2019 as a sign of contrition for their failures in living by The Covenant. Jesus\u2019 choice to step into the River Jordan that day came from a very different motivation. His action, the outward expression of a total conviction, was the result of his preceding years. By it, Jesus declared to his heavenly Father his willingness to take on himself the sin of the whole world, past, present and future. He offered himself as the unique, living sacrifice who alone was capable of taking away the sin of the world. Each time we approach Holy Communion we acclaim Jesus\u2019 uniqueness with the triple acclamation: \u201cLamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

His redemptive act would stretch, without interruption, from that moment, through our age, to the end of the world. The proof is found in the words of his heavenly Father recorded by Matthew (3:17); Mark (1:11); and Luke (3:22). The acceptance of Jesus\u2019 free choice is confirmed by his heavenly Father and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus\u2019 private, formative years, were ended. His public ministry had commenced. Jesus knew that, \u2018His hour had come.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is important for us to appreciate that at no time in his earthly journey was Jesus acting out a prepared script to which he was privy. Jesus is truly human as much as he is truly God. Being truly human, he has to experience day by day the unfolding events of his life, just as do you and I. True, his vision is not impaired, as is ours, by personal sin. He had an innate and unsullied awareness of The Truth and equally of the presence of Evil. But Jesus\u2019 daily life was as much a revelation to him as is ours to us. Were that not the case then the validity of Jesus\u2019 humanity is questionable. Humans are limited to the present with some sense of history and hope for the unknown of the future. The only certain time we have is \u2018this moment\u2019.<\/p>\n

Our limited knowledge about ourselves means people look to one another for affirmation. At the same time, there\u2019s a risk allowing someone to be privy to our deepest self. A genuine declaration of love leaves the declarant extremely vulnerable. Where there is a positive, reciprocal response, the declarant is deeply affirmed. Such a depth of declared, reciprocated affirmation paves the way for the development of a bond, a union for life. Jesus was still discovering, day by day, the depth and detail of his vocation. That mountain top declaration, revelation, by God his heavenly Father was a two-way-street for Jesus. It reinforced what had been heard at his Baptism. But there was more. Jesus would also be affirmed by Peter\u2019s declaration, \u201cRabbi, It is good for us to be here …\u201d (Mark 9:2) and the unspoken but still real affirmation of James and John evidenced by their holding of the silence that Jesus requested about what he had allowed them to witness.<\/p>\n

Jesus needed, as do we all, to learn the truth of his Baptismal vocation. For Jesus, his growing awareness of the Calvary which awaited him required both heavenly and earthly affirmation. The former was constant; the latter, unpredictable. By their presence at The Transfiguration, Peter, James and John affirmed Jesus.<\/p>\n

Did Jesus, like us, experience moments of human wonder about the depth of his communion with God, his heavenly Father? In his pain-racked isolation on Calvary\u2019s Cross Jesus was heard to cry out: \u2018Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?\u2019 which is translated, \u2018My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u2019\u201d (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46). This would not have been the first time he had voiced these words which form the opening part of Psalm 22, a psalm that ends on a triumphant note.<\/p>\n

Peter, James and John\u2019s privileged insight into this person who had engaged them with his genuine friendliness and who spoke with a ring of authority which could only emanate from the Truth, did not save them from themselves. Later, these three were to be found asleep-on-duty in the Garden of Gethsemane. The three, with the others Jesus had chosen, would abandon Jesus in the same Garden. Peter would publicly disown Jesus three times.<\/p>\n

Yet Jesus had said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.\u201d (Matthew 16:24) From their hiding places would Jesus\u2019 apostles have remembered his words as they watched his agony of death unfold?<\/p>\n

Each of us is born with specific gifts or talents that form part of our unique personality. Intuitively and from very early years, people demonstrate fluency for languages, a musical ability, skills in treating animals etc. Equally, our talent may be in drawing from others the hidden depths of their ability to care of which they were unaware until faced with our disability, autism, lack of sight etc.<\/p>\n

If our abilities have always been part of who we are, we rarely regard them as exceptional. That\u2019s why we may need someone outside of ourselves to identify them for us. What others see in us as exceptional, we may see as normal. In the understanding of the fullness of his unique vocation, Jesus needed others.<\/p>\n

Perhaps in 2013, as we listen again to the Gospel of The Transfiguration we can approach it from a different angle. To what \u2018mountain top\u2019 might Jesus be inviting us? Through another\u2019s affirmation of our God-given gifts and talents perhaps we\u2019ll discover how to affirm those who, for whatever reason, are finding it hard to appreciate God\u2019s nearness to them at this point in their pilgrimage to him. It\u2019s worth bearing in mind that Jesus, immediately after his Resurrection, reinstated the very people who had slept-on-duty, abandoned and even denied knowing him. What Jesus did for them, he will do lovingly for us, too, so long as we allow him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1st Sunday of Lent (17.02.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Temptation!<\/b><\/p>\n

The one subject we know too well is temptation! Every person born experiences temptation throughout life as an inescapable companion. Sometimes temptation takes a back seat, but never quite disappears. At other times temptation is like a torrent raging through our emotions and appetites. Years ago we were advised to avoid temptation. The truth is it\u2019s not avoidable; it has to be fought.<\/p>\n

The battle line for Jesus was drawn quickly after his Baptism. Luke (4:1-13) is the Gospel for our First Sunday of Lent this year. If you have wondered why Jesus was tempted, the great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas provides an insight:
\n\u201cIt was very necessary, and on two counts:
\nFirst, as a remedy for our sins,
\nand secondly, as a model for us in our behaviour.\u201d
\n(Conference 6 on \u2018The Creed\u2019)<\/p>\n

Temptation is the weapon of our lifetime adversary, Satan. As this Sunday\u2019s Gospel extract shows, our adversary is an extremely skilled sniper. Satan shows how well he knows us by his patience, choice of place and circumstance, time and the very precise area of our character that he targets. It clearly demonstrates that we, while on earth, are in his territory. (1 John 5:19)<\/p>\n

Can temptation be classified as part of the cross that Jesus calls us to carry? (Matthew 16:24) Yes! Unless we deliberately place ourselves in temptation\u2019s way, then it is something done to us and not of our choosing. People may not have regarded temptation as a form of \u2018carrying their cross in the following of Christ\u2019, but it is. From the moment he accepted his vocation at his Baptism in the River Jordan by John (Luke 3:22) everything in Jesus\u2019 daily life can be classified as part of his redemptive suffering, including the temptation he suffered.<\/p>\n

Temptation, as used by Satan, is a precise weapon. The empty wilderness of Judea with its intense, moisture sapping, heat of the day and the equally intense penetrating cold of the night would test the hardiest. Jesus appears to have been led to this experience by the Holy Spirit. It\u2019s as if the gloves are \u2018off\u2019 and battle is truly joined. The Gospel accounts vary but it may be helpful to remember that Jesus\u2019 experience of temptation and our own have a significant difference.<\/p>\n

When faced by temptation we recognise that, to some degree, we have brought the affliction upon our-self by our sin. Our outrage at being tempted is lessened by the uncomfortable sense of being personally responsible for the suffering, to some extent. By contrast, Jesus is without sin. Satan\u2019s affront in tempting Jesus is doubly painful for him. The pain Jesus experiences is greater as he is the innocent victim and also that he chooses to experience, in himself, the accumulative effect of all human sin.<\/p>\n

Training is essential for all athletes. What the Olympics and Paralympics didn\u2019t show were the years of painful, determined training without which no medal could have been won in London 2012. Jesus\u2019 so-called hidden years in Nazareth were his essential training. To have any hope of standing fast against temptation, we need a daily workout under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A combination of Sacramental life, prayer and fasting is considered essential. The Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist are the core of our training. The purging of self\u2013centeredness through the liberating grace of God\u2019s forgiveness restores vision and hope. The nourishment of The Eucharist builds up that vital relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Lent, along with Advent, is a time for limbering up. Lent invites us to accompany Jesus in the final stages of his self-sacrificing vocation to redeem us. Six weeks may seem an eternity but delay starting and it\u2019s Holy Week, if not Easter Sunday! Non-implemented good intentions do us no good whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Athletes take advice about training from those competent to give it. The Baptised need to seek advice from a spiritual director, someone we trust and who is established on his or her own spiritual journey with Christ. Choosing our own workout programme may not be the best way forward. Where we may lay emphasis (for example, in the \u2018doing-without\u2019 area) may not be where we need to concentrate our efforts. Time needs to be set aside for a proper consultation. The GP who has the prescription half-written before we\u2019ve sat down doesn\u2019t impress us!<\/p>\n

Those addicted to Facebook and Twitter might consider donating fifteen minutes a day to\u00a0pray-as-you-go.org<\/a>. This Jesuit sponsored help to pray the Scriptures has a worldwide following. Why not try it?<\/p>\n

For sure, without a dedicated training routine Jesus would not have been prepared for Satan wiliness. Our lack of preparation shows clearly when we face up to how often temptation flattens us with just a little fingertip!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday of Lent (17.03.13) GROUNDBREAKING\u00a0 Political warfare made to look like religious righteousness is especially hideous. Occasionally, contemporary events bring home to us, with clarity, a Gospel truth. On the 5th. Sunday of Lent, (17th. March) we read St. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3341,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340\/revisions\/3341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}