Satan might be winning in your heart

What are your temptations?

What are the persons, materials, events, fantasies that bring enticing sensations to your fragile facticity?

Allow me to share. Human as I am, I also have my temptations. It is a matter of deep self -knowledge to be able to identify them. For this, I am grateful to the seminary formation which gave me this gift of self-knowledge.

Through the years, I am in the habit of identifying my demons.

For instance, I know very well that stressful situations evoke the beast in me.

I know that I easily indulge with sweets.

I know the many areas and events where I would not be able to activate self-control and fraternal charity.

I know that I am not a confrontational in nature; that I prefer to talk about others behind them. And many more.

How about you? Do you know yourself that much?

We all must be masters of our own patterns and triggers.

It will take a life time before we can fully know ourselves but at least we are invited to journey deep inside and meet our unknown core in the here and now.

One has to fight his/her demons by identifying them. In this way, one could hold his/her demon by the thorns and tell it "never again."

Jesus, in today’s Gospel, was tempted by the devil. Jesus did not fall into the trap of the devil. There is no way he will, in fact.

The devil was seeking to win the scenario but if we were to bring this scenario to the language of competition, we can conclude that it was the devil that lost to God as usual when he failed to temp Jesus and revealed truths that will destroy him.

How?

First of all, Jesus will never give in. The devil knew that very well, but he tried anyway. He was hoping that he will be able to get Jesus give in and then he would win over God. Jesus has a strong self-knowledge and strong sense of obedience.

God is God right? He is perfect.

Secondly, little did the devil know that in putting Jesus into temptation, he already lost the battle of concealed identity. His concealed identity has always been his weapon for the longest time. In the Old Testament, little was known about the devil. Yet, at the threshold of the Gospel, he showed his hands.

By his ways of temptation, the world came to know how he operates, and hopefully how to avoid his ways. The world came to know his agenda. The world came to know his works.

And what are these works? What are these agenda?

“Turning the stone into bread.” - The Evil of Ill-Gotten Wealth.

This implies wealth. When used in the right way, wealth is the ability to vanish hunger and misery in the world. But when wealth is amassed inappropriately, it will most likely be spent for manipulation.

Satan tempted Jesus to possess a good which he did not earn by hard labor. Jesus definitely could do that with all his power. But he respected the law of science, the law of the world, and the dignity of labor.

He did not eat an ill-gotten bread.

“I will give you the Kingdoms of the world In their power and glory.”- The Evil of Power which dehumanizes.

This implies power, - the most coveted commodity in the world today. Satan’s view of power is oppression and conflict. His brand is power that dehumanizes.

For God however, power is for service. As Msgr. Gerry Santos once said: “The greatest power in the world is love.”

“Jump off from the temple and Angels will come to rescue you.” The Evil of relentless self-aggrandizement and self-promotion.

Perhaps this one is the weirdest of all temptations. Satan wanted Jesus to jump. What for? Fame. Satan knew that if Jesus does this stunt, people watching him will applaud him and thus make him famous. Perhaps, those who will be able to see this stunt will make him a King.

In this third temptation, we ask ourselves:

When was the last time I pulled off a stunt to make people applaud me?

Or Do I perform the good things I do out of stunts and not out of sincere love?

Am I sincere in my dealings or am I just trying to charm people?

Perhaps, the temptation of Jesus was not exactly intended for Jesus himself but instead for the readers or the audience of this Gospel narrative. Jesus definitely won’t be gullible. That in fact is an understatement.

Perhaps Satan wants to tempt us, the readers and audience with these: wealth, power, and fame.