Baptism and Spiritual Awareness
Deacon Angelo Volpi’s homily
First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A.
Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17; Roman 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
John Ritto Penniman, Christ Tempted by the Devil, 1818 (photo: Public Domain)
ME
Good morning everyone!
I love it when I come across complex truths that are explained in a simple way. For example in the stock market success is achieved by this simple truth - Buy Low and Sell High!
Now, it is simple to say - much harder to do!
In our relationship with God there is a simple truth as well: Embrace what is from God and Reject what is from Satan.
Again, simple to say - much harder to do!
Our personal relationship with God is our spiritual life - it involves the movements inside us about Love of God and Love of Neighbor. Our spiritual life includes the thoughts that come to our mind, our desires and the resistances experienced in our heart.
Following our basic rule, our goal as Christians is to follow and pursue the thoughts, desires, and resistances that are good and come from God and reject the ones that are bad and come from Satan.
YOU
We know that evil spirits and good spirits are constantly trying to get our attention and consent.
Have you ever found yourself rebuking Satan by saying, “Get away Satan!” Jesus did it. So we should do too!
Moreover, temptation rarely comes in obvious ways. More often, it comes quietly and subtly, dressed up as something good or even generous, like turning stones into bread to feed the hungry.
GOD
The first reading from Genesis and the Gospel both show us two stories of temptation. In Genesis, Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent and fall into delight and consent to that temptation. And they sin.
In the gospel passage Jesus was also tempted by Satan but because of his immediate awareness, he understood that that was the devil and rebuked him right away.
I don’t know about you, but I want to have that ability to recognize evil suggestions and rebuke them all the time.
Temptation has three phases: suggestion, delight and consent.
Adam and Eve received the suggestion to sin, then progressed to delight, and then consent. We hear in Genesis 3:6, “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom (this is the delight phase). So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (this is the consent phase)
In Jesus’s case, the temptation he experienced never went into the delight phase or the following phase of consent. His awareness was so strong of those movements inside Him that he rebuked the temptation from Satan immediately.
We are not Jesus, we are not God - so we can’t expect that we can have the same awareness of Jesus but we are called to be able to grow in that awareness a little bit at a time.
This is my invitation to you - as you go about your daily life and you realize that a temptation didn't move you into sin - into the delight phase when tempted and you actually reject it - Praise the Lord! Thank Him. Journal that experience, because your heart is actually changing. Your heart is actually becoming more like Jesus’s heart! And this is a miracle! A miracle of becoming!
You might know that Jesus was baptised right before being led into the desert and being tempted. In baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and FILLED his heart completely with the Love of God. Because of that, Jesus could not delight in temptation or give consent - it is just impossible. Temptation in Jesus does not go beyond suggestion.
Because of our fallen human nature, our hearts can't get to the level of being FULLY saturated with the Holy Spirit, with love, like Jesus’s. But we can create space for divine life and get close to that 100%.
Lent is this time of the year where we can seek silent space and pay attention to the evil spirits coming to us, To become Aware of those, Understand that they are bad, and Take Action to Reject them.
What does it look like when we become aware of temptation?
It looks like saying out loud, “Get away Satan!” If Jesus says that, we should too. Or say it in our head.
YOU
I invite you to use this simple approach as you go about your life: BE AWARE of the movements inside you, UNDERSTAND if it is from the evil or from GOD; TAKE ACTION embrace what is from GOD and reject what is from Satan.
BE AWARE - UNDERSTAND - TAKE ACTION
One way to understand if thoughts and desires are from God is to look at Faith, Hope and Love. In you find an increase in Faith, Hope and Love it is from God. If you are pulled to go to Confession, to Mass, it is from God.
WE
We are blessed in our church with the Sacraments - Sacraments allow our hearts to be filled with the Spirit of God. Being Baptized is essential to remove original sin and get us on a path to fill our hearts with the Spirit of God.
But it is not enough. To get close to being filled 100% with God’s Spirit we need to go to Confession and receive the Eucharist so that more of the divine life can fill our hearts.
The more we cast away sinful inclinations from our heart, the more space we make for the Divine Life, and the easier it will be to recognize Satan and rebuke him.
BE AWARE, UNDERSTAND, TAKE ACTION
Use this Lenten season to ask God to show you how to become more aware of the movements in your heart.
