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Exploring the word

13 Mar 2011 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

WHICH WOULD YOU choose: a debate with the tempter of souls or the sublime company of angels? Most nice people do not hesitate to voice their preference for the latter. That reflex, though, comes too easily, the “right answer” instead of the true one. The reality is, humanity has fundamentally and regrettably chosen the infernal side of the debate—and we choose it again, oh, at least once an hour. The first conversation in the Bible is with God. God blesses the first couple in chapter 1 and gives the first commandment—thou shall not eat of that tree!—to the man in chapter 2. Yet neither man nor woman seek the companionship or council of God again in the story. They actively hide from their Maker in fact. It is God who seeks them out, significantly after their free betrayal of the sole commandment. We imagine God might have interrupted the woman’s tête-à-tête with the serpent or insinuated the divine presence between the woman and man before the great betrayal was complete with the transfer of the forbidden fruit. Respecting human freedom, God remains silent through both transactions. God, who speaks first in the story, awaits a response from us. Original sin is the unhappy result. We still have choices to make daily: to embrace the guardians of heaven or to dicker with demons. When we choose violence, prejudice, judgment, falsehood, idolatry, or infidelity, we’re breaking commandments that deny us access to the blessings God freely bestows on us and wants us to have. Each time we cause harm to our neighbors or ourselves, we’re disregarding that primary commandment of Jesus to demonstrate our love for God in loving people. Every hour of history the solution is the same: Talk to God. Listen to the divine word. But each hour far too many of us incline an ear to that “Pssst! Hey buddy!” coming from the tempter’s direction. In the synoptic gospel tradition, Jesus reenacts the Genesis moment of crisis—though not in a lush garden surrounded by creature comforts. No, Jesus stands in a wilderness, hungry and weary from fasting. And unlike the first couple who had each other for support, Jesus is alone. The evangelists show us Jesus effectively in the same position we are today: suffering the result of a fallen world that is no paradise, where each of us endures the profound isolation and hunger that is the literal fruit of sin. The debate with the tempter begins—but something is different this time. Instead of being swayed by his sweet lies, Jesus clings to the word of God. The devil finds such company intolerable. When he departs, the landscape is flooded with angels, and desert becomes a paradise. Good news as we enter the Lenten desert ourselves! Scripture links The Satan in the court of God: Job 1:6-2:10 Other mentions of the Satan in Hebrew scripture: 1 Chron. 21:1; Zech 3:1-2; Wisd. 2:24 Other gospel references to the Satan: Mark 3:23-27, 4:15, 8:33; Matt. 12:26-29, 13:19, 39, 16:23, 25:41; Luke 8:12, 10:18, 11:18, 13:16, 22:3, 31, 53; John 8:44, 12:31, 13:2, 27 Catechism links Devil: CCC 385-412; 538-540; 550 Concupiscence: CCC 1264; 1426

Authors Alice Camille

original sin choices paradise Devil

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14 Feb 2016 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For 40 wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry. The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.” For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours.” Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.” For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?” “Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’” That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity (from Luke 4). Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014); actapublications.com; 800-397-2282.

Devil 40 days

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14 Feb 2016 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

The devil really was a clever old guy, wasn’t he? Jesus used scripture to fend off the devil’s first attempts to distract him, so then the devil, who apparently had read scripture, too, used the same tactic. But his ploy was doubly deceptive. He not only quoted scripture but also chose a passage that addressed exactly the issue at hand: faith in God. If Jesus really had faith, the devil argued, he would act on it and literally take a leap of faith. God, however, as Jesus pointed out, is not a judge at a faith-demonstration contest; faith does not try to manipulate God.

Devil Faith leap of faith

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Exploring the word

27 Nov 2011 - First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Watch. That’s what Jesus has to say to his disciples today. Watch! While a single word makes for a poor homily and an inferior lesson plan, it does help to ask ourselves: Are we watching for something, or guarding against it? And how will we know what it is when it arrives? A publisher I know says the best books are about “one thing.” Other books sprawl all over the place and say too little about too much, leading to confusion and even frustration on the part of a reader.What was that all about? we find ourselves wondering, wishing we could recover the time wasted on such a venture to spend on something more focused and productive. Movies plots, college courses, and talks by politicians and experts can leave us with a similar feeling of dissatisfaction and bewilderment. TMI, the hip modern shorthand for “too much information,” is a valid complaint in our contemporary culture where details are available in abundance but the ability to sort and prioritize all those facts and pseudo-facts becomes increasingly complex. Perhaps the simplicity of today’s message is gratefully received. Vigilance among the lapping waves of overstimulation, not to mention the oversupply of information that does little to inform us, is a good watchword. Not paranoia, not chronic anxiety, but an uncomplicated spiritual vigilance is fundamental to the Christian life. Because, frankly, the devil really is in the details. It’s when we’re most distracted that moral laziness can reel us in and make a fine meal of us. Too much information can actually make ethical oversimplifications more attractive. When we live on the frantic edge of things, we’re most likely to rationalize our bad choices with black-and-white thinking: I work hard. I deserve this. It’s only this once. If she didn’t get in my face, I wouldn’t have to yell like that. They’re not us, so we certainly have no obligation to help them. Watch, Jesus says. The devil is in the surrender of the will to the “inevitable.” Spiritual vigilance is discovered in silence, cultivated in stillness. No wonder it’s so rare that even 20 centuries ago Jesus had to insist on it. If we don’t watch—pay attention, focus—then supper is burned, the child wanders into danger, the marriage falls into jeopardy, the dog eats your homework, the appointment is forgotten, the wrong word slips out of your mouth, and now you’ll pay the consequences for thoughtlessness. So if there’s an appropriate word with which to center ourselves in this new church year and inaugural season of Advent, it’s this one: watch. Start small, take five deliberate minutes each day; sit with a candle or a stopwatch if you must. Cultivate vigilance. Pray to become, in every hour, wide awake. Related scripture links What are we waiting for: Isa. 65:17, 66:22; Rom. 8:18-25; 2 Pet. 3:8-14; Rev. 21:1-5 The potter of Genesis: Gen. 2:4-7 The potter and the vessel: Jer. 18:1-12, 19:1-15; Isa. 45:9; Job 10:8-12; Wis. 15:7-17; Rom. 9:20; 2 Cor. 4:7 The Lord giveth and taketh: Job 1:21 Catechism links Season of Advent: 524; 1095 Conversion: 821; 1427-1439 Incarnation: 456-464; 470; 478

Authors Alice Camille

watch simplicity Devil advent vigilance

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Homily stories

13 Mar 2011 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

A friend tells this story about the first apartment he rented after leaving the college seminary. His downstairs neighbor, for reasons never determined, was militantly anti-Catholic. So on Friday mornings as he was leaving for work, she would stand in the doorway waving a strip of bacon in his face. And then, on his way back into the building on Friday evenings, she would wave a pork chop at him as he headed up the stairs. One day, fed up with her strange behavior, he grabbed the pork chop and brought it tantalizingly to his lips. The look of triumph on her face quickly switched to horror as he flipped the chop to her ragged dog, which had been yapping at him from behind her housedress. She never again opened her door as he went up and down the stairs. So much for temptation. The devil tempted Adam, and Adam fell, losing his righteousness and innocence. The devil tempted Jesus, and Jesus resisted. Paul lets us know that we were all made righteous by Jesus' saving actions. But that doesn't mean we won't be tempted and won't sin. It means simply that we have another choice with our lives. As we prayed in Psalm 51, we need to admit our sinfulness and ask for mercy not just one time, but every time we sin. Certainly there are temptations all around us. Some of them we should be able to toss off pretty easily, like that pork chop. Others won't be so easy. That's why we need Lent to help us do better even as we ask forgiveness for the times we failed.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

Temptation Devil psalm 51 Mercy

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05 Mar 2017 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.” Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.” For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.” Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.” For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.” Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.” The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs (from Matthew 4). From A New Message 4 Next Week (actapublications.com) based on The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2013).

jesus in the desert Devil

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Exploring the word

01 Mar 2020 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

When we read about them in Holy Writ, conversations with the devil seem eerie, dramatic, and singular. Consider Eve, standing naked at the tree, while the serpent insinuates itself around her heart with whispered words of unimagined greatness. Artists have found the moment irresistibly illustrative of Every-person’s vulnerable ignorance, not to mention the soothingly sibilant persuasiveness of our tempter. The next appearance of the devil is in the court of God, no less, as the fate of God’s good servant Job is bandied about. Here the Satan has shed his scales and looks more like a lawyer than a snake. It may surprise us how casually the Almighty exchanges words with humanity’s persecutor; God speaks to Abraham and Moses with as much ease. In this conversation, it would appear that Job’s experience of unparalleled suffering is of less interest to God than the results of the wager between the divine and the diabolical. We might like God to show more discrimination, perhaps, in the celestial social life. Maybe a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and we’re better off not knowing too much of the ways of heaven. Quite a good while later, Jesus has his own encounter with the Evil One. Here, the devil sounds more obviously like the enemy he is, taunting Jesus about his true identity, his power, his untested possibilities. In this meeting, the devil seems more nakedly untrustworthy, even as he quotes scripture like a reverend. Perhaps it is in this final manifestation, as desert parson, that we have the most reason to fear him. The devil loves to talk We’ve all had conversations with the devil, too, though they don’t always seem as spectacular as the ones in the Bible. Does he come to us when we are naked, or with food in hand? Sure. If it worked once, it could work again, and sex and gluttony are by now pretty routine temptations. So are the ones that the devil presents to Jesus. The first one is a clever appeal to pride: If you are who you say you are, make a miracle! When Jesus resists that one easily, the devil tries something more complicated: If your Father is who you say he is, then make him come to your aid! Jesus doesn’t bite. Finally, the devil throws a last desperate pitch: I am a great one in my own right: worship me and gain the world! Jesus, with great simplicity, tells him to go to hell. Operating on a much lower level of resistance, I personally would often barter my soul for a pint of Häagen-Dazs Swiss Almond Vanilla. I know the result is as pure, sweet, and visceral a form of evil as there is. Super-fatted ice cream is nobody’s friend, and eating a whole pint in one sitting (my preferred method) is just raising the white flag of surrender to obesity, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. It defies the basic premise of human stewardship: that we are to be guardians of the lives in our care, starting with our own. Clearly, the devil can save his more sophisticated artillery for the holy souls. Coming after me with food in hand isn’t even a challenge. The last temptation Most of us, it might be said, have little to fear from the first two temptations the devil offers to Jesus. We rely very little on our personal authority for the manufacture of miracles, and we don’t count on God to bail us out either, to be honest. But the final temptation does contain the seed of our undoing. As high-strung as it might have sounded to the ears of Jesus, this last-ditch appeal to idolatry, it is actually the most intriguing to you and me. I’ll give you the world! We like the world, very much. We could well be tempted to close our ears to the first half of the deal—throw yourself down and worship me—if we could be assured of having all that shiny new stuff that only the world can give. And it’s because we each have our resistance threshold (from which we embark into a world of hurt known as sin) that we also meet back here, at about this time every year, to engage in the annual practice of Lent. I say practice rather than season, because Lent is a dynamic item on the church calendar. Liturgically speaking, Lent is a verb, and a communal one: We “lent” together as Catholics. That is, we fast, observe abstinence, give alms, examine our consciences, attend services of recollection, penitence, and reconciliation, and give our discipleship a good shaking out all around. Maybe we make a commitment to attend daily Mass or to increase our time at prayer or to take on spiritual reading. All that we do is intended to wake us up to the fact that, all year long, we are holding this casual, amiable conversation, perhaps over our morning coffee or just after dinner as we settle into a comfortable chair for the evening, with a fellow who means us no good. All of our Lenten practices are for the purposes of unmasking this dialogue so that we can hear it for what it is and back away as from a poisonous serpent. Applying the word Taking the Lenten journey I hope you’re all wearing comfortable shoes, because it’s a long walk between here and Jerusalem, between Ash Wednesday and the Easter Vigil. Like Jesus did, we take this journey with friends, the community of believers. Like Jesus, we also take this journey with the devil lurking not far behind, biding his time. If the devil was gracious enough to appear in costume, with pitchfork and pointy tail, we could dismiss him at once and no harm done. But the Evil One has a lot more social grace than that. He knows how to meet us where we are, and to speak our language, and to make a good case for seeing things in a practical, reasonable light. That one, he’s a talker, smooth enough to chat with God when the occasion arises, and bold enough to challenge even the divine Son. But the Satan never cared much for a crowd. If we travel together on this Lenten path, that fellow won’t have much chance for those one-on-ones for which he is famous. Or should we say infamous? Related scripture links The Satan in the court of God: Job 1:6-2:10 Other mentions of the Satan in Hebrew scripture: 1 Chron. 21:1; Zech 3:1-2; Wisd. 2:24 Other gospel references to the Satan: Mark 3:23-27, 4:15, 8:33; Matt. 12:26-29, 13:19, 39, 16:23, 25:41; Luke 8:12, 10:18, 11:18, 13:16, 22:3, 31, 53; John 8:44, 12:31, 13:2, 27

Authors Alice Camille

Adam and Eve Devil Temptation serpent Satan lenten journey

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Exploring the word

26 Feb 2023 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

Pull up a soft chair, the devil says. He’s such a gracious host, always concerned about our comfort. His living room is a tribute to the couch-potato life. As we sit, he fluffs the pillows and lays out the dessert even though we’ve just eaten a huge feast in the dining room. But how can we refuse more, when everything is just so delicious? The devil’s conversation is always laced with flattery. “How nice you look. You should buy that sweater in every color. You deserve it!” Immediately we make a mental note, our vanity touched by his words. Sweaters are cheap, thanks to the sweatshops that make them so plentiful. Why shouldn’t we have one in every color? What harm could there be in a little indulgence? In the course of a single evening, the devil appeals to many of our favorite vices: gluttony, sloth, vanity, greed. If we start to feel just a bit guilty about surrounding ourselves with simple luxuries, he reminds us that lots of our neighbors have more than we do and are far less charitable than we are. This stirs our envy—and our self-righteousness. Our talks with the devil always make us feel so darn good about ourselves! We are pretty decent people, aren’t we? We follow the rules. We do our part. We go to church. We even make very nice Lenten resolutions each year to combat worldly temptations. No chocolate for us this year, not for 40 whole days! But it’s Sunday today, the devil purrs. Sundays don’t really count during Lent, do they? So we reach out for that enrobed cake he’s holding out to us with such a kindly smile. We ask ourselves, what do these little things matter: a little selfishness here, overindulgence there, white lies, and bent rules? We’re not religious fanatics, after all. We’re practical people. We know what’s important and unimportant. Another sweater or one energy-inefficient light bulb more or less is not going to damn us or save the world. And all the while, the devil is loving this. Particle by particle, he erodes the soul of the world and makes it all feel just so proper. What is the devil? Is the devil real or not? Is “it” a fable meant to make children behave or to control naïve adults? The Bible makes use of various baddies to express the opposition to the divine goodness in the world. The serpent in the garden, the Adversary in Job, and the Satan in the desert with Jesus are just three examples of how evil operates in our midst. All of these have their roots in the demonology of ancient Mesopotamia. Seven demons—seven being the full complement—had various territorial assignments such as to the head, throat, chest, hand, and foot. We might easily view these as metaphors for the way evil takes over our thoughts, infiltrates our speech, hardens our emotions, leads us to act or directs us to cross boundaries we know we should not trespass. When we allow all of these temptations routine access to us, before long the full complement of demons could be said to possess our wills. Is this what John’s gospel means when it portrays Mary Magdalene as a woman who was once held fast by seven demons? And is her problem as rare as all that, in a world given over to entertaining temptation on every front? A night at the devil’s house may seem an exotic piece of fiction, but how often do we entertain evil in our homes? And considering the nature of evil and the way it does come to “possess” our habits and our thoughts, who is entertaining whom when evil has free rein in our lives? When we relegate demons to the province of nightmares, then we forget that evil is not bound by time as we are. The psalmist describes it as the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, and the plague that lays waste at noon. Temptations are available 24/7. All we have to do is invite them in. And for those who think that talk of evil spirits is counterproductive in the 21st century, it’s helpful to note that the only folks who pooh-poohed such ideas in the gospels were the Sadducees. And with their denial of the concrete reality of evil, much evil was permitted into the world. The devil didn’t make us to do it In our two featured stories today, neither the serpent nor the Satan has the power to make anyone do anything. Evil suggests—but free people choose. Adam and Eve make one decision, and Jesus makes another. Eternity hangs in the balance each time. And though the Bible offers many illuminating terms for the force that drags us down the route of destruction—devil, demon, Satan, Anti-Christ, diabolus, angels of Satan, the Beast, the dragon, Dame Folly—the most clarifying word for our purposes is the simplest: sin. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Any attempt to ignore [sin] or to give this dark reality other names would be futile” (CCC 386). The church teaches that original sin is a given, but our personal decision each time is by no means a foregone conclusion. The propensity toward temptation (concupiscence, aka fomus peccati, “the tinder for sin”) is preordained, so conversations with the devil are bound to occur. But how long or short they are, and how far we’re willing to entertain the suggestion of sin, is entirely up to us as free holy beings made in the likeness of a liberating God. Applying the word Our Lenten observance However we observe this season of Lent is less important than the rationale behind what we do. If you are of the persuasion that Lent is about “giving up” pleasures, by all means do so. And if you are of the school of “positive practices,” then take them up faithfully. But whatever we do or don’t do this Lent, let’s do it with the deliberate intention of not permitting those conversations with the devil to go very far in our lives. If there is tinder for sin lying around in our routines, we should judiciously remove it. And if idle time itself is the match that most often gets struck, we should strive to fill those spaces with good works, prayer, and healthier conversations. The devil may keep on talking, but if we’re not giving him a hearing, he’ll find a more appreciative audience. There are plenty of folks around who like the company of flattery and sweet nothings. Related scripture links Baddies of the Bible: 1 Chron. 21:1; Job 1:1-2:10; Ps. 91:5-6; 109:6; Wisd. 2:24; Mark 3:27; 4:15; 8:33; Matt. 12:29; 13:19; 16:23; 25:41; Luke 8:12; 10:18; 11:21; 22:3, 31, 53; John 12:31; 13:2, 27; 1 Cor. 10:20-21; Eph. 6:12; 2 Thess. 2:9-11; 1 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 5:8; 1 John 4:1; Jude 6; Rev. 16:14 Mary Magdalene’s problem: Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2 Sadducees and spirits: Acts 23:8; see also Matt. 22:23; Luke 20:27 Catechism links Devil: CCC 385-412; 538-540; 550 Concupiscence: CCC 1264; 1426

Authors Alice Camille

the devil Temptation Evil sin

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