Let’s begin the Lenten fast again with good grace, and not make it only about giving up one thing or another. Lent is not to be a season of privation only or a negative thing, but rather a positive thing. We remember when Christ said that we should make up our treasures not on earth, where material items are wont to decay and rust, but in heaven, where they will last forever. It makes complete sense then, as we look forward to the day of Resurrection – Easter Sunday – and as we consider our own resurrected lives beyond the grave (beyond which we shall not have carried anything but our hearts), that we attempt to minimise our use of material things (so susceptible to rust and decay) and build on the life of virtue (which will last eternally).
We can think about all this as an exercise for Lent, or if we continue with the sacrifice we have decided upon even beyond Lent, it becomes an exercise for the rest of our lives. It may do us much good.
“Of all the beasts which the Lord God had made, there was none that could match the serpent in cunning. It was he who said to the woman, ‘What is this command God has given you, not to eat the fruit of any tree in the garden?’ To which the woman answered, ‘We can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except the tree in the middle of it; it is this God has forbidden us to eat or even to touch, on pain of death.’ And the serpent said to her, ‘What is this talk of death? God knows well that as soon as you eat this fruit your eyes will be opened, and you yourselves will be like gods, knowing good and evil.’ And with that the woman, who saw that the fruit was good to eat, saw, too, how it was pleasant to look at and charmed the eye, took some fruit from the tree and ate it; and she gave some to her husband, and he ate with her. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they became aware of their nakedness; so they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.”
Book of Genesis, 3: 1-7 [link]
This our first reading this weekend takes us back to the first boundary that the Holy One established for our first parents. All good parents set boundaries for their children, because they know from experience the things that can harm their children. Now we might say that the knowledge of good and evil is good and useful – because it helps us to live good lives – but at the moment that the serpent entered the Garden it became a temptation. And snatching for the fruit without the permission of God allows mankind to act as an opposing moral authority to God Himself. As the serpent says, You too will be gods.
It is a poison, this pride, and the injection of it into the minds of men has produced the extraordinary calamities that have plagued our race. Even in our countries, although for a time the rulers of men, be they secular or religious, were drawn to virtue by the principles of the Christian religion, they have progressively drawn away first from Church, then from Law, and now increasingly from God. They have declared themselves gods, and taken immense licence (many of them) with the lives of the men and women whom they were supposed to lead and serve, led those people astray too, and made the rule and order of God a thing of the past.
“And now Jesus was led by the Spirit away into the wilderness, to be tempted there by the devil. Forty days and forty nights he spent fasting, and at the end of them was hungry. Then the tempter approached, and said to Him, ‘If Thou art the Son of God, bid these stones turn into loaves of bread.’ He answered, ‘It is written, Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words which proceed from the mouth of God.’ Next, the devil took Him into the holy city, and there set Him down on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to Him, ‘If Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down to earth; for it is written, He has given charge to His angels concerning thee, and they will hold thee up with their hands, lest thou shouldst chance to trip on a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘But it is further written, Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof.’ Once more, the devil took Him to the top of an exceedingly high mountain, from which he shewed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said, ‘I will give Thee all these if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with thee, Satan; it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve none but Him.’ Then the devil left Him alone; and thereupon angels came and ministered to Him.”
Gospel of S. Matthew, 4: 1-11 [link]
The whisper of the serpent is everywhere now, and none of us can really escape it – even Christ heard it in the desert, according to our gospel reading above. But we can withstand it, with His grace. The Church is no longer what she was, but she has left us from the very heights of her achievement the tools that we need to stand firm and say in reply as our Lord did in the desert, There is only one God and Him alone shall we serve. When we were baptised, whether as infants or as adults, we were clothed with the Light of Christ; in our worse moments as adults, encircled by temptations and fallen into grave sin, we may – as Adam and Eve – feel naked and exposed, seeking to clothe ourselves with sophistries and excuses for our sadness.
It’s difficult to confess openly in a world where sin is not just justified and normalised, but often even celebrated, that sin has made us miserable, and that its consequences have sent us into despair. Naked and afraid the sinner often is, and he may think that the person who dislikes him the most is God Himself. Like the prodigal son of that wonderful parable, he may say to himself of God, My Father may not want to even look at me again for this mess I’ve made of my life. I shall be a slave in his household, so I can keep out of his sight.
Just as Adam and Eve sought to hide themselves from God after their sin, so we often hide also. From a place of vulnerability, we may fear even the priests of the Church in the confessional box, for shame of our sins. But as the priests will tell you, it is the journey back to the Father’s house and the confession of guilt with contrition of heart that changes everything. Oh, the boldness of it! Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I feel myself unworthy to be called your son, says the prodigal son. And the serpent flees in disappointment and the Holy One throws His own cloak upon our nakedness, places His own ring of sonship – or daughterhood – upon our fingers, and the angels rejoice that, where Death had reigned, Life has returned.
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 