Temptation in the Desert
Today’s Gospel is about the temptation of Jesus – the temptation to let his humanity draw Jesus away from the Father’s plan.
This temptation would surface again when Jesus struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane with his imminent death on the cross. It just didn’t seem to be the way to do it.
Temptations come to us according to the unique patterns of our own life. We all face basic temptations. But the difficult ones – the recurring ones – are those that have to do with our own life circumstances, our own temperament, the contours of our own personality.
That often comes out when we go to confession. Maybe we feel like : “My confessions are always the same . . . it’s the same list of sins.” But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are failing to make progress or that we are not examining our conscience properly.
Just as a particular temptation fit the unique circumstances of Jesus’ life, and he had to deal with it throughout his entire public life, so I have some in my life and those struggles will probably be the core of the majority of my confessions. I will probably have to struggle with them until the day I die.
But if I am struggling, and I am also trying to do a good job, then those are the things that should come up in confession, because those are the special needs I have . . . . needs that have to be exposed to the grace and healing of God.
Spend some quiet time with the Lord.
