Dear Parish Family,

 We begin the holy season of Lent by reflecting on temptations. The Genesis story of the sin of the first humans was to reject the condition of humanness: splendid creatures, yet nonetheless dependent on God. Adam and Eve, we are told, had almost everything. They were in a paradise. Made in the image and likeness of God. As Psalm 8 puts it, made “a little less than a god.” The only drawback was the fact that they were creatures of limit. They were good, but not God. They could have the fruit of every tree except the tree of limits, the tree of ‘creatureliness.’ It was their ‘creature-hood’ that made them susceptible to the Lie. Devil, that lord of lies, who taunted their obedience and reliance on God. The attraction seemed to be so real within their reach of having no limits, to be God, to be self-sufficient, self-made and self-governed. The pretense was attractive, desirable. Thus sin entered the world, St. Paul writes, through one act: the lie of self-sufficiency. That was the offense. And it would be righted by one act as well: a life of utter truth. The gift of the new Adam (Christ) was a total acceptance of humanness, an entering so deeply into our limits, and even into the effects of our sin, without committing a sin, that there would be no other reality to his consciousness than abandonment to the will of the one who sent him.

The temptations the devil fed to Jesus were nothing other than delusions we all dream of in our longing for radical independence. First, the devil tempted him to this effect: "If you are God's specially blessed one, turn these stones into bread." In essence, the devil's taunt was this: "If you believe that you are God's specially blessed creature, why is your life so empty?" Jesus' reply, "One doesn't live on bread alone!" might be rendered: "I can be empty and still be God's blessed one! Being blessed and special is not dependent upon how full or empty my life is at a given moment!"

The second temptation has to do with human honor and its absence. The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says: "All of these will be yours if you worship me!" The taunt is: "If you're God's blessed one, how come you're a big, nobody?" And Jesus' reply might be worded this way: "I can be a big nobody and still be God's blessed one. Blessedness doesn't depend upon fame, on being a household name!"

The third temptation follows the same lines: The devil takes Jesus to the top of the temple and challenges him to throw himself down to make God catch him, to prove his specialness." Jesus replies to the effect: “I'll walk down by the narrow path, just like everyone else!" Our blessedness is not predicated on having any special privilege that set us apart from others. We are God's special, blessed sons and daughters, even when our lives seem empty, anonymous, and devoid of any special privilege or attention. So what’s left for us, we who are neither God nor Savior? If we just acknowledge the simple truth of our limits and our sins before God and God’s people, we reverse the offense of Eden and enter the gift of Calvary. That is why true confession is such a marvelous sacrament. Wounded and healed, we become in turn wounded healers for a world in so much pain from conflict, sin and despair.

Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.