The story is told of the pastor’s wife who bought an extravagant dress.
“It was the devil tempting me,” she protested.
“Well you should have said, “Get behind me Satan!” the pastor said.
“I did;” but he said, “it looks fabulous from back here too.”
We all fall prey to some of Satan’s seductions. We truly are descendants of Adam and Eve, and we usually have someone else or something else to blame for our failures.
In our pride we fall for Satan’s appeal to our vanity. Pope Francis uses the metaphor of a beautifully wrapped gift package. “Oh, how nice!” we say, but we do not know what’s inside. “But, the card outside is beautiful.”
“The package seduces us without letting us see what’s inside,” Pope Francis says. “He [Satan] can present his proposals to our vanity, to our curiosity.”
His light is dazzling, “like a firework”, but it does not last, the Pope warns. “Seek refuge in the Mother of God.”
“Go to the Madonna; she guards us. And the Fathers of the Church, especially the Russian mystics, say: in the time of spiritual turmoil, take refuge under the mantle of the great Mother of God,” Pope Francis says. (from A Moment with Mary - July 21, 2018).
One seduction many of us have fallen for is our self reliance and the pride that says, "I'm happy. I've got my spouse. I've got my kids.
Everything is good. I got a job. Everything is going well. I'm not looking for change," says Father Brendan McGuire in his homily “Fear No One”.
“The Lord is looking for change!” McGuire says. And we are afraid God will change us. That is why many of us stay away from Sunday service: "I'm happy. I've got my spouse. I've got my kids. Everything is good…”
We know our lives are not complete. We feel pain and suffering, our wounded nature, and we say, "No, Lord. I'm not worthy. Don't touch me. I cannot be the one you want to heal. Look at all the stuff I've done. I've done this. I've said that. I haven't done this… We say no, no. Not me," McGuire says.
Yet we know inside our hearts we are desperate for God's touch. What we don’t know is how much God longs for us. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28).
Allow the Lord to touch you. “He will heal our wounds, our brokenness,” McGuire says. “When we come to this altar today, we come to receive that Body and Blood of Christ. That is his kiss of love. ‘I love you. Yes. I know what you have done. I still love you’.”
We all have an idea how very painful it is when our feelings for another are rejected or ignored. Imagine God’s feelings about how many in the world refuse his love and even the sacrifice of his son for us.
Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings" (Matthew 23:37).
Lord, it surprises me how much you love me. You whisper softly, and you are found in gentleness. Open my heart to your daily gifts. Let me be gracious for all your love that teases our senses daily.
