Palm Sunday – Tucson – 2020 – 6th Petition of the Our Father
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem / And lead us not into temptation
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
After having had our sins pardoned in the 5th petition, and as we are again welcomed into the bosom of our Father with His Sanctifying Grace, today we continue our commentary on the “Our Father” with the next petition, “and lead us not into temptation.” As our sins have been forgiven, our infernal enemy now amps up his traps, his artifices, and his weaponry to violently remove us from the path of holiness lest we grow in virtue. He tries to immediately get us to fall, so that we despair of our salvation making our situation now worse than ever.
This week, we look at the frail character of the Apostles who fled for their lives denying Our Lord. They saw the great miracles of Our Lord, heard the beauty of His teachings, professed their faith in His divinity, and yet, it was pride that caused their chief to say: “though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.” It can be easy for us to despise them for this, but we ourselves flee for much less. We deny Our Lord for human respect, for friendship and acquaintances, for pleasure, and for fear of being ridiculed for our faith.
But we must take seriously this petition to pray, for “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.” The Roman Catechism comments with these words:
-The demons are called “princes” because of the superiority of their nature as a spirit, above that of all creatures. Even if they are demons, by their spiritual nature, their intellect far exceeds that of our own and therein lies the danger.
-They are “powers” because of the strength of their nature.
-They are “rulers” because they control the impious and wicked souls.
- The demons are called the “spirits of wickedness” as opposed to the wickedness of the flesh. The wickedness of the flesh is traditionally considered the first two forms of temptation that destroy the greatest number of souls: the world and the flesh. These first two causes of sin seek to enslave souls in the sins of the inferior part of the sin – depraved desires, lusts and sensual pleasures. If these first two assaults of sin fail, then the “spirits of wickedness” attack the superior part of the soul, thus they are the “spirits of wickedness in high places” seeking to deprive us of our heavenly and celestial end. And hence the Roman Catechism states: “Thus we may understand that the power of the infernal enemy is great, their courage undaunted, their hatred of us enormous and unmeasured; that they also wage against us a perpetual war, so that with them there can be no peace, no truce.” From the Garden of Eden, through the prophets, to Our Lord Himself, to the Apostles, the devil makes his advances. And Satan attacks particularly those higher up in authority - “And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.”
But there is some good assurance if we feel the devil’s temptations, for that means he doesn’t yet have us. If the devil already has us, he doesn’t need to waste his effort with future assaults as he wants us to find a misguided peace in our sin so that we don’t seek peace and joy with God.
But worse we would be if we believed the devil to be fictitious or that we are invincible. This was the heresy of Pelagius who denied Original Sin and who thought man strong enough with his own free will and without God’s grace to never succumb to temptation and on his own strength attain Heaven.
But we do have reassurance in the goodness in God Our Father. DO NOT BE TERRIFIED, take refuge in the harbor of prayer. The devil is actually on a short chain. He possesses nothing without God’s permission. He can do nothing without God’s permission. In the book of Job, the devil was only permitted to assault Job’s possessions but was not given permission to touch his person. “So restricted is the power of the demons that without the permission of God, they could not even enter into the swine mentioned by the evangelists.”
The devil hates obedience to God, to the Church, to our pursuit of devotion and justice to our state of life. Just as God preserved Noah in the flood, so God will preserve us during this Coronavirus Pandemic if we remain faithfully in the Ark of the Catholic Church, the one and only ark of Salvation. The arrows of the devil’s assaults will come, but we are in the ark built by Our Lord from the wood of the Cross. The ark may seem to sink at some moments tempting our faith in God, tempting our faith in the divinity of the Church, tempting our faith in God’s Providence, but remember, God is our Father. Just as Mary, the Mother of the Church, didn’t abandon hope in Her Son, so we mustn’t jump ship. We don’t want to be fair-weather Catholics that only sing Our Lord’s presence in the glorious entry of Palm Sunday; we must also accompany Him in the Agony of the Garden, in the court of the high priests, before Pilate and Herod, and we must accompany our Lord to Golgotha.
As this petition has recently be called into question by translations of Mass texts in the Novus Ordo Mass, it’s important we have a proper understanding of temptation and how God tempts us. There are three ways to tempt: first, to allure or entice to something evil, second, to attract or invite to do something, as we say “the offer tempts me” or third, to put someone to the test to prove their worth. God is all good so He never allures or entices to evil. But, God certainly does tempt us in so far as He attracts us to good and He does put us to the test to prove our worth. We read in the book of Deuteronomy: “The Lord your God tries you, that it may appear whether you love Him or not.” Just as gold is tried by fire, so our good works are tried by the fires of difficulty, persecution, and perseverance so that the good may be purified and made to shine more brightly without the imperfections of sin.
When we say, “lead us not into temptation”, we mean “do not allow us to fall in temptation” or “do not permit us to succumb to temptation.”. In this proving by temptation, we must again remember the first word of our prayer: Pater/Father. For “And God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.”
But whereas God tempts us to prove our good, the devil, whom the Scriptures call “the tempter”, tempts us by alluring us to evil, by deception and pushing us to our ruin. The Catechism of the Council of Trent states his tactics like this: “At one time, stimulating us from within, he employs the agency of the affections and passions of the soul. At another time, assailing us from without, he makes use of external things, as of prosperity, to puff us up with pride, or of adversity, to break our spirits.” Then he sends out his fallen disciples, his revolutionaries, and heretics to “sit in the chair of pestilence” and spread the seeds of bad doctrines with those who draw no line of distinction between vice and virtue.” God does permit the good and pious to be tempted but He leaves them supported with His grace.
We can also be lead into temptation by abusing the gifts that God has blessed us with. Like the Prodigal Son who dissipated his inheritance in living according to evil desires. Instead of giving gratitude to God for His blessings, one may grow ungrateful and complacent.
Some of these assaults of the devil are open: religious toleration and religious indifferentism, civil laws upholding iniquity but many of his assaults are difficult to discern at first.
But why must we endure temptation? St. James’ Epistle gives us the reply, he says: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved he shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him.” My dear faithful, each of you are now in a great moment of temptation. In this current lock-down, it could be very easy to abandon all spiritual exercises as one might be tempted: “No one will notice that I’m not keeping the Sabbath holy; I don’t have time to pray, I’ll pray after one more show, etc.” But this Coronavirus lock-down will prove a great test of our interior life. Do we pray because we want to or because we have to? Do we pray to be strengthened in our prayer life & to console Our Suffering Lord or do we only pray for the comforts of life and that everything goes our way? This week we should be consoled because our Divine High Priest is going to sacrifice Himself out of love for us and He’ll never abandon those who follow Him. If we want the crown of eternal life, we have to win it through temptation. St. Leo the Great said: “Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife.”
So, what do we pray for when we say “lead us not into temptation”? We ought to pray that we yield not to temptation, that we not be deceived by the evil one, that we do not give up our eternal crown of glory for a temporal crown of forbidden pleasure, that we remain humble, strong, and persevering amid the purifying fire of temptation, and we pray to remain perfectly faithful to Our Lord and to accompany Him when He was betrayed and humbled by His Apostles and disciples.
Unfortunately, many times we fall into serious sin because 1) we didn’t pray to be strengthened against mortal sin and 2) we don’t avoid the near occasions of sin. If we truly believe that God our Father doesn’t abandon us, then why do we let go of His hand when we hear the devil’s bard, why do we let go of God’s hand by abandoning prayer when we hear temptation. It is preciously then that we need to ignore the temptation and look up to our heavenly Father. Remember, temptations will come for us all – and when they do, we must remain faithful to prayer. We pray that we do not fall in temptation and we pray that we be strengthened. Humility and confidence in God – the two precious virtues that St. Francis de Sales we must accompany ourselves as we walk the narrow path through the strait gate. The many psalms of King David remind us of how we should pray to Our Lord and remain calm amid temptations as it was written: “For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me…. and thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto the length of days.”
To gain eternal victory, we need to have the proper spiritual outlook to have spiritual success in the battles of temptation. First, we must be aware of our weakness, as Our Lord warned the Apostles in the garden of Gethsemane: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 2) Second, we must distrust our own strength with humility and not walk in the near occasion of sin nor with those people who will lead our souls astray. Numerous times souls grow complacent, slothful, and prideful and the devil sweets them away with the lowest and basest of sins. “Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” 3) Third, we must place our trust, confidence and hope in the goodness of our heavenly Father relying on His protection, which is grace. Think of how many souls have been preserved by Him because they were faithful to prayer: the Patriarch Joseph was saved from being killed by his own brothers, Susanna was saved from her impure suitors, David was saved from Saul’s rage, Job was saved from the devil, the Holy Family was spared Herod’s fury, and think of how many miracles Our Lord worked on those poor souls who had faith in His divinity, etc. Our Lord told His fearful Apostles on Holy Thursday: “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” These are our spiritual defense, our spiritual armor.
But we’re also given spiritual weapons: these are prayer, good works of charity, studying, abstinence and fasting, continence and chastity, and watching as we remember the words “Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” It is by these spiritual weapons in combat that as St. James says: we are sure to put our adversaries to flight for those “who resist the devil, he will fly.” Every evening at Compline, St. Peter warns us: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith…”
Let us close with these words of the Apocalypse, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ, because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth; and they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.” My dear faithful, on this Palm Sunday in which the faithful are called to carry the palm as a symbol of faith and hope in our Divine Redeemer, may we also remember that the palm is a figure of Christ’s triumph. Christ’s triumph begins today in His ascent to the throne of the cross. Do not worry, this year you are not empty handed – palms are a material representation of your good works and of your faith and hope in Christ’s victory. In this current lock-down, may we piously and spiritually follow Our Lord step by step, in temptation and trial, watching and praying that we be not “led into temptation” so that we may be proven faithful and worthy to share in Christ’s victory over our accuser.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.