DELIVER US FROM EVIL

I SUNDAY OF LENT - Mark 1:12-15

Temptation is part of human life. We may ask ourselves what is temptation. It is a proposal of an alternative path and an easy way to live our lives and get quick joy, self-satisfaction, pleasure and fulfilment. This may come from within or from outside, be it from other people or from the circumstances we find ourselves in. These proposals run against other proposals that lead us to a life lived in truth and righteousness. Within us, there is a continuous struggle in which we are forced to choose between good and evil. However, we may be easily deluded, because temptation makes the evil options sound like the good ones, leading us to mistake the evil for good and vice-versa. To make the right choice, we must enlightened by God’s light, which gives us the wisdom to see through the evil intent in the temptation. In the temptation, evil is masked as good, seducing us and leading us astray. The temptation of Adam and Eve is a good example of that. The disobedience and the revolt were instigated by false statements that sounded true. They suspected God of hiding from them the possibility of becoming a god and counted God’s prohibition as oppression. On the other side, the serpent’s proposal sounded reasonable and worthy of pursuit. Since then, humanity has been tempted, being seduced by temptation.

Jesus went through the common human experience of temptation and stayed firm, remaining faithful to God. It is that faithfulness that makes possible the harmony that had been destroyed by the revolt of Adam and Eve.

In the prayer taught to us by Jesus, we are told to pray: deliver us from evil and don’t allow us to fall into temptation. May the Lord grant us his Spirit to strengthen our resolve to overcome temptation.