A great Temptation

[Mark Dohle]

A great Temptation

See Jesus as happy, overflowing with joy. Rejoice with him as with a friend who has triumphed. They killed him, the holy one, the just one, the innocent one, but he triumphed in the end. Evil does not have the last word. Nor will it have the last word in your life, for you have a friend who loves you and wants to triumph in you. Your Savior lives.-Pope Francis
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It is easy, and very understandable when people become cynical, and there are reasons to become so. Yet does cynicism have the last word? One of the greatest temptations for our species is to become bitter and close off our hearts, our true selves from the world and others. How many times can we be beaten down and still be expected to rise again?

Love, the love of God is the stuff of life. It is something we seek, even if it may be hidden from ourselves. There are good arguments for closing ourselves off, but arguments in the end or based on private, subjective thoughts rooted in experience. Yet to just lean on experience without listening to the wisdom of others is myopic in the extreme.

Relationships grow when a crisis happens. Pain calls us to wake up and reevaluate our lives. It can break our hearts open if we do not give in to anger, recrimination, and isolation. Thes are all protective strategies to save us from further pain. However, in the end it only opens other avenues of suffering.

Evil has been overcome, yet it can seem otherwise. Jesus bore great evils from us, yet was not overcome by it, but loved despite it. He says follow me, open your hearts, do not fear suffering. Yes, not an easy path, and one that most people have to contend with. It is easy to slide into despondency and hold on to it.

Jesus tells us to look to Him, to trust when all seems lost. It can seem like a fool’s errand, yet over and over again in people’s lives they find that Jesus is the only one who can actually brings up to deeper life and joy. We do not have to understand how it happens; it just does.

In failure, when we give in to despair, if your heart is open only by a crack, grace will do its work in time. Whatever path is chosen there will be suffering, yet one path does lead to deeper life, the other will only over time suck you dry and leave you empty. So choose life, trust, love, get up, pray, hope.-Br.MD