IDENTITY CRISIS?
by Kay Parlor, Nebraska Local Pro Sanctity Director
“If you are the Son of God…”
In today’s gospel reading, the evil one uses this phrase twice as he puts forth temptations to Christ in the desert. The challenge to Jesus to defend His identity by a show of power is remarkable. Surely the tempter is aware of just Who he is speaking to, so why the word “if”? Also, as we read this with our 21st century eyes, it seems ludicrous to us that he would try to appeal to Our Lord’s pride or might because we have the knowledge of the ignominy of the cross.
We see in Jesus’ response that he does not fall into the trap. He doesn’t even dignify the challenge with a direct response, saying something like, “Of course I’m the Son of God you ninny, but doing that stuff just isn’t my style!” He simply recalls the Word.
What does that mean to me, as a wife and mother trying to live the call to holiness this Lent? The words “If you are the Son of God…” stop me in my tracks because they could be spoken to me. Pope St. Leo the Great once said, “"Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God."
I am a daughter of God! Am I aware of my dignity as such or do I have “an identity crisis”? Do I know who I am and where I am going? Pope John Paul II often quoted the following line from Guadium et Spes (24): “Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” How do I see my Lenten experience in light of those words? What is the gift of self that I am being called to offer? As temptations present themselves (and they already have, even though Lent has just begun!) can I draw on the strength I gain from my union with Jesus Who is the Word, truly present in the Eucharist?
In the third temptation of today’s gospel, the evil one tries to entice Jesus with the things of this world. In this age of conspicuous consumerism we can easily fall into the trap of all the things that lure us away from Our Lord. In a passage from an earlier gospel this week, Jesus puts things in perspective for us. “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Lk. 9: 25) As a beloved child of God, do I want to jeopardize that relationship by getting caught up in the lure of “things”, status, power, etc.?
Is my heart rightly disposed? (We pray from Psalm 51: “Create a clean heart in me, O Lord…”) What are the true motives for the choices I make?
I had to laugh when, on Ash Wednesday, a man went to great lengths to draw the attention of everyone in the room to the fact that he had washed off his ashes after Mass so as not to appear “in Walmart or some other such place” like the hypocrites in the gospel of that day. Even when trying not to put on a false show of piety, we can fall into the trap! And I was laughing not at him but because I could see myself doing the same foolish thing. We’re so human! The beauty of it is that Our Lord loves us just as we are because He sees our true dignity as His children.
As I go through the days ahead, I will continue to reflect on Christ’s humble yet resolute response to the temptations laid before him in the desert.
(This is a new series, The Gospel Maximum: An Invitation to Love and Holiness, please let us know if you would like to contribtute for a reflection on a Sunday Gospel: psm@prosanctity.org - Teresa)
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