God’s word always has a purpose, and it will never return to him void, always achieving the end for which he sent it. We hear this in our first reading today from Isaiah 55. In our Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus teaches the disciples the Lord’s Prayer.
It may be the first prayer you ever learned by heart. We say it every time we go to Mass. It has been broken down countless times and every word parsed nine ways to Sunday. Today I want to concentrate on just one phrase, “lead us not into temptation.”
Falling into temptation usually leads to sin – some small, some very big. God never wants us to sin. But God’s creation is beautiful, and sometimes our disordered passions may cause us to “use” creation for sin. Let me give an example. One may say, “Well, God made me a sexual being, so he must want me to have sex with people I’m attracted to. That’s just how he made me!” Uh, wrong. God desires us to be holy. (That’s in the Bible.) We are the ones who lead ourselves into – and fall into – temptation. Lent is to help us practice not doing that anymore.
Father, give us the grace to temper our disordered passions, that we may grow in holiness. Amen.
Any of the A Minute in the Church books would be a great Easter gift to your parish. Get them in bulk (100 copies or more) today for just $1 each at www.GusLloyd.com.
0 comments