Dearest friends,
As human beings, we seem to be most vulnerable in the face of POVERTY.
Indeed, TEMPTATION is real and part of our earthly existence. It is all about efforts made daily by our ENEMIES: the Devil, the World and our own Flesh to pull us away from God through sin (cf. Catechism of the Christian Doctrine, nn. 346-354).
These our enemies get to us when we are most vulnerable, in our POVERTY; when we are in direst needs. These our needs, more often than not, revolve around “Wealth, Power, Pleasure and Popularity (Fame). This is our daily experience in the world today.
Unfortunately, unlike Jesus, who resisted the many temptations, we often fall headlong into them and worst still, excuse and sometimes, even praise ourselves for falling.
We readily fall into temptation when we fail to use the right ARMS. The Catholic catechetical tradition offers us these arms: We must always watch, pray and fight against all our enemies’ suggestions and temptation (cf. Matt 26:41, CCD, no. 353). St. Paul equally reminds us the need to always put on the whole armor of God in such fights; “with Truth as a belt, Righteousness as breastplate, the Readiness to Announce the Good News of Peace as shoes, Faith as a shield, Salvation as a helmet and the Word of God as a sword” (cf. Eph 6:10-20).
Beloved friends, we must stand up against the temptations of these our enemies. Irrespective of the poverty we find ourselves in, we are still called up to witness to Christ, to believe in our hearts and profess him with our words and actions. Poverty of any kind does not justify yielding to temptation. Remember what the scripture tells us:
In your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed” (Heb 12:4).
👉🏼As a faithful Christian, when, having sincerely fought against a particular temptation and you find yourself wounded, what do you do? You are expected to immediately make a sincere act of contrition and then go to CONFESSION as soon as possible (CCD, nn. 365-366, Igbo Catechism, 1996 ed. nn. 553-554). Going to Confession immediately, helps to strengthen us again for the battle.
We pray the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, to always support us with her maternal intercessions. Amen🙏🏼
Happy Sunday and remain blessed!
(CATECHESIS (NKUZI NKE OKWUKWE) FOR THE 1ST SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C
READINGS: R1 Deut 26:4-10, R2 Rom 10:8-13, Gosp. Lk 4:1-13)
