Pope: Temptation calls for prayer, not dialogue
(Vatican Radio) In the weakness of temptation, which we all
experience, the grace of Jesus helps us to not hide ourselves from the Lord,
but to seek forgiveness in order to get up and go forward. That was Pope
Francis’ message during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy
Father was reflecting on the devil’s temptation both of Adam and Eve, in the
first Reading, and of Jesus in the Gospel. With Satan, the Pope said, there is
no dialogue, because dialogue with the devil ends in sin and corruption.
The devil uses dialogue to deceive
Temptations lead us to hide ourselves from the Lord, so that
we remain with our “fault,” our “sin,” our “corruption.” Beginning with the
first Reading, from the Book of Genesis, Pope Francis focused on the temptation
of Adam and Eve, and then considered that of Jesus in the desert. The devil
appears in the form of a serpent: he is “attractive,” and with his cunning he
seeks “to deceive.” In this he is a specialist, he is “the father of lies,” “a
liar.” So he knows how to deceive and how to “cheat” people. This is what he
did with Eve: he made her “feel good,” the Pope explained, and so he began to
dialogue with her; and, step by step, Satan led her where he wanted. With Jesus
it is different; it ended badly for the devil, the Pope said. “He tries to
dialogue” with Christ, because when the devil deceives a person he does so with
dialogue.” He attempts to deceive Him, but Jesus does not give in. Then the
devil is revealed for who he is. Jesus answers him, not with His own words, but
with the Word of God, because “you can’t dialogue with the devil”; you’ll end
up, like Adam and Eve, “naked”:
“The devil is a bad paymaster, he doesn’t pay well. He is
a cheat! He promises you everything and leaves you naked. Jesus, too, ended up
naked, but on the Cross, through obedience to the Father: this is a different
path. The serpent, the devil is cunning: you can’t dialogue with the devil. We
all know what temptations are, we all know, because we all have them. So many
temptations! Of vanity, pride, greed, avarice… so many!”
Corruption begins in small things
Today, the Pope said, there is a lot of talk of corruption;
and for this, too, we should ask for the Lord’s help:
“There are so many corrupt people, corrupt ‘big fish’ in
the world, whose lives we read about in the papers. Perhaps they began with a
small thing, I don’t know, maybe not adjusting the scales well. What was a
kilo… no, let’s make it 900 grams, but that will seem like a kilo. Corruption
begins in small things like this, with dialogue: ‘No, it’s not true that this
fruit will harm you. Eat it, it’s good! It’s a little thing, no one will
notice. Do it! Do it!’ And little by little, little by little, you fall into
sin, you fall into corruption.”
In temptation, you don’t dialogue: you pray
The Church teaches us in this way, the Pope said, so we will
not be deceived – not to say foolish – so that when we are tempted we have our
“eyes open” and know to ask the Lord for help, “because we can’t do it on our
own.” Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Lord; on the contrary, it takes the
grace of Jesus in order to “turn and seek forgiveness”:
“In temptation, you don’t dialogue, you pray: ‘Help me,
Lord, I am weak. I don’t want to hide from you.’ This is courage, this is
winning. When you start to dialogue, you end up overcome, defeated. May the
Lord give us that grace, and accompany us in this courage. And if we are
deceived because of our weakness in temptation, may He grant us the courage to
get up and go forward. It’s for this that Jesus came, for this.”
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