Rev.
Fr. Leonard Goffine's
The Church's Year
FIRST SUNDAY
IN LENT
INVOCABIT
This Sunday is called Invocabit,
because the Introit of the Mass begins with this word, which is
taken from the ninetieth psalm, wherein we are urged to confidence
in God, who willingly hears the prayer of the penitent:
INTROIT
He shall call upon me, and I will hear him; I will deliver him,
and glorify him; I will fill him with length of days. (Ps. XC. 15-16.)
He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most high shall abide under the
protection of the God of heaven. (Ps. XC. 1.) Glory be to the Father,
etc.
COLLECT
O God who dost purify Thy Church by the yearly fast of Lent;
grant to Thy household that what we strive to obtain from Thee by
abstinence, by good works we may secure. Through our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE
(II. Cor. VI. 1-10) Brethren, we exhort you that you receive not
the grace of God in vain. For he saith: In an acceptable time have
I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold,
now is the acceptable time; behold, now, is the day of salvation.
Giving no offence to any man, that our ministry be not blamed: but
in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God;
in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in
fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in sweetness,
in the Holy Ghost, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, in
the power of God, by the armor of justice on the right hand, and
on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report, and good report;
as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; as dying,
and behold we live; as chastised, and not killed; as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing,
and possessing all things.
EXPLANATION
The Church very appropriately reads on this day this epistle of
St. Paul, in which he exhorts the Christians to make use of the
time of grace. A special time of grace is Lent, in which everything
invites to conversion and penance, a time, therefore, in which God
is ready to make rich bestowal of His graces. St. Anselm says, those
do not use the grace who do not cooperate. Let us, therefore, follow
St. Paul's exhortation, and earnestly practise those virtues he
places before us, and especially those of temperance, patience,
chastity, liberality, love of God and of our neighbor. Let us arm
ourselves with the arms of justice at the right and the left, that
is, let us strive to be humble in prosperity and in adversity, confident
of God's help. Let us never be led from the path of virtue, by mockery,
contempt, nor by persecution, torments, or death.
ASPIRATION
Grant, O Jesus, that we may always faithfully cooperate with Thy
graces, and employ well the time Thou hast again given for our salvation.
GOSPEL
(Matt. IV. 1-11.) At that time, Jesus
was led by the Spirit into the desert,
to be tempted by the devil. And when he
had fasted forty days and forty nights,
afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter
coming, said to him: If thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made
bread. Who answered and said: It is written:
Not in bread alone doth man live, but
in every word that proceedeth from the
mouth of God. Then the devil took him
up into the holy city, and set him upon
the pinnacle of the temple, and said to
him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
down; for it is written: He hath given
his angels charge over thee, and in their
hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps
thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus
said to him: It is written again: Thou
shaft not tempt the Lord thy God. Again
the devil took him up into a very high
mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world, and the glory of them; and
said to him: All these will I give thee,
if, falling down, thou wilt adore me.
Then Jesus said to him: Begone, Satan,
for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt
thou adore, and him only shaft thou serve.
Then the devil left him; and behold, angels
came, and ministered to him.
INSTRUCTION
I. Christ went
into the desert by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to prepare
by fasting and prayer, for His mission, and to endure the temptations
of Satan, that, as St. Paul says, He might be one tempted in all
things such as we are, without sin, and so become for us a High-priest
who knew how to have compassion on our infirmities, (Heb. IV. 15.)
and to show us by His own example, how we should, armed with the
word of God, as with a sword, overcome the tempter. (Eph. VI. 17.)
– Let us, therefore, courageously follow Christ to the combat against
all temptations, with His assistance it will not be hard to conquer
them. He has certainly taught us to overcome the hardest ones: the
lust of the eyes, of the flesh, and the pride of life, and if we
overcome these, it will be easy to conquer the rest.
II. If Christ, the only Son
of God, permitted Himself to be tempted by Satan, even to be taken
up on a high mountain, and to the pinnacle of the temple, it should
not appear strange to us, that we are assailed by many temptations,
or that we should find in the lives of so many saints that the evil
spirit tormented them by various images of terror and vexation.
This we find in the history of the pious Job, where we also find
at the same time, that the evil spirit cannot harm a hair of our
head without God's permission.
III. From the coming of the
angels to minister to Christ, after He had conquered Satan, we see
that all who bravely resist temptations, will enjoy the assistance
and consolations of the heavenly spirits.
INSTRUCTION
ON TEMPTATION
To be tempted
by the devil. , (Matt. IV. I.)
What
is a temptation?
A temptation
is either a trial for instruction and exercise in virtue, or a deception
and incitement to sin. In the first sense, God tempts man; in the
second, he is tempted by the devil, the world or bad people, and
the flesh, by evil thoughts, feelings, words, or work.
By
what are we principally tempted?
By our own evil
concupiscence and inclination to sin which adhere to us through
original sin, (Fam. I. 14.) on account of which it is said, that
the flesh lusteth against the spirit. (Gal. V. 17.)
Does
the devil also tempt us?
He does, and
is therefore called, in this day's gospel, the tempter. St. Peter
teaches us this, having himself experienced it: Be sober and watch:
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring-lion, goeth about,
seeking whom he may devour. (I Peter V. 8.) Not all temptations
are to be ascribed to the devil, however, they often come from our
own corrupt nature, our own incautiousness, or looseness of our
senses, by which we expose ourselves to the danger of falling into
sin.
How
does the devil tempt us to sin?
In a twofold
manner: He incites the concupiscence of man to those sins to which
he sees him inclined, and then seeks to blind and confuse his imagination,
so that he neither reflects, nor properly sees the temporal injury,
disgrace, and derision, nor the shamefulness of sin and its eternal
punishment. Thus the devil seduced Eve, our first mother, and thus
he tempted Christ, with whom he could not, of course, succeed, for
He was incapable of sin. He tempts bad people to persecute us, or
to try us by their wicked vanities, as he did by the friends of
Job.
Can
the devil force us to evil?
He cannot; “for
as a chained dog,” says St. Augustine, "can bite none but those
who go near him, so the devil cannot harm with his temptations those
who do not consent to them. Like the dog he can bark at you, but
cannot bite you against your will.” Not by force but by persuasion
Satan strives to injure, he does not force our consent, but entreats
it. Seek, therefore, to subdue your passions and your senses, especially
your eyes, and you will either remain free from all temptations,
or easily overcome them.
Does
God also tempt us?
God does indeed
tempt us, but not to sin, as St. James expressly teaches. (Fam.
I. 13.) God either Himself proves us by sufferings and adversities,
or He permits the temptations of the devil or evil-minded people
to give us opportunity to practise the virtues of love, patience,
obedience, etc. Thus He said to the Jews through Moses: The Lord
your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with
all your heart, and with all your soul, or no. (Deut. XIII. 3.)
Does
God permit us to be tempted by man also?
He does, and
for the same reasons. Thus He permitted the chaste Joseph to be
tempted by Putiphar's wife; (Gen.XXXIX. 7.) Job by his wife and
his friends. (Job II. 9.) But He never permits us to be tempted
beyond our strength, but gives us always sufficient grace to overcome
and even to derive benefit from the temptation. (I Cor. X. 13.)
Are
temptations pernicious and bad?
No; they are
useful and necessary, rather. “Hard is the fight,” St. Bernard writes,
“but meritorious, for although it is accompanied by suffering, it
is followed by the crown;”
(Apoc. III.
12.) and Origen says. (Libr. Num.) “As meat becomes corrupt without
salt, so does the soul without temptations.” Temptations, then,
are only injurious when consent is given, and we suffer ourselves
to be overcome by them.
When
do we consent to temptations?
When we knowingly
and willingly decide to do the evil to which we are tempted; as
long as we resist we commit no sin.
What
are the best means of overcoming temptations?
Humility; for
thus answered St. Anthony, when he saw the whole earth covered with
snares, and was asked "Who will escape?" "The humble;"
he who knows his own frailty, distrusts himself, and relies only
on God who resists the proud and gives His grace to the humble;
(Dam. IV. 6.) the fervent invocation of the Mother of God, of our
holy guardian angels and patron saints; the pronouncing of the holy
name of Jesus, making the sign of the cross, sprinkling holy water;
the remembrance of the presence of God who knows our most secret
thoughts, and before whom we are indeed ashamed to think or do that
which would cause us shame in the presence of an honorable person;
frequent meditation on death, hell, and eternal joys; fleeing from
all those persons by whom, and places in which we are generally
tempted; fervent prayers, especially ejaculations, as:
"Lord,
save me, lest I perish! Lord, hasten to help me!" finally,
the sincere acknowledgment of our temptations at the tribunal of
penance, which is a remedy especially recommended by pious spiritual
teachers.
PRAYER
O Lord Jesus! who spent forty days in the desert without
food or drink, and didst permit Thy self to be tempted by the evil
spirit, give me, I beseech Thee by that holy fast, the grace to
combat, during this holy season of Lent, under Thy protection, against
intemperance, and to resist the suggestions of Satan that I may
win the crown of eternal life. Amen.
|