If you have not been tested and messed up some of your Lenten disciplines by now, you might not be trying hard enough. And if you are focusing on your own efforts and forgetting possibly who you are and where you came from, you might be playing into the devil’s plan even more.
The readings this weekend remind us of who we are and where we came from. We are the people of God, and we are always called to live as such, even when the evidence from our current social, political, and economic situations would suggest otherwise, we still know that God remembers his people and has a plan for our salvation.
Napolean Hill is an author made famous for his many books which most might say are of the self-help genre, but also wrote Outwitting the Devil, an exposé on the methods the devil uses to ensnare and control the minds of human beings.
As we hear the Gospel of the temptations of Jesus by the devil, I remember from Hill’s book a chapter on ‘Learning from Adversity’. The devil thrives on our failures because it causes people to lose ambition and quit trying. The devil explains to Hill in the book, that failure is a man-made circumstance. It is never real until it has been accepted by man as permanent. Starting another way, failure is a state of the mind; therefore, it is something an individual can control until he neglects to exercise his own power.
Every failure in life gives an individual an opportunity to test themselves where they may learn how much willpower they possess. Failure also forces people to learn many truths about themselves that they would never discover without it. Failure can lead an individual to an understanding of the power of self-discipline without turning away from the need for grace and a reliance on God. Remember that God has not only given humanity free will, but also the ability to reason. If we use basic logic, we should understand that each one of us is dependent on others. Inasmuch as most adversities grow out of improper relationships between people, it is important to understand that the proper relationship is one that brings to all connected with it, or affected by it, some form of benefit.
Because of this truth there are benefits to be found through adversity. Adversity relieves us of vanity and egotism. It discourages selfishness by proving that no one can succeed without the cooperation of others. Adversity forces an individual to test their mental, physical, and spiritual strength; thus bringing them face to face with their weaknesses and gives them the opportunity to bridge them. Adversity forces one to recognize the need for intelligence not available except from sources outside of that person's own mind. Adversity breaks old habits of thought and gives one an opportunity to form new habits; therefore, it may serve to break the hold of what seems to be normal for humanity in our sinfulness and change from the negative to more positive ends.
Failure during the Lenten season and in everyday living is a blessing when it forces us to depend less on material forces and more on spiritual forces. Jesus refuses the easy route; Rather, he lets go, trusts in God, and falls back on his traditional grounding in his responses. Tradition is important for us as Catholics and as humans. But while it might be important for us to return to tradition, we should never do so without thinking. Jesus does return to his traditional grounding, but he still reflects, he discerns, and he asks what would God have him do. In our adversity, we too might return to the basics of our humanity: dependence on others and on God. Search out the facts, think of how our choices affect others, and pray for Godly insight.
We can all learn from adversity. We can all learn to trust and focus more on God.
God Bless,
