"Do we want to follow the 'I' or God?"

"At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus had to unmask and reject the false images of the Messiah that the tempter proposed to him. But these temptations are also false images of man, which always harass our conscience, disguising themselves as suitable, effective and even good proposals. The evangelists Matthew and Luke present 3 temptations of Jesus, differing in part only in the order. The nucleus of these temptations always consists in instrumentalizing God for our own interests, giving more importance to success or to material goods. The tempter is clever: he does not direct us immediately toward evil but toward a false good, making us believe that power and things that satiate primary needs are what is most real. In this manner God becomes secondary; he is reduced to a means, he becomes unreal, he no longer counts, he disappears. In the final analysis, faith is what is at stake in temptations because God is at stake. In the decisive moments of life and, in fact, in every moment of life, we are faced with a choice: do we want to follow the 'I' or God? Do we want to follow individual interest or rather the true Good, that which is really good?"  ~Pope Benedict XVI, 2/17/13 Angelus Message

 

Ave Maria!  Oh, how I appreciate the Holy Father's reminder that the devil, being the cunning father of lies, doesn't immediately tempt us with evil but with a false good.  How easy it is for me to be swayed by what appears to be good, overlooking its subtle falsity!  And yes, as the Holy Father points out, it's not just in the decisive moments of life that I am faced with a choice but also in every moment of life.  "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation" (Is 12:2)."

 

Dear Lord Jesus, I beg for the grace to see clearly and to choose wisely,

that I may always follow and love You alone.  Amen.