And Lead Us Not into Temptation

If someone were to ask me, "Are you content?" I would say, "No". In fact, many of us have been oscillating between periods of pain and contentment. There is even a kind of assumption amongst us that if you are not experiencing some kind of pain right now something must be wrong. Why is this? Because we are all being sifted and tempted in our own unique ways as ordination to the Diaconate approaches. This has been known to be a traditional time of increasing temptation. Certainly, Jesus too was in pain before his public ministry began. It is a comfort to realize this fact and to think about his experience on the Mount of Temptations.

Yesterday we visited a monastery built on the Mount of Temptations. The monastery is wedged into the cliffs of the mountain, seemingly suspended on the cliffs, as if the place itself spoke "I'm just barely hanging on!" The cells of the monastery line the cliff side and the main "hallway" itself is hewn from the cliff. From the entrance to the sanctuary you look out towards Jericho and far in the distance you see the mountains of Jordan. Inside the sanctuary, a large iconostasis commands your attention while the rest of the room is lined with choir stalls for the monks. However, on the side of the chapel there is an unassuming stairwell that you climb. At the top you will find a small chapel where sits the rock that Christ sat on during his temptation. 

Touching this place, praying in this spot, gives one comfort and strength. Christ underwent temptation, the worst and most fundamental of them all. Yet, due to his total dependence on the Father, and his certainty of identity of being the Beloved Son, he said "no" to these temptations. It is comforting to be where Christ was tempted because we are reminded that our own temptations are not definitive; they do not define who we are. At the end of the day these temptations can be conquered by a Love so profound and embracing that we too can say "no" to them, always remembering that just as He was loved by the Father in his temptation, so too are we in ours. While we may not be content, while we may be in pain, we have peace because the Father's love goes deeper than all of our temptations.