About Temptation (featuring an actual conversation with my conscience!)

Have you ever been in one of those situations where there's that twinge in the pit of your stomach? Where you begin to feel like you're on the path toward a wrongdoing, that you have no intention of committing?

Let it be a relief to you to hear that temptation is not sin. (Phew.)

Allow me to present to you a technical analysis of this concept of Temptation by Fr. John Laux, followed by a personal anecdote:

"In every temptation we can distinguish three steps: the occasion of the temptation, the temptation itself, and the outcome or issue.
a) The occasion of a temptation is either some external object that falls under our senses or some stimulus, feeling or emotion within us. By these the corresponding passions or desires are aroused. Since the desires cannot be satisfied without violating our moral duties, a conflict arises in our soul between passion and duty.
b) It is precisely this conflict that we call temptation. Our own evil passions are, therefore, the real source of every temptation. "Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God/ For God is not a tempter of evils, and He tempteth no man. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured." (James 1:13)
c) The temptation comes to an end at the moment when our will decides either for or against what we know to be our duty. Sometimes no decision is reached.  The conflict continues for a time, and then dies out, either because the evil desire vanishes from our consciousness, or because our attention is interrupted and directed into other channels."
- Laux. pg. 44 

What's the point in my sharing all of this?  My latest faith pondering has been that of doubting my own salvation. Frankly, I'm no saint, and I've been known to think, say, and do things that certainly aren't very holy. (Then again, aren't we all?)
Reading that bit from Fr. Laux regarding temptation, I had a huge relief.

"Temptation is Not Sin:
...temptation is a conflict but no sin, not even an imperfection. Many are disquieted by the evil thoughts and suggestions which flash into their minds; they must remember that where the will withholds consent there is no sin.  No matter how strong the temptation may be, or how long it may last, provided only our will remains true, there can be no question of sin."
- Laux. pg. 45

The desire to sin is not sinful.
The desire to sin is not sinful.
The desire to sin is not sinful.
YAY! 

In fact:
"Temptation is useful. 
Temptations are a great trial and burden, but we must not forget that God would not permit them unless they were useful in many ways. The Holy Ghost promises the victor's crown to all who have stood the test of temptation.
Temptation steels and fortifies the will. In temptation we become aware of our helplessness and learn to cast ourselves with humility and childlike trust into the arms of God...When there is conflict, a great saint has said, there is courage, vigilance, fidelity, wisdom, prudence, firmness, ardor, endurance."
- Laux. pg. 45


As a Catholic teen, my guards against sin always have to be up.
Sometimes I just walk out my door and feel like this guy:

YOU ALL NEED JESUS!!!!!!!!!!

With temptations ranging from, "Let's just wander over onto private property just for the heck of it," to "Let's go drink and break the law," to "We should totally set something on fire," to, "We should find someone to have meaningless relations with," to, "Let's get large slurpies and see who can drink them the fastest." Some of the temptations are moral dilemmas, while others are just stupid ideas. 

So where's the line drawn, then? That line between temptation and sin, the line between stupid idea and bad idea? 

There is a line between temptation and sin; that line between motivation and action.  As Christians, it is out duty to determine that line for ourselves.  Honestly, I can say that if I stayed in a tempting situation for too long, my course of action would be that of sin.  Because I am weak, because I am human.  But really, though temptation is unavoidable, it's my responsibility to decide when I need to make my graceful exit from the situation in order to avoid sin. 

How do we determine our line? 

I always try to ask myself these questions:

1. Is what I am doing explicitly good? 
2. What follows logically as the next course of action?
3. Is that action destructive to myself or the people around me? 
4. If they are not, do I know that they go against what Jesus taught/what the Catholic Faith teaches? 
5. Knowing that this is a temptation, where do I draw the line as "too close" to sin? 
6. How will I remove myself from the tempting situation when I approach that line?

I will now provide a hypothetical example: 

Say that I begin a group project with an immensely attractive fellow around my age. (Score!) We exchange numbers and make some small talk, but he begins to act rather flirtatious. That, of course, is not bad in and of itself...but depending on what sort of fellow he is, what could come of it?

Conscience: Is what I am doing explicitly good? 

Me: We could get married and bless the world with beautiful babies. That's good, isn't it?
Conscience: Oh come on now.

Me: I'm kidding! Alright, no, it's not explicitly good. It doesn't make the world a better place.

Conscience: What would follow logically as the next potential course of action?

Me: We might talk about wanting to bless the world with beautiful babies...before marriage.

Conscience: There you go. 

Conscience: Is that action destructive to myself or the people around me?

Me: Yes, but it would so be worth it.

Conscience: -.- 

Me: don't look at me like that.

Conscience: It would most definitely not be worth it.

Me: ...  Okay, fine, you're right, it wouldn't be.

Conscience: Good girl. *pats head* 

Conscience: Does this go against what Jesus taught/what the Catholic Faith teaches?

Me: Well Jesus never said, "thou shalt not text flirtatiously."

Conscience: Yes, but he did say, "Do not cause your brother to stumble." (Romans 14:21)

Me: Right...so I need to be careful that what I say doesn't lead my brother in Christ to temptation of sin.

Conscience: Yep. Plus, just remember what the church teaches about- 

Me: I know, I know, I wouldn't let that happen! ... but can I kiss him?

Conscience: Why would you want to do that?

Me: Why wouldn't I want to do that? Look at him! 

Conscience: ... we will discuss this later.

Q: Where do I draw "the line"? 

Me: I make sure that he knows where I stand regarding the matter of shenanigans before marriage. 

Conscience: Good. And?

Me: We shouldn't talk about those things in detail, beyond light-hearted joking.

Conscience: Oh yes, the jokes...I could argue with you, but we'll take care of that later. Carry on.

Q: How will I remove myself from the tempting situation when I reach that line?

Me: I say NO.

Conscience: Good start, but is just shouting "no" really a significant plan?

Me: NO

Conscience: Okay, think of other possibilities here.

Me: If he asks for compromising pictures, I make a face, scream, decline, and then throw my phone in Holy Water. Or I could just send him a picture of a goat or something. 

Conscience: ...Okay. How do you keep it from getting to that point?
Me: Change the subject the moment it goes down that path! 

Conscience: Do you have a list of conversation starters?

Me: "You have a nice face"? 

Conscience: We need some work. 

After an entertaining conversation with my inner self, I draw the conclusion that I need to proceed with caution. I establish the lines I'm not going to cross and figure out how to prevent potential sinfulness. Voila! A foolproof plan in sin...at least that's what I'd like to think.  The world probably has other plans.

But as Christians, the least we can do is try.

In Christ,

Rebecca

Sources:

Laux, Fr. John. Catholic Morality. New York: Benziger Brothers Publishers, 1928. 

Trusting in God - Does it Really Matter?

"Trust in God," they say.
 But what does that mean, exactly?
Many would say that it takes a lot of courage -- and perhaps even some level of audacity -- to trust in and believe in something you cannot see.
In a sense, this is very true.

We certainly can't trust that life will always be butterflies and rainbows, even with the Good News of salvation, because it's just not like that.  Bad stuff happens all the time.  We encounter death, tragedy, heartbreak, and all sorts of "mysteries of human perversity." (I encountered that lovely idiom in Characters of the Inquisition by William Thomas Walsh, and let me tell you, it's probably my favorite phrase of all time.  Example sentence: "Out of some absurd mystery of human perversity, Steven Moffatt began writing screenplays.")

We know that in the Bible, Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not worry about your life...Look at the birds of the sky, they do not sow nor reap, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them...Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself." (Matthew 6)


I found this quite troubling.  "What difference does it make to trust in God?" I thought to myself,  "He's just going to do what He wants with our lives, anyway, because He's God...right?"

Being the lovely little ray of sunshine that I am, I took this a step further:
Our life is what it is.  We can't really do anything about it; sure, eating Cheetos and watching How I Met Your Mother on your parents' couch every day until you're forty won't get you very far, so what you do with your Free Will affects your life somehow. But we all know that life just is what it is. What's the point in trying or trusting or hoping if it just.. is what it's going to be?

Then, after really thinking about all the losses I've encountered, all the possible losses I could encounter, and all of the "mysteries of human perversity" that await, I went rather hysterical.

You're born, you live, you make friends, you face rejection, people leave you, people take advantage of you, people die, you die, you're done. Wonderful. 

As I said, I'm quite the little ray of sunshine.



After pondering this gravely depressing idea for a few days, I woke up this morning with a Holy Spirit moment of enlightenment of sorts. (Thank you, Confirmation!) I remembered this quote from How I Met Your Mother. (No, wait, just see where I'm going with this.)

“The great moments of your life won’t necessarily be the things you do, they’ll also be the things that happen to you. Now, I’m not saying you can’t take action to affect the outcome of your life; you have to take action, and you will. But never forget that on any day you can step out your front door and your whole life can change forever.
You see, the universe [God] has a plan, and that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps its wings, and it starts to rain. It’s a scary thought, but it’s also kind of wonderful. All these little parts of the machine, slowly working, making sure you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, exactly when you’re supposed to be there.
The right place, at the right time.”
- Ted Mosby, How I Met Your Mother

Much more hopeful, now, isn't it?

Puzzlingly enough, I realized, that all of God's "giving and taking away" (as mentioned by Job in 1:21) precisely why we should trust in Him.  Though trust or mistrust on our part may not make a difference in what happens, it makes a world of difference in how we take it.

When things we love are ripped mercilessly from our arms we cry out: "My God, why have you abandoned me?" Just as Jesus did on the Cross. (Matthew 27:46) But perhaps that's what is so wonderful and beautiful about our suffering.

The despair, the anguish, the feeling of emptiness is what Christ, our own God, endured as he trekked up the hill of Calvary.  The guards whipped him and he fell to the ground, bloody and weak and broken; just as the Devil whips us with hardships and temptation and we fall to the ground, bloody and weak and broken. Christ got up and he staggered on, embodying faithfulness in all of his pain.  Then should we, who walk in the shadow of his Cross

God gives us good things, and though Job said: "He gives and He takes away," perhaps it should be clarified, "God gives and does not punish us in this world with sorrow, but guides us through as we struggle with the 'mysteries of human perversity' as Satan whips us and takes away the things we love, while God allows our faith to be tested but never leaves our side." ... But that might've been a bit of a mouthful for the book of Job.

Trusting in God may not affect our lives directly, but it affects our outlook; and isn't it our outlook that affects our lives in the end?




"Completely drained of strength, 
I lie, collapsed upon the cobblestones.  
My body cannot move. 
No blows, no kicks can rouse it up.
And yet my will is mine.
And so is yours. 
Know this, my other self,
your body may be broken,
but no force on earth and none in hell
can take away your will.

Your will is yours."

-- Enzler, Clarance. (from the perspective of Jesus) Everyone's Way of the Cross.  Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2006. Nihil Obstat, Impramatur. 

Introduction

"How can you prove that God exists?"
"Why do you worship Mary?"
"Why don't you think gays should be married?"
"Do you believe that even non-Catholics will go to Heaven?"
"How do you know that Jesus wasn't just a prophet, or a very wise man who happened to have exceptional herbal healing tactics?""Why do you confess to Priests when God already knows your sin?"

Frankly, our Catholic Faith just seems downright confusing most of the time.  If you are a Catholic person who openly practices their faith, I'm sure you've received at least one or two of these questions at some point in time.  But unfortunately, many of us Catholics don't know the answers ourselves!

Suppose I ask you, "What happens in Mass?"
"Uh," you stutter.  You've gone every Sunday for the past X-number of years of your life since you were a child, give or take a few years during college.  And yet you have no idea what even happens in that hour!  Usually you zone out, go through the motions, accidentally uttering, "And also with you," instead of "And with your spirit."  (It's okay, we've all done it.) You've also been known to loudly proclaim "It is right to give Him thanks and praise!" As the word "Praise" echoes solitarily against the stone walls...Everyone else was finished after, "It is right and just." (Giving thanks and praise was so two Advents ago!)

It's not that you are a bad Catholic, it's not that you don't love God, and it's not that you don't have the desire to know -- you simply just don't know.  And that's nothing to be ashamed of!  It means that your Faith has become a part of your routine and your daily life.  You fulfill your Sunday obligations, plop an envelope in the collection basket, and go to Confession once every year or several.  If you remember being an Altar Boy/Girl, recite the Our Father when asked to begin a group prayer, and start every Thanksgiving feast with "Bless us, O Lord," there's no denying that you are, in fact, a true Catholic.

But what happens when you go to work or school, and a lovely friend or co-worker inquires, "Are you religious?"
"Well, sure," you respond, "I'm Catholic."
"...Oh."

Oh.

Oh.

The pandora's box has been opened.

They say, "So, you know Catholics are going to hell, right?"
"I...what?"
"I mean, you call your priests 'Father,' don't you?"
"Well, yeah."
"'Do not call anyone on earth father; for One is your Father, he who is in heaven.' Matthew 23:9. Not that you would know, after all.  I've heard that they don't even let Catholics read the Bible."
"I have a Bible."
"Do you read it?"
(If you're anything like me, probably not as much as you should.)
You respond, "Sometimes."
"Don't you know that God said we should only interpret from the Bible Alone?"
"...He does?"

(Now, if you had studied your faith -- though no discredit to your good name if you have not, for there is a lot to study and it's impossible to know where to begin -- you would know that the notion of "Sola Scriptura," or "The Bible Alone," is frankly a falsehood.  At least, inasmuch as the Bible itself says "The Bible Alone." And that's because it doesn't.)

The conversation continues --

Them: Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your life?
You: I think so..
Them: You think so?
You: Well, yeah. I was Baptized.
Them: Oh, but if you were Baptized as a Catholic, it's not valid! You must be born again.
You: Why?

"Because," they retort, begin to get rather annoyed, "You're basically satanists! What kind of a ritual is the Mass? If you live in full belief that the Priest, whom you call Father, can turn bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Christ, that's pretty dark.  But then you consume it?  It's absurd, disgusting, and you can't rightly think that anything like that could be approved by God, now, could you?"

You pause. Really, you do not know what to say, though you know that in 2000 years of church history, there has to be an answer to these tough questions.  Rather shaken up and not wishing to find out that your entire life of faith has been a lie, you mutter something about having a report to finish, politely give a troubled half-smile, and return to work.

Driving home, you ponder your conversation.  Surely, there's a rhyme and a reason behind the Mass and "Bless us, O Lord." But where do you find them? You can't page through the Bible and find your supporting argument, you never learned how; you can't consult the Catechism, because only Catholics take it seriously; you can't merely say what you believe, because for all you know, what you have come to believe might not be the truth.

So what do you do?

You can learn!

How do you learn?

You can read this blog!

Since my Freshman year of high school, when I started with Mother of Divine Grace, I've had religion as an academic subject every year.  As you can imagine, I was pretty skeptical.  In addition to math, science, literature, and history, I had to learn Religion, too? Memorize Bible verses along with equations? No way. 
But very quickly, I learned some pretty cool stuff.

I've studied our Catholic Faith, Catholic Morality, the Sacraments, and my favorite, Apologetics.  As my good friend from the Church Band said, "Apologetics is like self-defense classes for Catholics!"  The longer you study Apologetics, the closer you are to being a blackbelt in Church defense-ate. (Take, that, heretics!)

Studying my Faith has lead me to appreciate it more, understand it more, and believe in it more.  (Trust me, when you have a question or a doubt, there's always an answer. And when you find it, there will be not only a sigh of relief, but a "wow" moment of, "It is real!")  My disclaimer, here, is that I am certainly no expert.  I'm not the next St. Thomas Aquinas, and I'm certainly no saint.  I cannot promise that every statement I make will be accurate, though I will refrain from posting on topics that I do not fully understand.  In addition, I will cite my sources (which will usually be my "nihil obstat" and "impramatur"* Religion textbooks.)


So, though you may not leave this page as a Theology professional, you might be able to find some simple answers to some complex questions that you have been asking yourself.  Perhaps you will understand Catholic perspectives on certain social issues, have your own misconceptions clarified, or perhaps just feel overall more confident in your Faith.  Who knows: next time someone questions you regarding the Mass, you might know immediately to refer them to the Gospel of John, Chapter 6 -- and maybe you'll even be able to recite some of it!


*Nihil obstat: nothing hinders, nothing stands in the way
Impramatur: let it be printed