January 21, 2024
First Sunday of Lent
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm
Gn 9:8-15 Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9.
Our Gospel today has an interesting line:
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.
A simple line, but read it again. The Spirit who was with Jesus a moment ago at His Baptism drove Him into the desert to be tested. Then Satan tempted Jesus. The Son of God. Satan wanted to win Him over to the dark side. Jesus would have none of it. Think about that for a minute. How much more will Satan go after us? There are many ways he will try to win us over to the dark side.
About a week ago, I saw an article about the top 20 myths about world religions that people believe. It was in a secular paper, not a religious one. Anyway, one of the top 20 myths was Yoga Is Just Physical Exercise. The article continued:
In the West, yoga is often seen merely as physical exercise. However, in its original context within Hinduism and Buddhism, yoga includes a range of practices aimed at spiritual enlightenment, not just physical fitness.
Catholics must be extremely cautious with Yoga. We are both physical and spiritual beings and it cannot separate the two. Many of the poses in Yoga invoke pagan gods such as Virabhadra, a god created by Shiva to murder Shiva’s relative. The pose has three parts and is called the Warrior pose and it imitates the sequence of that murder.
Reiki seems to be another form of Western “healing” that is catching on at an alarming rate. Reiki is a Japanese form of supposed stress reduction and healing invented by Mikao Usui from Buddhism in the late 1800s. An article quoting Beth Anderson, a Catholic who went to a Reiki practitioner in 2004 states the following:
“I was asked to sit in a chair and there was a little ceremony to ‘open me up’ to the Reiki energy,” she recalled. “There was clapping and ringing of bells over me. It felt a little like a sacrament.”
Further on it goes on to say:
“I was told by another Reiki master that I should do a ‘past life regression,’” she said. “I had always been dead-set against doing that, but then somehow I got to a place of temptation where I almost did it, and that scared me.”
This delves into reincarnation and is not something we as Catholics can believe or participate in.
There are many other things we sometimes look to as harmless fun. Horoscopes, or astrological signs should not be used to guide our lives. Satan uses these to take our thoughts away from God and it is God alone who should be our guide through prayer and petition, not the stars. This type of false guidance or protection also comes through things like wearing crystals. Crystals are indeed a deception from Satan, that something of God’s creation is magical or worse, can make us think that creation is greater than the Creator who is God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say:
All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead, or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion…Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it.
I wish I could delve into each of these more but just being aware of the dangers I hope is enough.
Remember Solomon, who asked for, and was granted
a heart so wise and discerning that there has never been anyone like him nor after him will there be anyone equal.
Even he was tempted by Satan and turned to false Gods as we see in 1 Kings 11:8-11
Solomon did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart turned away from the LORD… So the LORD said to Solomon: Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and the statutes which I enjoined on you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
We are in Lent, a time to fast from something, and maybe one of these things just discussed will be something we now fast from. We should fill that void with something holy instead. Matthew 12:43-45 tells us
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person it roams through arid regions searching for rest but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order. Then it goes and brings back with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.
There are alternatives to Yoga such as SoulCore, Catholic FIT or Pietra Fitness. Sometimes it might even be good to offer up our suffering to join in the redemptive suffering of Jesus’ passion. Of course, the best way to remain safe from the temptations of Satan is prayer and frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. Find groups of like-minded people. Come to our Thursday night Eucharistic Revival meetings. Attend a Catholic retreat like the Emmaus at the beginning of March. Find something to fill that void with good things that will help you resist the temptations of the Evil One.
Remember what Saint Anthony the Great said:
Expect temptation to your last breath!
**May St. Michael the Archangel defund us in battle**
Aa very impotant message you just shared. Thanks and keep up the wonderful work. Blessing to you and the family.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope you are well!
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