Sixth Tuesday of Ordinary Time

Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him. No one experiencing temptation should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

When temptations come, it can be difficult to resist them, especially ones we are addicted to. However, God does not send us temptations. They are of our own making. Our own misguided desires lead us into temptation and if we are not strong enough to resist... we fall into sin, and may even cut ourselves off from God through mortal sin. Thankfully, God gives us the love, mercy, and grace we need to persevere against our temptation. All we need to do is remember to call on Him in our trials and use our moments of temptation as jumping off points for prayer. If we succeed in resisting our temptations, then we shall grow in our faith and be crowned with lives of holiness.

What are the temptations we are facing? How can we persevere against these temptations? Do we pray to God for the strength we need to resist our own weaknesses?

O Lord, help us to persevere against all temptations.

Amen.

Wednesday of Holy Week

What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?

Judas betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver—a cheap price—because of his greed. However, we too sell out Jesus in many ways. Some of us sell him for the false comfort of doing whatever we wish. Others sell him out for financial security. We also sell him out because we think we can do better or because we want something that belongs to someone else. We use the wages of sin to appease our appetites, but we soon discover an emptiness within ourselves which cannot be filled with worldly things—no matter how hard we might try. So we are left alone, eaten away by our own appetites, and like Judas one day we will be faced with a choice: remain unrepentant and kill ourselves through sin or seek forgiveness and live. It sounds like an easy choice, but it is far more difficult than we can possibly imagine because we become addicted to the material world and its temptations and lose sight of what is right and wrong. How can we seek forgiveness when we do not recognize our own sins? However, this is what we must do if we want to live, not just this life, but the eternal life which Jesus Christ offers us through Himself.

How do we sell out Christ? What are those sins which we are addicted to? How can we overcome them?

O Lord, we have sinned against you. Please, help us cast aside our sins and seek you out with contrite hearts.

Amen.