Homily for Ash
Wednesday
February 10, 2016
The Three Enemies,
and the Three Strategies
If we
want to follow Christ, we will have to fight for it. Living a vibrant life in
Christ, transformed by the Spirit, seeking holiness, is something that goes against
the values of this world, and we have to fight if we want to be true
Christians. But what are we fighting?
Anyone
who loves Christ will have to fight against three enemies: the world, the
flesh, and the devil.
First,
if we seek holiness, we will be tempted by the world. What do I mean by “the
world”? I mean two things – first, we are often tempted by peer pressure, which
usually isn’t healthy or holy. When’s the last time you ever had someone say, “Hey,
let’s go pray the Rosary – all the cool kids are doing it!” Many times, we feel
pressured, even by our friends, to sin, to stray from the way of the Lord. The
other temptation in the world is the lure of riches and possessions. Nobody
boasts of their dirty, beat-up car or their old shoes. No, the world boasts in
having the best, the brightest, the newest, the richest. So the first source of
temptation we must fight is the world.
But
temptation isn’t only “out there” in the world – it is also within us. The
second enemy we must fight is the flesh. Now, I don’t mean that our bodies are
bad – but they do often betray us. Our flesh desires more food, more sleep,
more pleasure, more sex, an easier life. Again, none of these things are bad –
but our flesh wants them when we shouldn’t have them. How many times have we
eaten dessert and regretted it later? How many times have we been lazy and hit
the snooze button when we should have been up? Our flesh is a traitor – it does
not serve our souls, but often rebels against our souls – so we must fight
against our inner tendency to follow the desires of the flesh and not the
teachings of Christ.
The
third source of temptation is the devil. The devil makes sin seem attractive;
he puts lies into our thoughts so that we begin to rationalize sin away.
So these
are the three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. These three are
unceasing in their desire to drag us down to Hell, to prevent us from living
the life of grace that Christ has won for us.
So what
is the antidote to these three enemies? The answer is in the Gospel. Prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving.
If the
world tempts us with riches, we overcome the world through generosity and
simplicity of life. We give alms – which means we give to the poor or to the
Church – so that we do not become attached to money and possessions. If you
give away money to the poor and you don’t have enough money to buy those new
Nike Jordans, then you are less likely to allow your heart to be drowned by
riches.
If our
flesh tempts us with pleasure, we overcome the flesh through fasting and
sacrifice. We often give things up in Lent like chocolate cake or Facebook, not
because those things are bad, but so that we can gain mastery over our flesh
which is often tempted to illicit pleasures. If we can give up a legitimate
pleasure, then it becomes easier to give up an illegitimate pleasure.
If the
devil tempts us to pride, then we overcome the devil through prayer. Prayer
recognizes that God is the King of our life, our good Father Who wants what’s
best for us. Ultimately all of the above – generosity, simplicity, fasting,
sacrifice – doesn’t mean anything unless it is covered by prayer, because the
whole point of the spiritual battle is to become closer to the Lord.
My
friends, this Lent, recognize these three battle points – the world, the flesh,
and the devil. All three promise you a life of misery and chaos, masquerading
as riches, and pleasure. Fight them with the threefold weapon of prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving. Because if Easter comes around and you are no closer
to the Lord than you are at this moment, then you’ve wasted the whole point of
Lent. The point of Lent is to become a saint. And that starts today – with prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving.
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