Time of Grace (2016)
Fr. Martin Fuchs´s sermon on 14th February 2016
***
Bernhard, a low rank factory
clerk, took an envelope which contained his moderate
monthly salary from the hands of his superior and thanking him put it in his
pocket. A few minutes later he sat again at his table among his fellow clerks. From
expression of his face they could estimate that he was in a bad mood.
The others could take it
easy. They could afford all kinds of things. But what could Bernhard buy for
160 German Marks? Although he tightened his belt, all his money went on rent,
food, some clothes, the railway ticket and insurance; there was nothing left
for any entertainment.
He was the youngest one in
the office. But did he not fulfil his duty like all the others? Did he not work
as long and as reliably as any of the many who shared this room with him? And
didn´t Dr. Vogel, his direct superior, praise him and express his appreciation
many times?
“Continue like this,
Bernhard, and you won't have to worry about your future“, he had once said to
him. This was an important encouragement for the twenty-year-old man. But again
several months had passed by and nothing had happened. First of all his salary hasn´t
increased!
Before he put his pay packet
into his locker, he controlled the bank-notes. There had to be eight of them,
eight twenty-Mark notes like the ones which he has been bringing home for months
at the end of a busy month. But he felt nine notes in his hand. Very nervously
he took them out and counted them over again. Indeed, there were nine of them.
But originally there were only 160 Marks on the pay packet.
His thoughts went head over
heels. He would finally be able to buy a camera or to undertake a mountain trip
with his friends thanks to this extra money. But he immediately turned back to
reality. “I have to stay honest“, he told himself. “I will bring back the money
to the pay office which surely made a mistake.“ He went to see Dr. Vogel who
did not even seem to be surprised but listened to him with satisfaction. He put
aside the 20-Mark note which Bernhard handed him over with the remark that the
pay office obviously had made a mistake by paying him 180 Marks instead of 160.
In a friendly, paternal manner
Dr. Vogel asked him: “Would you like to exchange your job in the bookkeeping
department for one in the central pay office? They lack personnel and I
recommended you in our last meeting. Your salary will, of course, be increased;
as far as I know the salary for this job is 220 Marks. How about that? It took
Bernhard a little while before he understood but then he agreed with
enthusiasm.
Dear brethren!
Whenever God leads someone
into temptation, He will scrutinize him like Dr. Vogel did with his subordinate
Bernhard or like a teacher does with a student. God wants to show us the way, He
wants to purify us, He wants us to make progress.
We must recognize the
evidence. That is the way we are, with all our good but also our bad qualities.
We should be aware of this. Everything else would be an illusion, would be a
lie.
God also wants to purify us
from fallacies and from disordered self-love.
And finally God wants us to
make progress, he wants to entrust us with more important tasks.
Whenever the Devil and nasty
people lead us into temptation, they have different aims in mind. They do not
want to show us the evidence, they do not want to purify us from our sins, they
do not want us to make progress but they want to lead us away from God.
In today´s Holy Gospel it is
said: Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Ghost in order to be tempted by
the Devil. This temptation makes both different aims clear to us. The Holy Ghost
wants to reveal Jesus´s virtues to us, the Devil wants to lead him into
temptation.
When we say the prayer Our
Father and pray “do not lead us into temptation“, we do not pray that he might preserve
us from any temptation but that he might preserve us from any situation in
which we might agree to a sin. But he has to lead us into temptation in order
to put us to the test.
How do we have to deal with
temptations?
- We must pray that we will not be led into that temptation to which we will agree.
- We have to avoid occasions which might lead to a sin. There are situations in life which lead us to a sin more easily than other situations. An alcoholic for example must not go to a bar as he knows very well that if he goes there, he will give in and get drunk.
Someone else must not go to certain bookshops if he
knows that he will not be able to resist buying a bad book or a bad movie.
We are only allowed to expose ourselves to temptation
for serious reasons! Such a reason would be saving somebody´s life, for
example. A doctor, due to his profession, has to deal with sexual matters, even
if he knows that he might weaken.
- In many situations we can ward off temptations, otherwise they would even get stronger.
This applies mainly to temptations in thought against
God, against our fellow men, against purity. Such thoughts are, for example,
rebellion against God, blasphemy, feelings of hate or thirst for revenge
against our fellow men or unchaste desires which we might have without wanting
them.
If such thoughts arise in situations with which they
don't have anything to do at all, they come from the Devil. For example if
somebody has unchaste thoughts or bad desires in church, although he had
committed the deed years ago and was forgiven it. These kinds of thoughts come
from the Devil.
In general – at times when we are not tempted – we
must pray for God's love, for charity and for purity.
- We must have great trust in God. God will not have us suffering from temptation greater than we are able to bear. God will also make an issue with every temptation. (1 Cor 10:13)
- Prayer and fasting are very helpful. Our Saviour himself had told his Apostles that there are kinds of devils which can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting. (Mk 9:28)
Dear brethren!
Lent is a time of grace. The
Church again and again recommends three good works for this time:
Prayer, fasting and alms.
When praying we give God our spiritual goods, when fastening our corporal goods
and when giving alms our exterior goods.
In religious life – in a
state of perfection – these goods will be strengthened by the three monastic
vows: obedience, by which the member of the order renounces to his spiritual
goods, chastity, by which he renounces to his corporal goods, and poverty, by
which he renounces to his exterior goods.
Let us make a special
sacrifice during the coming Lent: fasting or just drinking water and eating
bread one day per week, an additional catechism lecture, going totally without
chocolate, without television and internet one day per week, visiting a
cemetery. Standing an annoying person which you have to deal with etc. Make a
firm resolution which can be applied to your life and which makes sense. For a
non-smoker it does not make sense to renounce cigarettes.
By all these voluntary
sacrifices our will is going to be strengthened, we will be kept from
temptations and we will be brought nearer to heaven.
Amen.