Apr 1 Tue
Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?
“Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer." Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. Let’s see if it is an individual: “I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish." Now it is no longer one person; it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. But what single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. Jesus was told by his Father: “Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession." This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, is the one Church of Christ. She cries from the ends of the earth because we all form a single family.
What does she cry? She says: “Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth." She cries from every part of the world.
How does she cry? With her heart in anguish. The speaker shows that the Church is present among all the nations of the earth not in a state of exalted glory but in a condition of severe trial.
Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from hardship. We progress through suffering. No one gets to know himself except through trial, receives a crown except after victory, or grows stronger except by fighting the temptations of the enemy.
The body of the Church crying from the ends of the earth is in anguish but is not left on its own. Christ chose to go ahead of us, who are his body, using his body, in which he died, rose, and ascended into heaven. Now, the members of his body may hope to follow where their Head has gone before.
He made you one with him when He chose to be tempted by Satan. You have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly, Christ was tempted by the devil. Thus, you and I are also tempted. Christ received his flesh from our human nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you. He suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you. Thus, He suffered temptation in your human nature, and by his own power gained victory for you.
If, like Christ, you are tempted, in him and with him, you can overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? If you see yourself as tempted like him, see yourself as victorious with him. He could have kept the devil away from himself; but if He had not been tempted, he could not teach you how to overcome temptations.
Thus, since Christ suffered temptation, united to Him, and with him, we overcome the Devil.
Excerpts from St Augustine
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