Popularity versus Chastity. 2nd temptation
Manila retreat 10
2nd Temptation and vow of Chastity Mt 4:5-7
In analysing the temptations of Christ we follow the order of
Matthew, not the one of Luke.
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the
pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of
God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his
angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so
that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said
to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to
the test.'” (Mt 4:5-7)
This temptation is very similar to the first: Satan invites Jesus to
be a man of miracles. The difference stands in the fact that the aim
of the miracle now is not anymore the satisfaction of his needs, but
the attracting people, impressing them in order to get their
approval. The temple of Jerusalem is the place of the elite, of the
religious.
This addresses a more subtle need of the human nature: the one of
being recognized, approved, accepted. Looking from the human point of
view after having won the approval of people it should be easier to
carry on the mission of Messiah. This is the basic principle of
modern society: propaganda, glamour to attract customers. Look at all
political elections.
But this is exactly the opposite of what Jesus does. He does not care
for the approval of people and if this comes is because of his style
of humility and service.
At first sight the devil seems to be right. As long as Jesus is
making miracles he has thousands of followers who want to make him
king. When he stops making miracles they all go away. But ironically
this is the proof that Jesus, instead, was right. As we see in Jn
6:26: “Very truly, I tell you, you are
looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your
fill of the loaves” Jesus is aware
that people do not follow him convinced or with faith but out of
interest. This is not true discipleship. They do not love him, they
love his miracles.
Jesus serves us through true love which has his top moment on the
cross, not when he performs miracles. That is why he keeps on telling
to the cured, not to tell anybody about the miracle received, but
that is why also they do not obey him and go around proclaiming.
Our vow of chastity teaches us about real love which is not to
impress the others to attract them to us, to possess them, but to
serve them in humility and detachment. They belong
to God, not to us.
This is the core question of our vow of chastity:
Do we look for a love of interest which satisfies our desires and
instincts, or a pure love like the one of Jesus?
Whenever we look for human approval we actually go
against the vow of chastity. Chastity is not only a matter of
sexuality or sensuality, is much more. To try to possess the other
person to satisfy my needs (physical or psychological or social or
even spiritual), is a process that takes away from God the focus of
what we do and puts it on ourselves. We put ourselves at the centre
of the work, not God or the neighbours. It brings people to us not to
God. They get stuck with us and miss out the purpose of their life:
to be one with God.
In the Beatitudes Jesus says: “Blessed the pure
in heart for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). Only through
spirituality we can see God present in others, otherwise we see only
the human. This beatitude is then saying to us that chastity is the
way to live our spirituality. But the vow of chastity is not possible
without deep prayer and union with God. The one who does not pray
will soon fall.
We said that the 1st and the 2nd temptation are
similar: the first is to possess material things, the second is to
possess people. Chastity is a Poverty at a higher level. (even the
third is an attachment, to self and obedience is yet another proof of
poverty).
Even a person who lives alone rejecting every
relationship for the sake of a so called “austerity”, denies love
and so is against chastity. (tell the story of the two monks
crossing the river, one of whom helped a girl).
Jesus did not jump from the pinnacle of the temple
to attract people (the pious or the powerful), but jumped into death
and hell to save the lost and forgotten.
So basically the vow of chastity is a matter of relationship.
We meet a lot of people daily. We have staff and we treat them very
coldly just making sure they do their job properly, they are
punctual, and maybe we forget that they have families, problems
etcetera. Then we have the clients, the children of the school, their
parents, the sick at the clinic etc. We make sure that they
understand that we are in charge, we encourage fear so we are sure
they will not take advantage of us. Then we have friends and
relatives and we are very affectionate with them, over attached to
them, abundant in phone calls and gifts. Finally we have the members
of our community and we are often cold, over-worried, expecting to
be understood by them but spending little time to listen to them and
understand them.
All these are exaggerated positions which show immature level of
relationship. Here is were the vow of chastity plays its role.
Chastity is capacity of relationship. Jesus is not afraid to approach
the adulteress and forgive her (Jn 8,1-12); He is not afraid to allow
the prostitute to kiss his feet and wash them with her tears and wipe
them with her hair. H defends her against the comment of the Pharisee
(Lk 7:36-50); He is not afraid to stay alone with the Samaritan woman
and talk to her in spite of the comments of his disciples (Jn 4); He
is not afraid to allow women to follow him (Lk 8:1-3); He is free in
his relationship with Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38-42).
The mystical aspect of this vow is to see God in
all people. Our constitutions say: “Consecrated
chastity does not shrivel up our heart. Rather it opens up our
ability to love to the dimensions of the entire world. It makes us
sensitive to the needs of our brothers and sisters in imitation of
the Christ, who shared in the life of human beings, loving them,
doing good to them and offering himself for them. Thus
we feel called to sublimate the finest feelings of our spirit and
express them in mature and serene relationships by opening our hearts
to spiritual fatherhood and to the life of communion” (Art. 21).
The prophetic aspect is to love them all, possess
none of them and finally carry them to Jesus. Jesus has loved them
all freely because in them he saw the desire of the Father to save
them and he saw their desire for true love, but he did not hold them
he let them go on their way, he just gave the direction where to find
God. 1 Jn 4:19-21. “We love because he
first loved us. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their
brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother
or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not
seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God
must love their brothers and sisters also.”
What are the challenges for the religious today?
- To understand the vow of chastity as a real gift from God to us: “He answered, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Mt 13:11), a gift which is precious and valuable of which we have to take care: “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us” (2 Cor 4:7)
- Capacity of building an inner freedom: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (Jn 8:32). There is often the temptation of compromises with sin (Just a bit, just for while, just once), or of living in a double level (this is only in my private life, when I am with the other I am good ), grooming wrong fantasies or desires which create dissatisfaction.
- Have the courage of love: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:46-48). We often create preferences, we treat somebody very well and dismiss other easily just because we like or dislike them. The religious, especially those in public positions, should be people of rectitude and at the same time compassion, clear in the rules but understanding of the limits of the others.
- Very important is the way we relate with people. I had the chance to spend time with the sister of Mother Teresa in the slum of Cairo. I was there for about a month to give classes to the junior sisters of North Africa province. They cannot do much for those poor people, since they themselves do not have much, but the little they do they always do smiling, encouraging, loving. The poor appreciate that and love them. In that occasion I discovered that Mother Teresa had put it written in the constitutions that the sister should always smile when serving the poor. They really manage to see the suffering Christ in those helpless people.
- Final aspect is the one of relationships inside of our communities. Real love starts from the family. It is useless to go out and preach love when we are not able to practice it first at home. Love inside the community requires often patience, trust, forgiveness, but how safe we will be in relationships outside if we have a strong bond at home, and how weak we would be in the opposite situation.
For personal work
- Am I happy with my vocation? Myself? My work?
- Am I satisfied with the way I relate with the people around me?
- Is there in my life any particular friendship of which I feel a bit embarrassed or I would not like other people to know?
- Who are the people I am really attached to, and why am I attached to them?
- How do I treat my workers or the people whom I meet in my work?
- Who are the people I can say I really love? How do I express my love for them?
- Am I a busy person or do I have a lot of free time?
- Is there anything in my past life I feel guilty about, I find difficult to talk about or to think about?
- Do I love only those who love me back, accept only those who are grateful or those who can afford my services, or am I really following the teachings of the Gospel?