Dialogue

I must never enter a dialogue with temptation because to do so would be the first step to perdition.

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Ann Tygett Jones)

I am such a proud person.  I think I can argue my way out of any situation.

There is always a solution.  This is my motto.  The only things that I cannot argue my way out of are illness and death.  Apart from that I flatter myself that I would be able to problem solve my way out of almost any situation…

This is a dangerous thing.

If you really look at some of the most beautiful and holy Saints, they were not renown for their ability to reason or argue.  Some of them – like Saint Bernadette Soubirous and Saint Padre Pio and Saint John Vianney – had learning difficulties (or at least they had difficulties in learning).  In some cases, these difficulties made it incredibly difficult for them to pass the necessary exams and study to enter into religious life.  Saint Lucia of Fatima was instructed by the Blessed Virgin to attend school and to learn to read and write as God had a use of her in this and wanted to make sure that she was ready to be of use to Him.  The Blessed Virgin did not appear to an educated or learned person.  She appeared to an uneducated shepherd child who spent her day waiting for sheep in a small rural village.

Have you ever tried waiting with sheep?  It is an incredibly boring sort of occupation.  There is really not a lot to do while you wait.  They are not clever.  All they do is eat and drink and walk.  They do not attract attention because they are clever or interesting or useful.  They simply sit in one spot and do not do much else…  Can you imagine how mind-numbingly boring this sort of work really was for a young child – or for anyone for that matter?  We live in a world where we are constantly wired and on.  We have phones and internet and television and all the necessary things that keep us going and switched on.  And still, we feel bored or we complain and all of these things make us feel more powerful.

And yet, we have no more power here than people did one hundred years ago before mobile phones were even invented.  We are no more powerful than the very first humans – and perhaps we are actually far less wise…

Eve learned about the temptation of the Evil One…

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’  The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’’ (Genesis 3:1-3).

And if we have learned nothing from this story, then surely, we have learned how important it is not to enter into a dialogue with the Evil One.  We should have learned to avoid arguing with temptation…  The Evil One exploits our pride and convinces us that if we are able to articulate an argument then we can surely argue our way out.  But today I am sure that I must never enter a dialogue with temptation because to do so would be the first step to perdition.

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.