DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Monday, April 30, 2018

Is there such as the power of temptation? If so, what is it?

“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil (or the evil one).” – Matthew 6:13

Within this plea in the Lord’s Prayer is a confession. “Lord, help me for I struggle with a moral weakness. I want to do right, but I do not always do it; I want to not do wrong, but sometimes I do.” And if we are wise enough to be humble … we all have need of this prayer. And if we think we don’t … then we most assuredly do for the delusion of self-righteousness has come upon us.

In my own human experience, sometimes temptation has made me morally stronger in resisting it, but more often, temptation has slowly worn me down. And it is only in being conscious of the presence of Christ that I can survive those temptation that prey on either my pride or my frailty. Without a vivid, living, powerful sense of the Lord being within me, that I find the power to choose my course wisely.

Thus, each day for me is filled with prayer and with self-examination, not to shame my vulnerabilities but we for me to know well my vulnerabilities. And in thus becoming aware of the limitations of my humanity and aware of the Divine assistance. For in Christ I am A blend and balance of both the human and the Divine, a wholeness sustained by the actuality that where I am weak the Lord is strong.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz