1st Sunday of Lent

In Homer’s great Greek epic, The Odyssey, the hero of the story, Odysseus, is faced with the quest of returning to his home to be reunited with his wife and son. His journey home is plagued by obstacles, once of the most dangerous of which is to pass by the island of Sirenum Scopoli. What makes is so dangerous are the monsters, called Sirens, who sit on the rocks of the island and sing a beautiful song to the sailors. This song is so beguiling and beautiful that the sailors are lured closer and closer to the dangerous rocks. The song of the Sirens is so captivating that the sailors are tricked into seeing the monstrous Sirens and two incredibly beautiful and appealing young women. So great is the power of the Siren’s song that sailors steer the ship closer and closer to the rocks and the Sirens, until the ship hits the rocks and sailors all jump into the water and are drowned. Odysseus knows that he must do all in his power to avoid this happening if he is to accomplish his quest and make it home. So he gives his sailors beeswax, which they melt and then put into their ears so that they will not be able to hear the song of the Sirens. Odysseus himself is curious and wants to hear the song sung by the Sirens since he has heard it is so beautiful. But in order to combat the overwhelming urge to throw himself into the sea to swim towards the Sirens, he instructs his sailors to lash him to the mast so that he cannot break free. As they sail past the island, the sailors can’t hear the song of the Sirens, and so they see them for what they are – scary monsters – and steer well clear of them. Odysseus on the other hand hears their beautiful song, and instead sees two ravishing young women so beautiful he longs to throw himself into the sea and go to meet them. He cries out to his sailors to untie him – but since their ears are filled with beeswax, they cannot hear him and they pass safely by the island without being shipwrecked.

This story gives us an excellent illustration of how we are to deal with temptation in our lives. At its heart, all temptation is a lie, beguiling us into believing that if we give into our baser desires we will find the happiness that we are searching for. The three temptations of Jesus all represent different lies that the devil tells us in order to divert us from the only thing that can truly fulfil us, which is serving God. The way to deal with temptation is for us to simply block our ears and refuse to listen the to song that the devil sings to us. If we never hear the lie, there is no danger of us even be tempted to believe it. If we never hear the lie, we will see temptation for what is really is – a monster – and not a ravishing young woman. Half the spiritual battle with overcoming temptation is seeing through the lie that it represents.

On the other hand, Odysseus’ strategy of wanting to hear the song out of pure curiosity is a very dangerous way of dealing with temptation. We are sailing close to the wind if we decide to take Odysseus’ route of wanting to hear the song of Satan. It is like an alcoholic who sees his friend sipping a single malt Scotch and asks him to allow him to just smell the Scotch. It is like the shopaholic who convinces herself that she is just going to go into the clothing store to look at what’s on offer, but won’t buy anything. If you are not planning to give into temptation – why would you want to hear the song. We might persuade ourselves that we are merely doing it to steel our nerves, to prove to ourselves that we have the willpower necessary to resist. But these are the actions of an arrogant person who knows not the weakness of human flesh. Playing with fire like this are the typical actions of an addict who is skilled in the art of self-deception. In reality we are not playing with fire in order to test our resolve and see if we have managed to overcome our addiction. The real reason we are playing with fire is because we enjoy the thrill of being tempted, almost as much, if not more, than the sin itself. Odysseus wanted to hear the beautiful song of the Sirens even though he knew it would be dangerous because he was attracted to the thrill of hearing the song and being tempted. He perhaps also relished the idea of battling it out with the Sirens and testing his willpower against theirs.

When we read the opening line of our gospel, though, it would seem that the Holy Spirit has adopted precisely the strategy of Odysseus by seeking out a head-on confrontation with the Devil. We are told that Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. We might wonder at why the Holy Spirit would actively lead Jesus into a place where he would be tempted. How are we to understand what is going on, and how are Jesus’ actions any different from those of Odysseus? First of all, it is necessary to say that Jesus didn’t seek out temptation the way Odysseus did, the temptation he encountered came as a by-product of his journey into the desert and into silence. For when we strip away the things in our lives that distract us from God’s message, when we peel away the non-essentials and go to the essentials – through fasting, prayer and almsgiving – we’re going to find that which is most true about ourselves – beauty and goodness, but we are also going to find our shadow selves. We are going to be called into a time of spiritual warfare.

For the devil has a vested interest in keeping us so distracted that we never really ever encounter true spiritual warfare. A distracted busy mind is also the perfect place to tempt someone. The great Christian spiritual writer, C.S. Lewis, makes this clear in the Screwtape letters. In the Screwtape letters, C.S. Lewis has an expert and seasoned demon, named Screwtape, advising a novice demon, Wormword how to tempt a person. Here is the advice of Screwtape to Wormwood on keeping his person distracted: “ As this condition becomes more fully established, you will be gradually freed from the tiresome business of providing Pleasures as temptations. As the uneasiness and his reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness…you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday’s paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but in conversations with those he cares nothing about on subjects that bore him.”

Screwtape adds to this advice by advising Wormwood to keep his people busy: “Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds. Persuade them to work for long hours, to work 6–7 days a week, 10–12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week.

Don’t let them go out in nature to reflect on God’s wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.”

We will do anything to remain living on the surface, on superficiality – because we know that if we go to prayer, true depth will be required from us. There will be soulwork, there will be spiritual warfare. As long as we skit along the surface of life, we can have a clear conscience – because our spiritual powers are not really engaged. This is why we need to go into the desert during Lent. This is why it is essential that we break up the normal patterns of our daily routine that rule our life during Lent, and through fasting, prayer and almsgiving allow our lives to be purified of the soul-destroying business and distractions that our normal routine entails. May we have the courage to go out into the desert this Lent and let the silence we find there purify our lives.

Questions for reflection

1. How am I being called to fast from the things that distract me this Lent?

2. In what ways am I like Odysseus in flirting with temptation, and what would putting beeswax in my ears look like for me?