reflection by Mark Gates:
“Our hearts are restless until they find rest in God.” This famous quote attributed to St. Augustine, from his book ‘Confessions’ written in approx. 400 ad., describes that ever-present gnawing in a soul that says “What else is there? There’s more that I feel I need to: do, know, be…” I had felt this for too many years. My wife, children, job, home, church & etc.… just weren’t enough and they should have been. Our first scripture today, Gen 2:7-9 & 3:1-7, reminds us of Adam’s (and Eve’s) fall from grace. Satan tricks Eve into believing that the Tree of Knowledge ‘wasn’t so bad’ and if eating the fruit will make her as smart as God, wisdom… She wanted in!! Adam, (just like all husbands today) did exactly as his wife told him. 😊 😊.
So, restlessness enters the world. We /I always want more! I want more Joy, more Love, more Contentment, and more of God. As Augustine said, the ultimate, most positive of any experience of knowing God, won’t happen until we are with our Blessed Trinity in Paradise. Until then, all we can yearn for is to “Wet our beaks a little.”
Apostle Paul re-educates us in Romans 5:12-19 with a discourse on the previously mentioned fall from grace. Paul though, includes the reasoning of why Jesus’ death and resurrection IS the payment that eliminates the debt. Jesus’ life and foretold agony equalize against the foolishness, disobedience, sin and ‘death’ of Adam.
We just can’t get rid of Satan today. In our Gospel reading, Matt 4:1-11, Jesus goes into the desert for forty days of prayer and fasting. Far be it from Satan to pass up this opportunity to aggravate Jesus in a more direct way, on a more personal level. The evil one uses three different and separate angles to test Jesus. All of them from the physical realm. Jesus answers with scripture, truth and Spirit. The last tempting was puzzling for me. Satan offers Jesus the whole world, he doesn’t even acknowledge that Jesus, as God, already owns the whole world and it’s people. He just hasn’t redeemed us yet!
NOW, we are redeemed. Now we eagerly await our final Baptism. Until then… we keep on, keeping on. May all of God’s Joy be yours, Happy Lent, Mark “G”.
