THE POWER OF SEDUCTION.

September 3, 2023.
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – A.

Readings: Jer 20:7-9; Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt16:21-27.

A French proverb says: “Example is the greatest of all seducers.” And a Spanish proverb adds: “The snake that seduced Eve spoke Spanish.”

Seduction is itself an art. It displays to someone the beautiful side of something. But when you take time to look deep inside, it does not hide what it requires to fully possess or live that thing, that is the sacrifices that go with it. We hear and speak most of seduction in relationship with love. And in that sense, women are the experts. I read somewhere that seduction is a game of psychology, not beauty. Seducers see themselves as providers of pleasure. When one seduces you, they seem to offer you the most happy and greatest moments of life. But once you fall into it, you discover what true happiness is about. It does not take away crosses and hardships but transforms them into means of personal fulfillment.

Why are we speaking about seduction and its power today? Simply because the readings lead us to it. In the first reading, we hear the Prophet Jeremiah complaining that God seduced him. Like everyone who falls into the trap of seduction, Jeremiah was convinced that answering God's call would lead him to success and an easy life. That was a dream or an expectation. The reality was different.

Life won't be as fair as he thought. The Prophet will go from mockery to insults, rejection to maltreatment. In his own words, we hear: "All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day." The fact is, he cannot subtract himself from being a prophet. His heart is fully caught by God and burning out for him and his word. Therefore, the Prophet will resolve to carry his mission, no matter what it might cost him.

In the Gospel, we have something quite similar. After Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the Lord started revealing the contents of his Messianism, the Passion and Death he will undertake, and his future Resurrection. But this does not meet the expectations and agenda of Peter. Why does the Messiah have to suffer? Peter was seduced by the image of glory. Suffering was not part of the plan. So, we read that he tried to rebuke Jesus: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” But Jesus will rebuke him the more: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” As to say, suffering is not an addition, it is rather part and the central element of the plan of salvation. When we are seduced by God, we must be ready to face hardships and tribulations. The Cross is an integral part of the plan.

It is not an intrusive thing. The Christian life cannot be conjugated without the cross. It is rather at the feet of the Cross we give the genuine witness of our faith and belonging to Christ. For, he says: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me..." Who is unwilling or not ready to carry the cross with Jesus and walk after him on the roads of tribulations, humiliation, rejection, and even martyrdom is not a true disciple of Christ. Many are they, unfortunately, the nominal Christians who love Christ but hate his cross. Their favorite Gospels are the Gospel of miracles, healing, multiplication of bread, and walking in the sea without waves or winds. When come the winds, waves, and any other tribulations, they lose hope, and some even depart from him.

Jesus did not come to promise fortune or earthly possessions. He came to bring us salvation. And this salvation will be effective only on the Cross, in his blood, through his death. As his disciples, not only should we accept and believe this fact, but we also should be ready to walk in his footsteps, that is carry our crosses after him. The Lord warns us questioning: "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?"

To close our meditation, what should be our relation or attitude toward riches and material possessions? Many people state that the Church promotes poverty and hatred of riches and material. That is far from being true. The Church does not teach that material possession is evil. She only warns about the use or the place we give to it in our lives. Evil is what we make of our possessions and how we relate to them. In the Holy Scriptures, “the Lord grieves over the rich, because they find their consolation in the abundance of goods. "Let the proud seek and love earthly kingdoms, but blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." Abandonment to the providence of the Father in heaven frees us from anxiety about tomorrow. Trust in God is a preparation for the blessedness of the poor. They shall see God.” CCC 2547

Money won't save us, nor all the material possessions we run for. We need them for life, but they must not be the reason for our life. As Paul could warn the Romans, we should not conform ourselves to the way of the world, but transform the world through the way and the Gospel of Christ. In everything, we should discern what is good, and what is God's will, and be ready to follow Christ, even on the hard and rocky way of the Cross. For the Cross is our ladder and key to heaven. May we let ourselves be seduced by God and his word rather than by the world and its fleeting treasures. For the world will pass but God’s word and his promises, never.