A new perspective

Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, the Church provides us with the gospel passage recounting Jesus' temptations in the desert. The trouble with the stories of Jesus' life, and most others in the bible that are told time and time again is that we can sometimes hear them but not pay too much attention to them. Sometimes the reader completes the proclamation, and the listeners respond with the appropriate words (Praise be to you, Lord Jesus Christ) ... they even sit back down again, but then find themselves wondering what the story just told was all about.

The trick for the homilist is always to be on the lookout for new perspectives on the same passages. Sometimes this takes the form of new lessons, but more often than not, we end up with new learnings ourselves, or new ways to appreciate the wisdom of the words (assuming of course that we've taken the time to truly mull over the words, to consider them prayerfully and to hear them through the ears of the people who will have to listen to them when they are proclaimed in the assembly.

Thanks to much such musing this week, I think I've come up with a fresh look at the Temptations of Jesus. Here's a little teaser:

When I was a young boy, we had an old fashioned washing machine in the house, one of the ones with a ringer on top. When the clothes had been washed, my mother would grab them by the collar or by the waistband and force them through the wringer to remove the excess water before they would be hung on the line. If ever it was possible to feel sorry for inanimate objects, perhaps this was a prime example. A shirt, a pair of pyjamas, even socks and underwear would come inching through, limp, flattened almost completely dehydrated. Then to make matters worse, my mother (who is perhaps the most compassionate person I know) would repeat the process, forcing each item of clothing through the wringer a second time.

Have I managed to peak your interest? If so, you can listen to the complete homily (including the proclamation of the gospel) or you can read the text of the reflection. Your choice. Happy Sunday.