The
Face of
Mercy / Daniel Conway
Trying to live as a Christian at the edge of struggle and temptation
(En Espanol)
During the past 10 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has covered a wide range of topics in his reflections for the general audiences on Wednesdays. Starting in 2024, the pope is offering a series of weekly reflections on the topic of “virtues and vices.”
For his first general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Auditorium on Jan. 3, Pope Francis spoke about the spiritual struggles that all Christians face:
Indeed, the spiritual life of the Christian is not peaceful, linear and without challenges; on the contrary, Christian life demands constant struggle: the Christian struggle to preserve the faith, to enrich the gifts of faith in us. It is no coincidence that the first anointing that every Christian receives in the sacrament of baptism—the catechumenal anointing—is without any aroma and symbolically announces that life is a struggle. In fact, in ancient times, wrestlers were fully anointed before a competition, both to tone their muscles and to make their bodies elusive to their opponent’s grasp. The anointing of catechumens immediately makes it clear that Christians are not spared the struggle, that Christians must struggle: their existence, like everyone else’s, will have to descend into the arena, because life is a succession of trials and temptations.
We don’t normally think of Christian life as a battle or a wrestling match. It’s more comforting to think of the Church as a “haven” or resting place where we can retreat from the struggles of daily life. And yet, Pope Francis reminds us that “being comfortable” is not the primary goal of Christian discipleship.
As the pope teaches, “Life is a succession of trials and temptations.” None of us can escape the confrontation with evil that is built into our hearts and minds as a consequence of sin.
“All of us, all of us are tempted, and we must strive not to give in to these temptations,” the Holy Father says. “If any of you have no temptations, say so, because that would be an extraordinary thing! We all have temptations, and we all have to learn how to behave in these situations.”
The great story of Jesus’ temptations by Satan in the desert is meant to inspire us and to show us how to respond when—inevitably—we are tempted.
The Gospels tell us that immediately after his baptism by John in the Jordan River—an action not taken because of Jesus’ sins, but because of his desire to accompany us and show us the way—our Lord was driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit where he was tempted by Satan:
In this case too, we ask ourselves: why does the Son of God have to know temptation? Here too, Jesus reveals himself to be in solidarity with our frail human nature and becomes our great exemplum: the temptations he faces and overcomes among the arid stones of the desert are the first instruction he gives to our life as disciples. He experienced what we too must prepare ourselves to confront: life is made up of challenges, tests, crossroads, opposing views, hidden seductions, contradictory voices. Some voices are even persuasive, so much so that Satan tempts Jesus by resorting to the words of the Scripture. We must preserve our inner clarity in order to choose the path that truly leads to happiness, and then strive not to stop along the way.
To “preserve our inner clarity” requires discipline and the ability to say “no” to our desire for comfort, security and social status. It means that we must stand firm—always by the help of God’s grace—refusing to give in to the temptations that are offered to us constantly in the daily struggles of our lives.
“Let us remember,” the Holy Father says, “that we are always torn between opposite extremes: arrogance challenges humility; hatred opposes charity; sadness hinders the true joy of the Spirit; the hardening of the heart rejects mercy.” We who seek to follow Jesus and to serve as his missionary disciples “continually walk along these edges.”
Reflection on the vices and virtues that are part of our common human experience “helps us to defeat the nihilistic culture in which the boundaries between good and evil become blurred.” At the same time, the pope says, “it reminds us that the human being, unlike any other creature, can always transcend itself, opening up to God and journeying toward holiness.”
(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †