The Temptation to Obsessions

So before I go to the main body of this homily, I just want to stress something

that I've been observing for months now.

It's Lenten time. It's good time to remind ourselves about some of the good

rules about the Holy Mass and our fulfilling our obligation.

You know, I want to address the leaving Mass right after communion very quickly.

Because I have been taking communion to the sick who cannot walk to the altar.

And as I'm walking there, I see all these people leaving.

And it bothers me. And it bothers people who visit. And it bothers the ushers. And we talk about it.

And finally, after almost a year, I have to say something.

You know, that if you do this, then please make sure to confess it as well. Because it is a sin.

You have an obligation to be at Mass on Sunday from the beginning,

so if you are habitually late, also should be confessed, from the sign of the

cross to the final blessing.

That's your fulfillment of the precept of the law of God.

If you play with it because you're in rush, because you just don't want to wait

for the end of communion, whatever it is, because you are done with God,

whether he is done with you yet or not, then you should confess it.

You should say, Father, I continuously sneak out of the Mass before the final

blessing, and I give that example because that's what it is.

So, Mass is not about just taking, but it's about worship.

So, if you've been given Holy Communion, your job really is to go back to the

pew and honor Jesus in your heart for a time.

Five minutes and then receive the final blessing and then leave.

Stay, honor Jesus with your presence. If you don't want to and want to continue,

fine, I'm not going to stand there and stop you.

That's not my job. But please confess it over and over again,

if you do it over and over again, because it should not be happening.

So now the main body of the homily. As we enter this first Sunday of Lent,

we are reminded, of course, that the journey of our faith is not easy.

We see time of Moses and Moses being a

you know a good servant of God a priest right we would say he reminds people

just like I just reminded you about an issue because I care for your soul and

your salvation and the state of this parish and the people and our proper worship,

so Moses is reminding people hey God

has done so much for you he led you

out of Egypt to the promised land through

the desert remember the desert because Jesus

is in the desert today we remember land 40 days

of desert but you are so quick to forget

all the good things that he has done for you and

that's why I have to for I have to remind you right the 10 10th of everything

that the land has given you give it to the Lord right Moses says and then when

you give the offering bow to to God and his presence right like we do in front

of the tabernacle we genuflect.

Because we honor Jesus. We want to remember him. And so remember that they don't trust always.

They are tempted. Even though they're freed from slavery, they're struggling

to trust God in the desert.

They complain about the manna, even though it becomes as sweet for them as they want it.

And every food that they imagine, the manna can become just like the Eucharist.

It's everything for everyone, depending on your faith. But they complain.

Now, Jesus, of course, is the new Moses, so he goes into the desert to fix the

unfaithfulness of the chosen nation and also give us an example of how to deal

with the most difficult temptations in our life.

How often do we cry to God in our suffering, but then doubt him when things don't go our way?

So their story is our story.

And it's important for us to go over it and

just kind of see how it is relevant to the people

of God today so Jesus

goes and faces three temptations major temptations he's tested um like we say

for this time but the devil will come back to him at an opportune time you know

when in Gethsemane when Jesus is beaten and and and afraid so first temptation

of the flesh I'll see you next time.

If you are the son of God, command these stones to become bread.

So the Israelites, as you remember,

failed this test when they complained about the food in the desert.

And Moses, right, God was ready to destroy them. But Moses, being a good priest,

he went before God and pleaded, don't destroy them.

For my sake, Lord. And God said, okay, I will not destroy them, but they will be bitten.

There will be consequences.

So Jesus overcomes this temptation and he says, One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

How does this apply to us? Well, I would say I'm going to just choose one aspect

of our human life because next year, another, and, you know,

a hundred years, a hundred aspects.

First, Satan appeals before us or presents to us the new God of,

I would say, a modern rich country, food obsession. So let's just take it apart.

What do I mean by that? You may know this, that Satan, when he tempts us,

right, he will want to create an obsession over something.

Sometimes he will use something good like food and create an obsession, right?

We have this proportionate, right, food, which will be leading you to anorexia

or bulimia, right? I remember my sister even struggled with this.

I kind of caught her and I was like, I confronted her when I was a teenager

and I said like, okay, if I see this again, I'm going to tell mother,

right? It's like a good brother.

I didn't go to the mother first because I didn't want her to go to the mother

when she saw something, you know, about me.

But why did she do it, right? She was throwing up food after meals because she wanted to fit in.

And of course, it was damaging her.

She would kill me if she knew that I was just saying this, my sister,

you know, revealing her things. But that was many, many years ago.

So the devil, he's going to create an obsession.

And sometimes, as you know, like this, you have these obsessive thoughts about

something and you're just like, oh, I have anxiety.

All of these things, sure. but then sometimes the

thoughts are so sinful and so vicious and you just say

like i'm not that evil like am i i'm not

that twisted and not that depraved am i

and it's like the devil is pushing stuff at you and he's

never tired right so in the morning in the evening he doesn't sleep he doesn't

eat and so the obsessive thoughts become the temptation that he wants to shovel

at you and people fall in this you know we have these today we have all these

diets and i think you will agree with me if I tell you that some diets have

literally have shrines built to them.

So, you know, and when you open anything online or any social,

when you talk about the diet, right, your phone listens to you,

so it's going to present to you all these diets suddenly, like you,

like I wasn't searching for diets, and suddenly it's in your email, right?

Because nobody's listening to us, of course. And so keto diet,

for example, many of you know, I'm sure, right, I'm on keto,

I'm on I'm on Keto, I'm on Keto, like, OK, let's open a church, like we all on Keto.

There are many other popular diets that people follow.

Now, my point is this, because I'm a priest, so I'm not a dietitian, but I'm a priest.

And which of them is like, it has its own rules, right? So I'm kind of looking

at it like it also becomes like almost a religion.

Restrictions, often philosophical ideologies or spin, and that can sometimes

lead to an obsession, food control identity almost.

Like I have a t-shirt, I'm on keto, I have a backpack, you know.

I just go to keto restaurants and all of that stuff.

Now, I would say sometimes for a time trying other thing, not a big deal.

But if you order all your life towards this one obsession, it may become destructive.

So potential obsession here is what? Can lead to extreme restrictions.

Fear of carbs, right? What are we going to do with carbs? Well,

we're going to treat them morally so they are evil.

Carbs are evil. Father, it's been three weeks since my last confession.

And I've eaten carbs. Okay.

And I will say this, listen, there are probably worse things that you've done.

So how about we forget about the carbs and you tell me, how are you with your

wife? How are you with your husband?

Okay. Let's not talk about carbs, but it's gotten to this point.

Remember, we are in a desert. The devil says to Jesus, turn this bread into stone.

But today he would say like, I mean, turn the stone into bread. Today he would say what?

He would like turn this stone into a perfectly grilled steak,

grass-fed, organic, and zero carb, right?

Because carb, I'm not going to eat it anyways, even if I have to die.

And so carnival diet, right? All meat dies.

All meat diet, so potential obsession. Some become extreme in rejecting all

plant-based food. So God's creation, bad.

Believing carbs are harmful to all people, all of that.

Veganism. I think you all agree that veganism has become, like,

really, for some, a religion, philosophy, shrines built to it.

Like, you know, in my imagination, they're literally people worshiping veganism.

That's how I look at the world and I see it and I wonder, you know,

is that how God sees it too? Is that an idol?

Plant-based diet purity purity

mentality avoiding not only food but products brands

and people associated with animal products so even people associated we're gonna

avoid them like that's good for humanity identity by identity based eating sounds

interesting food choices become what I said, moral stand.

You kill animals? You're gonna eat that? Like I was thinking,

but now probably not. So...

There was a scene in a movie old movie

but many many years ago um the guy

was eating it and and the lady said you know pickle too

much salt so he just like put it in the water right like is it good now is it

not enough salt still enough salt paleo diet eating like our ancestors potential

obsession romanticizing the ancestral lifestyle to the extreme fear of anything modern now gmo,

chemicals in our food, we all struggle with that, right?

We all say like, yeah, they poison our food and like now we get to get pills

and like it's a vicious cycle.

Well, welcome to the broken world, right?

You're not going to escape it. You can try, which is fine. You don't want to

poison your children yourself, but avoid obsession.

You're not going to live forever. Like I always said, Like, what am I going

to be the healthiest at the cemetery?

Probably not. Maybe glowing yellow, you know.

I'm sorry. It's not supposed to be stand-up, but it is.

That's it. Counterproductive here. Okay, so potential obsession.

In like biohacker diet. I don't know if you've heard it. Extreme self-optimization. Great.

Seems like it sounds so human, right? Extreme self-optimization.

It's like a robot from Elon Musk.

Food becomes a science experiment rather than nourishment. Fear of anything

that could damage health, even normal foods.

So here we go. The first temptation of Jesus applied to the 21st century.

Satan's argument would be, if you wanted to tempt us, right?

Jesus, you can't fast like this because you need protein, you need bodies, ketosis,

and bread, like that's pure carbs, spike up your blood sugar,

and you're not going to be on your peak performance for your mission.

All good things. Then I'm not going to fast. Satan, thank you,

Satan, my best friend, right?

Jesus responds, food is not the most important thing and food is not your God.

I think because we live in such a privileged country and so rich when it comes

to food and the portions and the availability and the fast foods that Europe will never see.

They don't even know that we have some of those fast foods.

I think what is in the bottom of it, oftentimes what we are truly missing is moderation.

Moderation.

All things in moderation, right? Once it was said.

Lent calls us to fasting, but

not from food only, but also from anything that distracts you from God.

Okay, a few more minutes. Temptation second, to power.

To power over others. Worshipping the devil for earthly glory.

I shall give you, look, the liar, Satan says to Jesus.

Jesus is God, and Satan says to him, I have all the kingdoms. I'll give them to you.

He's got all the kingdoms. It only depends on what you're going to give him.

If you're going to give him too much, he will rule over your house.

But if you don't give it to him, Jesus is the king. Keep the balance right.

Jesus says to him, remember the Israelites in the desert? How did they fail

in this particular temptation?

Well, they built a golden calf.

Jesus says you shall worship the Lord

your God and him alone you shall serve how does

this apply to us well in our

in our times you may have seen over the last 10 20 years I've seen it at least

but to the young ones who are younger listen in our times the Bible which is

still our story has not been appreciated as it should be.

But recently, there are all these scientists who are not Catholic and other

religious leaders and psychologists and very, very intelligent people from the

best universities in the world,

except for like the most, most liberal ones that don't want to even,

you know, engage in the dialogue because they are sold out to ideologies.

But those who are not will sit down and say like, look, Christian story is the best story.

Christian story has the most beautiful values, makes more sense.

It creates beautiful families, beautiful marriages, peace on earth if it's really

like applied, if we are really.

And look at the alternatives that we human beings have generated.

Communism, humanism, secularism. Where we place the man in the center or prosperity or pleasure or power.

Look at the false gods of scientific materialism, which means universe without

deep meaning, or post-modernism, no truth, no meaning, or transhumanism. We become God.

New age. Guys, you will see it. If you go to school, you will be thrown at with

new age stuff where they will tell you that everything is God.

And radical environmentalism, talking about building shrines to movements,

radical environmentalism, where we worship nature as God.

Or nationalism, where nation is God. Nation is not God.

We can love our nation, but it's not our God.

We worship God, Jesus Christ. All of these human-made philosophies or movements

eventually lead to catastrophic fruits and hell for many people and obsessions and divisions.

But the Christian story is the best story. We are not called to create new golden calf,

but to revere what we've been given, to worship God in the way we've been given

and introduced so many modern scientists and thinkers now buy into it in a sense

because they say Christianity was right.

Christianity is timeless. It is the voice of humanity for thousands of years.

It is the foundation of the Western culture, which is our culture.

If you take the foundation, we're going to be reduced to chaos,

which you may have seen in Europe, in the countries that wanted to remove Christianity. Look at them.

Other religions are taking over. Why? Because, well, either Europe is going

to remain Christian or be Christian or will not be at all.

One of the greatest cardinals of Poland history, the cardinal of the millennium,

Cardinal Wyszyński, whose relic we have over there, by the way,

he said Poland will either be Catholic or it will not exist.

And I think that applies to all of us. Christian.

You know, the world we have built without God mixes injustice and open rebellion

to God's commandments and it's cracking.

If you want to be on the side of a cracking world, I can't stop you.

I know it's not you guys, but you know, pass it on.

Who do we worship? Who is your golden calf? What is your golden calf?

What is your conviction about the goodness and sanctity of the Christian message?

And the last thing, temptation of testing God, jumping from the temple.

If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. Remember,

the Israelites in the desert failed this test when they doubted God's presence and demanded proof.

And who fell into that temptation? Moses himself.

He struck the rock one more time. And even though he was so holy and so courageous,

God punished him severely.

He said, you will die before you enter the promised land.

Where Israelites failed, Jesus is victorious. He says, you shall not put the

Lord your God to the test. He says it to all of us.

I was put into the test this morning. You know, last night we had to switch the hour, right?

So when I learned it last night, late night, I was like, oh, this is a disaster.

You know, I need my sleep, right? I mean, do you say that to yourself? Like I do.

And one hour is going to mess everything up. And it did. And so I woke up in

the morning and I'm hearing this water dropping from a ceiling.

And it's not good, right? It's like 6 a.m. and ping, ping, ping.

So I go to the kitchen. I see the ceiling is flooded.

And I'm like, okay, this is a disaster. So I go upstairs. I see there is leaking

something all night probably.

And the thoughts come in, like, okay, Lord, like, what are you doing? I got to go to church.

I got to preach, right, for you, for you. And then, okay, I'm like,

sobered up, dismiss the thoughts.

But then I go to the coffee maker, and I put the cup in, and I press the button,

and it's red, and it doesn't want to make coffee.

And I say to myself, okay, Lord, I can deal with the flood, but like this coffee,

if I don't get this, I'm going to cancel the mass.

And I'll tell people you don't exist, right?

I'm sorry. So, yep, that was my thought.

And immediately just kind of snap out of it because the coffee maker eventually,

I guess, was afraid of me destroying it. So it started working.

And the morning became bearable. But have you found yourself?

Lord, if you don't give me what I want, if you don't prove it to me,

I've been worshiping you.

And if you don't do it, I will not follow you. I will, if you don't heal me,

if you don't give me, if you don't fix it, I will not honor you.

I will give what I have for you. I'll give it to your enemy.

I will serve him. I will laugh at your church. I will diminish your holiness among people.

I will tell everyone that you don't exist. And I will ask you like Satan did.

If you are the son of God, throw yourself down and show me that you are God.

We can be like this sometime. And remember, it's a satanic temptation.

He reveals, Satan tempts us to push God to that far.

But Jesus says, it is about humble service.

He chooses to reveal himself through suffering on the cross and humble service.

But the desert sometimes is dry.

We lack consolation. We feel overwhelmed. we feel depressed,

we feel sad, we feel lonely, we feel lost.

Why is that? Well, because spiritual desert is a real thing.

And you're not supposed to make life-altering decisions during that time or

judge everything based on that dryness.

But you're supposed to wait because Jesus says he will come to you.

So if mass doesn't move you like you wish, come anyway.

If prayer feels dry, Keep praying. If God feels absent, know that he's close to you.

Because in Job we read, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

Where do we find our strength? Of course, in the Eucharist. When you are tempted

to have obsession over foods or other things in your life. Remember,

Jesus is the bread of life.

When you are tempted to worship other things against God.

You create your own idols. you create your own philosophy worship success or

pleasure bow before the true king in a tabernacle and when you are tempted to

doubt come to Jesus in the Eucharist in the adoration and remember that he is present there.

Because he died for you you can trust him.