Father David: What's First

A brilliant homily on yesterday's Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent:

After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."

Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."

Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 

When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

--Luke 4:1-13

 

"Through compassion and self-giving, through self-emptying and generosity, we are invited to glimpse this ultimate reality . . . .  'In Christ, God becomes human so that humans may become God, sharing in the diving nature.'"

This is the Christian faith. 

-----

Waitin' for the Weekend: Beat the Devil

Beat the Devil, a charmingly amateurish film from Athletic Model Guild, presumably filmed back in the good old days when America was Great, demonstrates a much-needed lesson for our day:  we can indeed resist and vanquish the Prince of Darkness because we are stronger together.  Yes we can!




And yes, this is all you'll get to see on Tumblr after January 20th.

Bannon Praises the Power of Darkness

Embed from Getty Images

Steve Bannon, chairman of Breitbart News and now the new chief strategist for Trump, praised the Devil out loud this week in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter:

The liberal firewall against Trump was, most of all, the belief that the Republican contender was too disorganized, outlandish, outré and lacking in nuance to run a proper political campaign. That view was only confirmed when Bannon, editor of the outlandish and outré Breitbart News Network, took over the campaign in August. Now Bannon is arguably the most powerful person on the new White House team, embodying more than anyone the liberals' awful existential pain and fury: How did someone so wrong — not just wrong, but inappropriate, unfit and "loathsome," according to The New York Times — get it so spot-on right?

In these dark days for Democrats, Bannon has become the blackest hole.

"Darkness is good," says Bannon, who amid the suits surrounding him at Trump Tower, looks like a graduate student in his T-shirt, open button-down and tatty blue blazer — albeit a 62-year-old graduate student. "Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That's power. It only helps us when they" — I believe by "they" he means liberals and the media, already promoting calls for his ouster — "get it wrong. When they're blind to who we are and what we're doing."

It seems to your Head Trucker that "they" could just as well refer to all those happy-clappy, Bible-thumping, oh-so-holy Christianists who pulled the lever for Trump and his greasy gang.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

--I Corinthians 11:13-15, NIV

From National Election Pool polling data via Wikipedia.  Click to enlarge.