COUNTERING TEMPTATION from Luke 4:1-13
[caption id="attachment_79181" align="alignleft" width="208" caption="Jesus is being tempted by the devil."][/caption] Achievement tends to lead us into temptation. It tempts us to be proud of ourselves. Once we achieve success, we become more popular and admirable before the people. They will count on us and recognise our authority, even if what we are doing is not always right. In case of plagiarism, for instance, the media's editorial staff might not be aware to check the essays before publishing them due to the reputation of the authors. Thus, we can see that such reputation brings certain privileges. And indeed, it is tempting. I myself have some relevant experiences. Awarded as the most outstanding student among my batchmates in high school, I was very delighted and proud. However, on Graduation Day I delivered my speech as humbly as possible in order to avoid disapproval from them. Another experience, I was working with Kompasiana when a blogger made a disapproving comment on one of my reports. Unfairly he accused me of seeking popularity through my reports on (Prof.) Banyu Perwita's plagiarism case. I wanted to deny his claim, but I just ignored and left it behind. Those experiences make me aware of the temptations following achievements, particularly in the academe. Even St. Francis had the same fear. He was suspicious of the pursuit of academic degrees from which arrogance might crop up. Yet, St. Dominic, as Benedict M. Ashley OP said, showed us three ways to suppress this temptation: the love of wisdom, prayer, and community dialogue. In addition, we can also learn from Jesus's experience. Countering the temptation of possessing glory and power, Jesus insisted that we must worship and serve God alone. At once I was reminded of two well-known phrases, i.e. "ad maiorem Dei gloriam" of St. Ignatius Loyola and "totus Tuus" of Pope John Paul II. Indeed, all of our achievements should result in glorifying the Lord because all things are but his.[]
