The Cunning Ways of Fallen Angels

Today's first reading, Genesis 3: 1-8, we are given the story of the temptation both Eve and Adam faced in the Garden of Eden. Both failed the test!  Satan is a fallen angel, an intelligent being bent on turning us away from God and believing that we ourselves are gods. When deceived by fallen angels, we act as a god, totally independent of any authority outside of ourselves. We then boast of our independence and believe that we are truly wise.  "God knows well," Satan tells us, that the moment [we choose independence from God or others, we will be wise, like God and, Satan says to us:] "your eyes we be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil [--you need surrender to no one] and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loinclothes for themselves. When they heard the sound of the Lord moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, [they] hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."


When you and I are being tempted do what is wrong, that is, to walk away from God, rejecting God's will and choosing your own in any circumstance, we know in the core of our beings what we are doing.  Adam and Eve knew. As soon as they gave in to the temptation to "be like gods," their eyes "were opened, and they realized that they were naked."  What do you and I do when we act like gods and do what we know is not right or just, we, like Adam and Eve, try to hide the truth. The closer another comes to what is really true in confronting us, the louder we protest--we erect bigger trees, speak bigger lies,  build bigger walls behind which we hide!

In the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy, Psalm 32, we pray:  "Blessed [are those] whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed [are those] to whom the Lord imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile [because they have] acknowledged [their] sin..., [their] guilt they] covered not."

May you and I not cover our guilt when we are acting as gods or seeking to be a god and not servants of the Living God, our Master!  Lord, our our eyes when we are turning away from you and erecting ourselves as an idol!