“The Blame Game”
When trouble strikes, the one thing we can count on is there will be
plenty of excuses and finger pointing. It is part our very nature. We see it at
the very beginning of the creation story. The reading from Genesis today
reminds us that God set out one simple rule for life in the garden and it
didn’t take long for that rule to be violated. Don’t eat fruit! Simple enough
but it was still too difficult for our first parents to follow. Admittedly,
they had some help in breaking the rule. Yet, when all was said and done the
man blamed the woman and the woman blamed the serpent. Denying the
responsibility for their misdeeds and placing it on someone else didn’t change
the punishment they incurred. But it did form pattern of behavior that would be
passed on to all future generations. We call that behavior Original Sin. And
we, like our parents, have become good at passing the buck.
We put much of our energy in blaming others, looking for excuses for
our shortcomings, our failures, and our sins. Our egos have developed ‘thick
skins’ in order for us not to feel the guilt that is the natural consequence of
our wrongdoing. Our conscience is what moves us to feel sorry for our
transgressions but if our conscience becomes disordered, ones life becomes
totally out of control. Sadly history documents far too many examples of the
suffering and havoc done to innocent victims by those whose consciences have
dulled.
What reason could there be for such a pathetic condition as living with
a warped conscience? Could it be the same influence that was present in the garden
that tripped up our first parents? In the gospel Jesus recognized the influence Beelzebul had
and continues to have on the lives of all who have ever lived and that is perhaps
why He points to the power Satan has over the world: the power to deceive and
distort the “Truth.”
Satan is always in attack mode: destroying the truth, conflicting the
truth, blurring the line between what is true and what is untrue, changing the
name of what are “lies” to “alternate facts”. The father of lies does is very
effective at what he does. After all, our first parents fell for this lock,
stock, and barrel. And human history has recorded the painful consequences
humanity has suffered throughout its pages.
It’s time to choose sides, Jesus tells us today. Choose to be a part of
Jesus’ extended family: mothers, brother, fathers, and sisters living in
harmony with Jesus who is the “Way, the
Truth, and the Life.”
Enjoy the day,
Deacon Tom
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