Sermon of 14 February 2016 – Freedom
FIRST READING
Deuteronomy 26:4–10
Moses said to the people: ‘The priest shall take a basket made of
your hand, and place it before the altar
The Lord, your God. You, then, answer and say before
The Lord, your God: ‘My father was
a wandering Aramean, who went to Egypt and
He settled there with a few people, and it happened there
From him came a great, strong and numerous people. But
The Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and
They made us do hard labour; and we cried out to
To the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard their cry
ours, and saw our distress, our toil and our oppression
ours. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and
with outstretched arms, with great terror, with signs and
with miracles, and brought us to this place, and gave us this land
this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And so,
I have brought the firstfruits from the land which You,
‘Lord, you have given this to me.’ And lay this before the Lord, your God
yours, and bow down before the Lord your God.
SECOND READING
Romans 10:8–13
Brothers: What does Scripture say? ‘The word is near you, in
‘on your lips and in your heart’, that is, the word of faith,
which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth
to confess Jesus as Lord with your heart
to believe that God raised Him from the dead, then
you will be saved, because it is with the heart that one believes and is justified,
and confess with their lips to salvation. For the Scripture
says: ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.’
There is no distinction here between Jew and Greek, because
that there is one Lord for all, rich towards all,
who call upon Him. For ‘everyone who calls upon the name
‘The Lord’s, he’ll be saved.’
THE GOSPEL
At that time: Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit,
He returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into
the desert. There, for forty days, He was tempted by the devil
and had eaten nothing during those days; but once they were over,
Finally, he gave in. And the devil said to Him: ‘If you are the Son…’
‘If it is God’s will, let this stone turn into bread.’ Jesus
replied to him: ‘It is written that man does not live by bread alone’
‘Man shall live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ And,
Taking Him up onto a high mountain, the devil showed Him everything
the kingdoms of the universe in the blink of an eye. And he said to Him
The Devil: I will give you authority over all these kingdoms and
their glory; for it has been entrusted to me, and I bestow it upon whomever I choose.
So, if you worship me, everything will be yours.
Jesus replied, ‘Get behind me, Satan;’
It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and Him alone’
‘Serve one alone.’ And he led Him to Jerusalem and set Him
He stood on the wing of the temple and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God,
Throw yourself down from here; for it is written: ‘To His angels’
commands that You be kept safe; and they will carry You in their arms
‘You shall not stumble over a stone with your foot.’ Jesus
replied to him: ‘It is written: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”’
‘yours’. And, having finished all his temptations, the devil withdrew from
Not yet.
Beloved in Christ the Lord, dear brothers,
Dear sisters!
Lent is a time when we, as people of faith,
We are drawing up some resolutions. We wish, in a special way,
to experience a blessed time of conversion. Sometimes these
We set ourselves very ambitious targets. We
We hope you will pray more and receive the sacraments more often,
to attend church, to read the Scriptures; we commit ourselves to
certain regulations relating to the discontinuation of
pleasures, we often restrict our food intake, and so on.
Usually a few days, a week at most – we can do that
hold out, and then the problems start. And we fall into
disappointment. In fact, dear brothers and sisters,
Lent is a time when, above all, we must
to recognise the true motivation behind one’s actions, the motivation
our faith. What do we need to live? That is the question, on
which is worth answering. There are many things we need for
life. It would be naïve to assume that we don’t need anything,
apart from spiritual blessings. No, a human being is both body and soul.
People need the necessities of life. They need
material well-being; he needs money; it is necessary
housing, dignity is essential, a good reputation is essential,
A good reputation and a good education. Required
the love of those around us; we must also share our
love for those around us. We need various blessings in
life. But which of these blessings are the most important? What
What do we need most of all? That is the question worth
Reply. After all, in our pursuit of the pleasures of this world, we often
we lose things that are more important.
One of the most important blessings is freedom. It is precisely this
God calls us to freedom. Only a free person
can truly love and be loved. The first
Today’s Liturgy of the Word speaks to us of freedom,
to which God called His people – freedom from Egyptian
slavery. The Israelites’ journey from slavery in Egypt to
The road to freedom was a difficult one. It was fraught with obstacles and the very
various temptations. After all, freedom comes at a very high price. It
It’s hard to achieve, but very easy to lose. Even
Politicians might say that. But we’re not talking about politics here
not about a measure of freedom, but about something else, something more important – the spiritual.
To what extent are we free in our actions? Can we
to act in accordance with the dictates of our conscience –
by the voice of God?
There are countless temptations here.
Today’s Gospel tells us about the temptation of Jesus.
The temptation, mind you, took place precisely at that
the time when He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and had nothing
He ate, so that even at the very end he was still hungry. Jesus was alone in the desert;
A desert is a place that is dangerous to humans; it is also a place that
Purgatory – a place where a person who has been tempted can find
God. But the devil, the enemy of mankind, brings
disarray, chaos. How does he manage it? First of all
All in all, it confuses a person’s thoughts. Even our devout
thoughts may, in fact, boil down to selfish ones
actions. The Devil never says outright: ‘Do evil.’
Any evil is a lack of the appropriate good. And therefore
The devil says things that would seem kind and good. But on
In fact, they are driven by a completely different motivation –
linked to pride and selfishness; a motivation that does not
is pure.
Let us note that the devil, when tempting Jesus, quotes
Scripture is the Word of God. He tries to confuse our thoughts,
passing off evil as good. We wish to help another nation,
Let’s do something. And what’s the result? Nothing good.
We want to help our neighbours: ‘I want to do something for them.’ And
Nothing good ever comes of it. Why? You’d think I’d be doing the right thing
I wish it were so, but in reality this is precisely what makes it such a devilish temptation, and
It is insidious that the devil presents an evil, selfish act
an act of kindness, which disrupts the hierarchy of values and confuses our
thoughts, and this is precisely the point of his temptations. Jesus overcame them all,
as we heard in the Gospel, overcomes.
The first temptation – ‘Man does not live by bread alone’
‘human being’. But it is not merely a matter of the ordinary
a consumerist lifestyle, with materialism. After all, this is
Temptation – it is more profound; it has a deep spiritual
the underlying cause. We have become accustomed to consumerism, accustomed to
pragmatism. We have become accustomed to the idea that everything in the world must
be of benefit. Even faith, even prayer – everything must
to be of specific benefit to me, and that is the main thing
the criterion of the value of faith and prayer. And if this does not bring
benefit – we become disillusioned with our faith,
we become disheartened in our prayer. I hope that our
Catechumens are eagerly awaiting their Baptism at Easter
It’s night-time, and at first they’ll be feeling quite emotional
receiving these sacraments. But these emotions will pass sooner or later,
The grey routine of everyday life will set in all the same. And what then? Tell me
God, may this temptation not arise – the temptation,
related to the consumerist attitude towards the Church, towards
towards the parish, towards the parishioners, with a consumerist attitude towards
prayer and faith itself. ‘God isn’t listening to me, so nothing
There’s nothing good about it. The priest didn’t look at me quite like that,
or the woman sitting next to me on the pew said something wrong – so, in this church
‘I’ve got nothing to do.’ We laugh, but it’s a constant
the situation in our lives, in the life of any parish, any
communities, and the life of every individual in general, and in particular,
spiritual life. The Word of God is more than just
our way of satisfying our hunger. It is more than just a bite to eat
the bread we’ve eaten – and yet I still feel hungry
It died down. Man does not live by bread alone. A very serious temptation.
The second temptation, no less terrifying, is very
A common one is the temptation of power. We know the old
the proverb that power can corrupt a person. In
This motif – a pact with the devil – features in many legends.
‘I’m signing a pact with the devil in exchange for power.’ It seemed
Well, power is a good thing to have, no matter who it comes from. But
Upon acquiring such power, a person loses much of their value, and
precisely that – freedom. And having lost his freedom, he is no longer able to
to love. And therein lies the greatest temptation of power, which
is based not on service, but on our selfish
ambitions. Moreover, the term ‘power’ is used here in the very
in the broadest sense of the word. It does not necessarily mean power
political. This refers to any form of power. For us, it is more important
the spiritual dimension of this temptation: when we think that
we have the right to lecture others when we consider ourselves superior,
more virtuous, more moral than others. We have plenty of them in this country
They talk about ‘spiritual bonds’ – as if we have any here
the bonds that hold society together; we have a society with high moral standards,
families, and so on and so forth. I’m sorry, dear brothers and
Ladies, I have said this publicly before and I will say it again publicly: not everyone
We’re doing so well with these bonds. As for the problem
the same families – the situation is dire for them. And there’s nothing we can do about it
The situation here is better than in European countries, which
We criticise people for all sorts of other ways of life. And the fact that
relates to divorce, abortion, single-parent families and medical conditions
family problems, alcoholism, drug addiction – excuse me,
Take a look at the statistics. It is important to realise that the temptation
Power, including spiritual power, deprives us of
true freedom and deprives us of the opportunity to—
to love truly. A few days ago, in connection with
During the meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch, I spoke to one of the radio stations
spoke on this subject. When people start saying, ‘In Europe…’
‘There is no Christianity’… I said one thing: ‘Go and see for yourselves in
‘Take a look at Europe and at specific Christian communities.’
There is something to be learnt from European Christians. Not to mention
already about the fact that these European Christians, excuse me, us
support them financially. Therefore, it is even immoral to talk about
some sort of European godlessness on our part. I don’t
I’m talking about our particular parish, but also in general. Temptation
Power is a very subtle, devilish delusion.
The third temptation may be even more subtle. It is
a temptation known as the ‘Appropriation of God’. In fact,
It’s linked to what came before. It’s when we use our own
ambition and self-respect are translated into
deification. We deify our own ‘self’, presenting
as God’s will. We misuse God,
We abuse holiness. After all, with quotations from the Bible we
We can justify any atrocity. We now know how
They use religion to justify terrorism and atrocities. But, excuse me
As far as I’m concerned, Christianity has also had similar instances in its history
temptations. And let’s not, when we’re talking about religion,
terrorism, to think only of one religion. Each of
Unfortunately, we may well be tempted by this religious
terrorism. Moreover, in a spiritual sense, this is not
It’s essential that we take an automatic weapon and start shooting at
those who are in the wrong. In our pride, we may lecture others,
to think that we are holier and better than others. Look at what
Many Catholics write about this, including on our social media platforms
online. It seems that some are such that you might as well just put them on
Set up an altar and celebrate Mass upon it; it could not be more sacred.
They are holier than anyone else in the world, holier even than the Lord Himself, I suppose. In
This is the greatest of the devil’s temptations. When,
Under the guise of God, we are in fact carrying out
unworthy things. When we drag God into our own
ambitions, in the fight against our enemies, against our
enemies. When we demand – not ask, but demand – that
God help us, because we believe that God is simply obliged to
do it the way we need to. When we boast
their qualities, including their spiritual qualities. It is good if
Children – and not just children – are genuinely delighted with their
achievements. There’s nothing wrong with that, just as when
When athletes win a competition, they are pleased. When
If a child or a student gets top marks in an exam, that’s good,
when someone has defended their thesis, and so on – that’s all
Wonderful, such emotional joy. But that’s one thing
emotional joy is one thing, but selfishness is quite another
self-satisfaction, boasting about their so-called
spiritual achievements in order to rise above
others. Even the early Christian monks were well aware of
these diabolical schemes.
Dear brothers and sisters, there are many things a person needs
to live. But above all, he needs freedom. For
Only a free person bears within themselves the image and likeness
God in all His fullness. A free person is capable of love
in every sense. He is happy; he knows how to appreciate what he has. And
No one will be able to take that freedom away from him. True
Freedom lies in our ability to act in accordance with
the voice of our conscience, the voice of God within our hearts, to remain
to remain true to themselves and fulfil their destiny.
True freedom lies in the ability to love and to be
our loved ones. And may Lent teach us this. Amen.
Deuteronomy 26:4–10
Moses said to the people: ‘The priest shall take a basket made of
your hand, and place it before the altar
The Lord, your God. You, then, answer and say before
The Lord, your God: ‘My father was
a wandering Aramean, who went to Egypt and
He settled there with a few people, and it happened there
From him came a great, strong and numerous people. But
The Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and
They made us do hard labour; and we cried out to
To the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard their cry
ours, and saw our distress, our toil and our oppression
ours. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and
with outstretched arms, with great terror, with signs and
with miracles, and brought us to this place, and gave us this land
this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And so,
I have brought the firstfruits from the land which You,
‘Lord, you have given this to me.’ And lay this before the Lord, your God
yours, and bow down before the Lord your God.
SECOND READING
Romans 10:8–13
Brothers: What does Scripture say? ‘The word is near you, in
‘on your lips and in your heart’, that is, the word of faith,
which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth
to confess Jesus as Lord with your heart
to believe that God raised Him from the dead, then
you will be saved, because it is with the heart that one believes and is justified,
and confess with their lips to salvation. For the Scripture
says: ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.’
There is no distinction here between Jew and Greek, because
that there is one Lord for all, rich towards all,
who call upon Him. For ‘everyone who calls upon the name
‘The Lord’s, he’ll be saved.’
THE GOSPEL
At that time: Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit,
He returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into
the desert. There, for forty days, He was tempted by the devil
and had eaten nothing during those days; but once they were over,
Finally, he gave in. And the devil said to Him: ‘If you are the Son…’
‘If it is God’s will, let this stone turn into bread.’ Jesus
replied to him: ‘It is written that man does not live by bread alone’
‘Man shall live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ And,
Taking Him up onto a high mountain, the devil showed Him everything
the kingdoms of the universe in the blink of an eye. And he said to Him
The Devil: I will give you authority over all these kingdoms and
their glory; for it has been entrusted to me, and I bestow it upon whomever I choose.
So, if you worship me, everything will be yours.
Jesus replied, ‘Get behind me, Satan;’
It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and Him alone’
‘Serve one alone.’ And he led Him to Jerusalem and set Him
He stood on the wing of the temple and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God,
Throw yourself down from here; for it is written: ‘To His angels’
commands that You be kept safe; and they will carry You in their arms
‘You shall not stumble over a stone with your foot.’ Jesus
replied to him: ‘It is written: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”’
‘yours’. And, having finished all his temptations, the devil withdrew from
Not yet.
Beloved in Christ the Lord, dear brothers,
Dear sisters!
Lent is a time when we, as people of faith,
We are drawing up some resolutions. We wish, in a special way,
to experience a blessed time of conversion. Sometimes these
We set ourselves very ambitious targets. We
We hope you will pray more and receive the sacraments more often,
to attend church, to read the Scriptures; we commit ourselves to
certain regulations relating to the discontinuation of
pleasures, we often restrict our food intake, and so on.
Usually a few days, a week at most – we can do that
hold out, and then the problems start. And we fall into
disappointment. In fact, dear brothers and sisters,
Lent is a time when, above all, we must
to recognise the true motivation behind one’s actions, the motivation
our faith. What do we need to live? That is the question, on
which is worth answering. There are many things we need for
life. It would be naïve to assume that we don’t need anything,
apart from spiritual blessings. No, a human being is both body and soul.
People need the necessities of life. They need
material well-being; he needs money; it is necessary
housing, dignity is essential, a good reputation is essential,
A good reputation and a good education. Required
the love of those around us; we must also share our
love for those around us. We need various blessings in
life. But which of these blessings are the most important? What
What do we need most of all? That is the question worth
Reply. After all, in our pursuit of the pleasures of this world, we often
we lose things that are more important.
One of the most important blessings is freedom. It is precisely this
God calls us to freedom. Only a free person
can truly love and be loved. The first
Today’s Liturgy of the Word speaks to us of freedom,
to which God called His people – freedom from Egyptian
slavery. The Israelites’ journey from slavery in Egypt to
The road to freedom was a difficult one. It was fraught with obstacles and the very
various temptations. After all, freedom comes at a very high price. It
It’s hard to achieve, but very easy to lose. Even
Politicians might say that. But we’re not talking about politics here
not about a measure of freedom, but about something else, something more important – the spiritual.
To what extent are we free in our actions? Can we
to act in accordance with the dictates of our conscience –
by the voice of God?
There are countless temptations here.
Today’s Gospel tells us about the temptation of Jesus.
The temptation, mind you, took place precisely at that
the time when He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and had nothing
He ate, so that even at the very end he was still hungry. Jesus was alone in the desert;
A desert is a place that is dangerous to humans; it is also a place that
Purgatory – a place where a person who has been tempted can find
God. But the devil, the enemy of mankind, brings
disarray, chaos. How does he manage it? First of all
All in all, it confuses a person’s thoughts. Even our devout
thoughts may, in fact, boil down to selfish ones
actions. The Devil never says outright: ‘Do evil.’
Any evil is a lack of the appropriate good. And therefore
The devil says things that would seem kind and good. But on
In fact, they are driven by a completely different motivation –
linked to pride and selfishness; a motivation that does not
is pure.
Let us note that the devil, when tempting Jesus, quotes
Scripture is the Word of God. He tries to confuse our thoughts,
passing off evil as good. We wish to help another nation,
Let’s do something. And what’s the result? Nothing good.
We want to help our neighbours: ‘I want to do something for them.’ And
Nothing good ever comes of it. Why? You’d think I’d be doing the right thing
I wish it were so, but in reality this is precisely what makes it such a devilish temptation, and
It is insidious that the devil presents an evil, selfish act
an act of kindness, which disrupts the hierarchy of values and confuses our
thoughts, and this is precisely the point of his temptations. Jesus overcame them all,
as we heard in the Gospel, overcomes.
The first temptation – ‘Man does not live by bread alone’
‘human being’. But it is not merely a matter of the ordinary
a consumerist lifestyle, with materialism. After all, this is
Temptation – it is more profound; it has a deep spiritual
the underlying cause. We have become accustomed to consumerism, accustomed to
pragmatism. We have become accustomed to the idea that everything in the world must
be of benefit. Even faith, even prayer – everything must
to be of specific benefit to me, and that is the main thing
the criterion of the value of faith and prayer. And if this does not bring
benefit – we become disillusioned with our faith,
we become disheartened in our prayer. I hope that our
Catechumens are eagerly awaiting their Baptism at Easter
It’s night-time, and at first they’ll be feeling quite emotional
receiving these sacraments. But these emotions will pass sooner or later,
The grey routine of everyday life will set in all the same. And what then? Tell me
God, may this temptation not arise – the temptation,
related to the consumerist attitude towards the Church, towards
towards the parish, towards the parishioners, with a consumerist attitude towards
prayer and faith itself. ‘God isn’t listening to me, so nothing
There’s nothing good about it. The priest didn’t look at me quite like that,
or the woman sitting next to me on the pew said something wrong – so, in this church
‘I’ve got nothing to do.’ We laugh, but it’s a constant
the situation in our lives, in the life of any parish, any
communities, and the life of every individual in general, and in particular,
spiritual life. The Word of God is more than just
our way of satisfying our hunger. It is more than just a bite to eat
the bread we’ve eaten – and yet I still feel hungry
It died down. Man does not live by bread alone. A very serious temptation.
The second temptation, no less terrifying, is very
A common one is the temptation of power. We know the old
the proverb that power can corrupt a person. In
This motif – a pact with the devil – features in many legends.
‘I’m signing a pact with the devil in exchange for power.’ It seemed
Well, power is a good thing to have, no matter who it comes from. But
Upon acquiring such power, a person loses much of their value, and
precisely that – freedom. And having lost his freedom, he is no longer able to
to love. And therein lies the greatest temptation of power, which
is based not on service, but on our selfish
ambitions. Moreover, the term ‘power’ is used here in the very
in the broadest sense of the word. It does not necessarily mean power
political. This refers to any form of power. For us, it is more important
the spiritual dimension of this temptation: when we think that
we have the right to lecture others when we consider ourselves superior,
more virtuous, more moral than others. We have plenty of them in this country
They talk about ‘spiritual bonds’ – as if we have any here
the bonds that hold society together; we have a society with high moral standards,
families, and so on and so forth. I’m sorry, dear brothers and
Ladies, I have said this publicly before and I will say it again publicly: not everyone
We’re doing so well with these bonds. As for the problem
the same families – the situation is dire for them. And there’s nothing we can do about it
The situation here is better than in European countries, which
We criticise people for all sorts of other ways of life. And the fact that
relates to divorce, abortion, single-parent families and medical conditions
family problems, alcoholism, drug addiction – excuse me,
Take a look at the statistics. It is important to realise that the temptation
Power, including spiritual power, deprives us of
true freedom and deprives us of the opportunity to—
to love truly. A few days ago, in connection with
During the meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch, I spoke to one of the radio stations
spoke on this subject. When people start saying, ‘In Europe…’
‘There is no Christianity’… I said one thing: ‘Go and see for yourselves in
‘Take a look at Europe and at specific Christian communities.’
There is something to be learnt from European Christians. Not to mention
already about the fact that these European Christians, excuse me, us
support them financially. Therefore, it is even immoral to talk about
some sort of European godlessness on our part. I don’t
I’m talking about our particular parish, but also in general. Temptation
Power is a very subtle, devilish delusion.
The third temptation may be even more subtle. It is
a temptation known as the ‘Appropriation of God’. In fact,
It’s linked to what came before. It’s when we use our own
ambition and self-respect are translated into
deification. We deify our own ‘self’, presenting
as God’s will. We misuse God,
We abuse holiness. After all, with quotations from the Bible we
We can justify any atrocity. We now know how
They use religion to justify terrorism and atrocities. But, excuse me
As far as I’m concerned, Christianity has also had similar instances in its history
temptations. And let’s not, when we’re talking about religion,
terrorism, to think only of one religion. Each of
Unfortunately, we may well be tempted by this religious
terrorism. Moreover, in a spiritual sense, this is not
It’s essential that we take an automatic weapon and start shooting at
those who are in the wrong. In our pride, we may lecture others,
to think that we are holier and better than others. Look at what
Many Catholics write about this, including on our social media platforms
online. It seems that some are such that you might as well just put them on
Set up an altar and celebrate Mass upon it; it could not be more sacred.
They are holier than anyone else in the world, holier even than the Lord Himself, I suppose. In
This is the greatest of the devil’s temptations. When,
Under the guise of God, we are in fact carrying out
unworthy things. When we drag God into our own
ambitions, in the fight against our enemies, against our
enemies. When we demand – not ask, but demand – that
God help us, because we believe that God is simply obliged to
do it the way we need to. When we boast
their qualities, including their spiritual qualities. It is good if
Children – and not just children – are genuinely delighted with their
achievements. There’s nothing wrong with that, just as when
When athletes win a competition, they are pleased. When
If a child or a student gets top marks in an exam, that’s good,
when someone has defended their thesis, and so on – that’s all
Wonderful, such emotional joy. But that’s one thing
emotional joy is one thing, but selfishness is quite another
self-satisfaction, boasting about their so-called
spiritual achievements in order to rise above
others. Even the early Christian monks were well aware of
these diabolical schemes.
Dear brothers and sisters, there are many things a person needs
to live. But above all, he needs freedom. For
Only a free person bears within themselves the image and likeness
God in all His fullness. A free person is capable of love
in every sense. He is happy; he knows how to appreciate what he has. And
No one will be able to take that freedom away from him. True
Freedom lies in our ability to act in accordance with
the voice of our conscience, the voice of God within our hearts, to remain
to remain true to themselves and fulfil their destiny.
True freedom lies in the ability to love and to be
our loved ones. And may Lent teach us this. Amen.