Yesterday’s feast with its special readings interrupted our continuous reading of the Letter to the Hebrews. We have moved on from the discussion of the high priesthood of Jesus. The writer now addresses some thorny questions of our own individual struggles with sin and how we deal with the reality of suffering in our lives. We are never totally alone in our struggles, but we must recognize that we must play our part by resisting temptations to sin and by seeing our struggle as an opportunity to grow in holiness and trust in the Lord.
This letter was written at a time when many of the first converts to Christianity were beginning to lose faith in their new found faith. At that time in history, Judaism was a protected religion in the Roman Empire. When the Jewish synagogues began to expel those who put their faith in Jesus, they lost that protection and were vulnerable to persecution. So the choice to remain Christian was a life or death decision.
That struggle continues even to this day. Many who have heard the Gospel continue to turn away and seek alternative ways of living and believing. So the words of today’s reading are as valid for us as they were in the first century.
No one can ever truly escape temptation and suffering in this life. While we do not reach out and search for them, they inevitably come our way. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews counsels us to see temptation and suffering as opportunities to grow in faith. They can be viewed as God’s way of providing the discipline we need to remain faithful to our way of life.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator