Luke, Chapter 12, Verse 4-5
4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
after that can do no more. 5 I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into
Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.
Christ may have been referring to the rabbinic duality of yetzer hara, the so-called "evil inclination," and the yetzer hatov, the "good inclination,". Yetzer hara is not a demonic force that pushes a person to do evil, but rather a drive toward pleasure or property or security, which if left unlimited, can lead to evil (cf. Genesis Rabbah 9:7). When a person’s will is properly controlled by the yetzer hatov, the yetzer hara leads too many socially desirable results, including marriage, business, and community. In Judaism adults are distinguished from children by the yetzer hatov, which controls and channels the drives that exist unchecked in the child. Thus, children may seek pleasure and acquisition, but they are not able to create a sanctified relationship or exercise the responsibility to engage in business. The young adult is not described as someone who has developed a sophisticated moral sense; in fact, the early adolescent may base moral decisions entirely on fear of punishment. Yet by age 13, the child’s moral sense has developed sufficiently to hold the child responsible for his or her actions.[1]
Another Jewish source states:
ha-Satan,
the Adversary, was one of the “severe” agents of God. Another such harsh but
necessary force in God’s creation is the Yetzer
ha-Ra, which is variously translated as the “Evil Impulse,” the
“Evil Desire,” the “Selfish Desire” or just “Desire.” It is that aspect of
nature, but especially human nature, which drives us to compete, to fight, to
possess, but most of all to desire sexual gratification. Though it is
counter-balanced by the Yetzer ha-Tov,
the “altruistic desire,” it is nonetheless the source of much of the grief in
human life – lust, violence, selfishness, vengeance, and ambition. One would
think that humanity would be truly better off if we could destroy this impulse.
We see evil in ourselves, it offends us, and we think the right thing to do is
to totally purge ourselves of it. Yet we don’t truly understand it, for things
we so easily characterize as “evil” actually spring out of the very nexus of
holiness. Surreal as it is, this maaseh
makes an incredible point – it is the strife of the spirit, the very struggle
between our impulses that makes the world work. Without the Yetzer ha-Ra, the world as we know would
cease – people [and animals] would no longer be driven to build, to create, to
have children. In short, life as we know, including not only evil aspects but
most of what we regard as beautiful also, would cease. Without Desire, Life
itself would slowly wither away, and that would be a sad thing. So, the goal of
the spiritual person is not to destroy the selfish-sexual-evil impulse, but
rather to sublimate it to God’s purpose. To be truly what God wants us to be,
to achieve our fullest human potential, we need to learn to bend both our impulses to godly ends. We
should not cease to lust but should direct that urge toward love. We should
turn our impulse toward vengeance into the desire for justice, our ambition for
acquiring possessions into the creation of true wealth.[2]
In
and among families, the Gospel message should always resound; the core of that
message, the kerygma, is what is “most beautiful, most excellent, most
appealing and at the same time most necessary.”
Kerygma
refers to the initial and essential proclamation of the gospel message. To
put it simply, the kerygma is the very heart of the gospel, the core message of
the Christian faith that all believers are calling to proclaim. “God
loves you” “Christ died for your sins”
This
is the first and most important proclamation, “which we must hear again and
again in different ways, and which we must always announce in one form or
another.” Our teaching on marriage and the family cannot fail to be inspired
and transformed by this message of love and tenderness; otherwise, it becomes
nothing more than the defense of a dry and lifeless doctrine. We need to model
the gaze of Jesus and how he “looked upon the women and men whom he met with
love and tenderness, accompanying their steps in truth, patience and mercy as
he proclaimed the demands of the Kingdom of God.” The Lord is also with us
today, as we seek to practice and pass on the Gospel of the family.
Daily Devotions
·
Please
pray for me and this ministry
·
Please
Pray for Senator
McCain and our country; asking Our Lady of Beauraing to
intercede.
[1] http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-birth-of-the-good-inclination/
[2]
http://ejmmm2007.blogspot.com/2006/12/necessary-evil-yetzer-ha-ra.html
[3] Pope Francis, Encyclical on Love.
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