DEFEATED BY DISTRACTION
Princess Atlanta of Greek
mythology was the daughter of King Iasus (Iasius).Trained by hunters from her early
childhood, she became a strong, skilled and successful huntress. She could beat
anyone in running and hunting. She insisted that she would marry only the man
who could beat her in a foot race. Attracted by her beauty and bravery, many
princes competed with her, but could not beat her. Finally, the young, clever
and handsome prince Melanion (Hippomenes) came to try his chance. He had
concealed three golden apples in his pocket when he started the race.
As the race progressed, Atlanta easily overtook Melanion. Then he tossed
down one of the golden apples to distract her. It fell near her feet and rolled
to a side, away from the track. She ran after the golden apple, returned with
the retrieved apple and resumed the race. Again, she gained speed and raced
ahead of him. He then tossed the second apple at her feet, causing her to
deviate from the path and lag behind him. But she resumed the race and soon
overtook him. He then threw the third and largest apple with full force.
Overcome by the temptation to gather the glistening golden apple, she ran after
it, stopped and stooped to pick it up and returned with it confidently to continue
the race. But he could reach the finishing point just before her. Thus Melanion
won the race by his tricks and married Atlanta.
St. Peter warns us, "Be alert, be on
the watch! Your enemy, the devil, roams round like a roaring lion, looking for
someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him..."{1 Peter 5: 8, 9}. Satan tempted
Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by giving her false offers and promises. The tragedy
of paradise ruined the sanctity of Adam and Eve {Genesis 3: 1-7}.
With the powerful grace of God we can
march towards the higher levels of sanctity if we are determined to avoid all
tempting situations. After praying to ‘Our Father’ to lead us not into
temptations, we should not lead ourselves into temptations.
St.
Paul advises, “Build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means
of His mighty power. Put on all the armour that God gives you, so that you will
be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks” {Ephesians 6: 10,
11}.
We have to be ready to leave our attachment to
worthless worldly pleasures and affinity to material objects to gain true
freedom and gather greater goals. Our desires impede our freedom. We should
detach ourselves from these tempting desires. Otherwise we become slaves of
Satan and sin. When we clasp worldly interests we fail to open our hands to
receive the bliss of heavenly happiness.
St.
Ignatius Loyola used to repeat the following verse to St. Francis Xavier
whenever they met in the campus of the University of Paris: “Will
a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life?” {Matthew
16:26}. These words transformed St. Francis Xavier completely, gave him a new
vision and mission and made him a great saint and missionary.
St. Paul teaches, “If you live according
to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to
death your sinful actions, you will live” {Romans 8: 13}.
St.
Paul declares, “But all those things that I might count as profit I now
reckon as loss for Christ’s sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as
complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of
Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake I have thrown everything away; I consider
it all as mere refuse, so that I may gain Christ and be completely united with
Him”{Philippians 3: 7-9}.
........................................................................................................
© By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of
Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof.
Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's College, Kanjirappally and
Leo. S. John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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