This is the way we are to speak to situations, to things and to a way of life that stand opposed to the way of God: Get behind me! Many, seduced by the world, rather than by God as Jeremiah was in the first reading, are only too ready to strike a compromise with the devil. Rather than tell the devil, “get behind me”, they strike a deal with him. “Will you give me this if I do your bidding?” they seem to ask the devil. “I will give you the entire world”, the devil replies. “Then I will serve”, they tell the devil. The second reading tells us to give our bodies as a living sacrifice not to the devil but to God who deserves it. That is the worship fit for intelligent beings.

PRAYER: Blessed, O Lord, are those who are seduced and have allowed themselves to be so seduced by you. May I be counted one of such. Amen