As shadows accompany the bodies that cast them, so temptations accompany the fulfillment of the commandments.

Look, I have never met one single person in my entire lifetime who hasn’t $#%^&*d up royally. Human in imperfect. Not bad, not evil, not worthless, but imperfect. We screw up. No matter how good our intentions, our skills and abilities, our knowledge and wisdom, our expertise or accomplishments, we screw up. We may actually screw up while trying to do good for the best of intentions.

Trying to be holy is the pathway AWAY from righteousness. The quest for human achievement of divine glory defines us, yet true glory will only ever be bestowed on us as a free gift. We too easily confuse faith with power, charity with welfare, and hope with entitlement. The only glory we ever experience in this life occur when we deny the self that is selfish, for the self that God created.

What the hell am I talking about? We want. We hunger. We desire. We NEED. We are gross materialists. We like the stuff we like, and more is almost always better. We want to hold noble thoughts and moral reflection, but we envy, we lust, we hate, we take, we cheat, and even though we don’t want to admit it, in our heart of hearts it. is. still. TRUE.

We may keep all of the commandments, but many of them for the wrong reason. We do not obey in order to provide a safe and functional base for all my friends and neighbors, but because of the personal benefit we receive. “We” suffers the hegemony of “me.”

Dorotheos of Gaza was a binary-thinker poster boy. He saw the entire world through “either/or” lenses. Good/bad. Right/wrong. Light/Dark. Full/Empty. Glad/Sad. Faithful/Unfaithful. This simplification allowed Dorotheos to guide and nurture generations of young thinkers, but the glorious reality is that Dorotheos engaged and encouraged those thinkers to question, to challenge, and to reflect. He wanted his protégés to be critical thinkers and theologically educated. He did not want anyone to practice a faith without the ability to defend and explain it. He wanted his students to recognize all the temptations and promises of the earthly realm, but to be equipped with every tool and resource of heaven to refute them.

Dorotheos practiced a very simple math: good must be > than bad. No one can guarantee this on their own, therefore me need each other, and no matter what good we ever do, evil will push back against us, therefore we must be as strong as possible. There is no temptation in existence that can defeat the will and power of God, but the temptations, trials, and tribulations will be relentless. Our spiritual development and faith must rise to meet the challenge.

None of us travel through this life without some baggage. Regrets? Guilt? Shame? Condemnation? Fear? Hostility? Anger? Contempt? Aren’t there things we can do to let go of the baggage and free up negative energy for positive? In the Advent waiting period, cannot we let go of past hurts and insults like balloons on the wind? Can we commit once again to do all the good that we can, leaving us no time to do any possible harm?