“Why are you sleeping?” Jesus asked. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”  (Luke 22:46 NIV)

After the Last Supper when Jesus and the disciples retired to the Mount of Olives, Jesus suggested that the disciples should pray so that they would not fall into temptation. He then withdrew to pray by himself.  Meanwhile, the disciples were not praying as he suggested but had fallen asleep.  He chastises them for sleeping and not praying.  We know what happened next; they succumbed to the temptation of fear, and all of them scattered, abandoning Jesus at his arrest.

Jesus’ antidote for temptation is not complicated.  It is simply prayer. In his suggested form of prayer to his disciples and to us, the final petition is, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Mt. 6:13)

Jesus invites us to pray just as he did the disciples.  He invites us to begin our day with him and the Father. He knows that we will not be able to withstand the temptations we face each day without prayer.  Yet, how often do we choose a little more sleep instead of prayer at the beginning of our day? 

Prayer nurtures our relationship with Jesus and the Father.  The temptations we face are many and varied — getting angry when things don’t go our way; engaging in negative humor at the expense of others; flirting with a co-worker; overstating an item on an expense account; telling the boss what he wants to hear instead of the truth; getting short with our spouse; or not spending time with our children at the end of a busy day.

One of my more frequent temptations is to get impatient with a store clerk or the person on a help desk when they do not seem to meet my expectations.  When I don’t pray, my response is often disproportionate to the problem at hand.  When I do pray, I am reminded to be patient and kind. 

With each temptation that Satan threw at Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus countered with a scripture that refuted Satan’s premise for the temptation. (Mt. 4:1-11) Prayer and scripture are weapons Jesus gives us against temptation and the efforts of Satan.  St. Paul describes them as part of the armor of God. (Eph. 6:12-18) To these, the Church adds the sacraments of reconciliation and the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

How do you protect yourself against temptation?