'Back to Start:' The Devil’s game of temptation

Nobody said it was easy.
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh, take me back to the start.
— “The Scientist,” Coldplay

Coldplay is, by far, one of my favorite bands. Every time I listen to its hit song, “The Scientist,” I can’t help but think about the science of my own life.
I’m not sure whether the band had the idea of “temptation” in mind when writing that song, but whenever I hear those lyrics, I think about the influences that make life more difficult: namely, temptation.
While traveling down the Main Street of life, we hit plenty of intersections. Sometimes the light is green and a decision is so easy we breeze right through. Other times, we get the yellow light, which causes hesitation. When we don’t take the time really to think about whether we should act, serious consequences may result.
The red light stops us forcefully, but sometimes we still turn and steer off the path, eventually hitting a dead end.
I’ve learned that — like temptation — these side streets are distractions. If we choose to go down one, eventually we come to the realization that it would have been better if we’d stayed on the Main Street.
If we repeatedly realize that we should have stayed on the right path, then why do we continue to succumb to the temptations of the devil? Unfortunately, while the answer may be pretty simple, it is not all that simple to accept.
In the devil’s game of temptation, he provides us with a seemingly pleasurable opportunity to distract us from what we know is real. “Nobody said it was easy” to resist things that are disguised to seem heavenly — and that is a lesson I have had to learn first-hand.
When we’re tempted to do something wrong, we tend to think of the more superficial consequences that might arise. We don’t think about the more devastating penalties: What we’re doing to our faith, our souls and our relationships, our relationship with Christ. It is easy to turn onto the side street, not as easy to get back to the Main Street.
Giving into temptation makes me angry, and many times it has made me angry with God. But the one I should be angry with is its true author — the devil.
We have to use our free will to stay straight on our path, and not be distracted by temptation. These sinful diversions prevent us from seeing what truly is beautiful and meaningful in our lives. They blind us from friendship, love, opportunity and the good things in life.

SERVING OTHERS — (Above) Loyola University students Cat Trimarco, Gracie McGrath, Ryan Hindinger and Dante Alfone take turns mashing potatoes at “Beans & Bread,” a Loyola based program that serves the poor in downtown Baltimore.

There are times when we are not prepared for how hard it can be to resist temptation, but that is when that we need to call out to God, asking for His help. He will be there.
At Mass during the first week of Lent, we hear how Jesus was tempted in the Garden by the devil. At the Mass I attended, the priest said in his homily: “It seems that we can’t celebrate overcoming temptation for a mere few moments before we are confronted with it again.” We must recognize that temptation is never going to cease — but we can cease succumbing to it.
I know that nobody said it was easy, and that no one ever said it would be so hard. But if we fight temptation by envisioning the beauty in our lives that exists without these false pleasures, we’ll make it back to the start.

Gracie McGrath, a junior at Loyola College in Maryland, is a graduate of Archbishop Carroll High School, Radnor. She is a monthly columnist in The CS&T reporting on college life.