The First Reading recounts the covenant God made with Noah, the promise of a fresh start after the destruction of the flood.    In the same way, Biblical Jubilee was a fresh start, a time when debts were wiped away and slaves were set free.    As the First Letter of St. Peter states, God's saving Noah prefigures our Baptism, which gives us a fresh start.    In this Jubilee Lent, we focus on our own Baptism, and on those who will be "Elected" today to receive Baptism at the Easter Vigil.    In Mark's Gospel, Jesus outlines the tasks of the baptized:   "Repent, and believe in the Gospel!" for "the Kingdom of God is at hand."   The Kingdom of God awaits.    We must prepare our hearts and hasten its coming by acts of charity and justice. 

This afternoon Bishop Thomas Curry will celebrate the "Rite of Election", recognizing those God has called to receive the Easter Sacraments.    We celebrate "Sending of the Catechumens and Candidates for Election" at the 9:00 am and 10:30 am Masses.

The desert is first of all a physical place of dry sand, hot sun, whirling dust, and sparse vegetation.    From earliest times, within and outside of Christianity, the desert has been a place to which people retreated when they sought intense solitude, silence, and closeness to God.    There are no real paths in a desert.    Secondly, the desert is another word for a place of spiritual retreat.    A place where one can detach oneself from the cares and burdens of life.    A place for letting go and getting in touch with self and with God.     A place where we are all tempted.   A place where the values, principles and formulas of the past, are constantly challenged.

The "desert experience" appears in both the Old and New Testaments.    Recall the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert moving toward the Promised Land, the 40 Days Jesus spent praying in the desert in preparation for His Public Ministry, the nights and days Jesus spent by Himself praying to the Father.     For His Chosen People, the 40 Years desert experience was the way chosen by God to bring His People into a more intimate encounter with Himself.   Despite their recalcitrance and betrayal God used this time to pursue them as the beloved does his bride.     For Jesus, the 40 Days spent alone and in prayer prepared Him to say "Yes" to His Father's mission.   Also, for Jesus the nights and days by Himself prepared Him for special occasions such as the teaching on the Eucharist, His going up to Jerusalem to die on the cross, etc.

In the "desert experience" the comforts of life are left behind.    There are no distractions, no soothing pleasures in the desert.    There is only the harshness of life stripped to its essentials.   In the desert we are forced to realize how weak and limited we are.    Only when we recognize our helplessness are we willing to turn to God in trust and surrender.   It takes courage to stand alone before God, to leave behind all human supports and to face squarely that we are nothing in the order of grace.   Thus, if we want to come to God during these days, we must go into the desert and empty ourselves of all self-centeredness.    We must be willing to follow the Divine Call wherever it may lead, even if this means changing our life drastically.

When we stand defenseless in the desert, as Jesus did, temptation will come.    Sometimes it is a subtle voice saying:  "You'll never make it."    Other times, the voice will say:  "Don't take things so seriously.   Live a little!"    The crisis of the desert is upon us.    Inwardly because all is darkness it seems attractive to let us be lured away from emptiness, to forget about the call from God to surrender to Him.   The time of purification is upon us wherein our pride is being burned away.   Only then as we experience our vulnerability do we understand that God's invitation to total surrender is not a stern demand but a manifestation of His Love, for only when we fully let go of our pride and surrender to Him in poverty of spirit can He lead us to true happiness. 

Our "desert experience" is thus a preparation for deeper union with God.   It is a means of readying ourselves to cling to Him, without whose love and guidance life is only a sad possession of fleeting pains and pleasures.     The desert experience brings us to a crisis which, left to our own resources, we could never cope with.    But mysteriously, in that deep darkness and spiritual dryness, the God of light and love descends.    He sustains our poor selves with His grace, and He stays with us till dawn breaks within us.

As with those "desert experiences" in the Scriptures and in the lives of the Saints, we need to set aside some time and space --- inwardly at least, if not able to journey to a physical desert.   Only in