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LIVING OUR DESERT EXPERIENCE
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 ourselves 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
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possession of fleeting pains and pleasures. The desert experience brings us to a crisis which, left to 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 until 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 this way can we deepen the presence of the Lord. Only in the desert can we personalize the attitudes characterized by the Chosen People with Moses and epitomized by Christ during His 40 Days --- such attitudes as interior silencing, patience acceptance of suffering and difficulties, self-emptying and detachment, and a real dwelling in the presence of God.
The desert is thus a place away for the bustle of noisy living. No radio. No TV. No large numbers of people around. To go there is to be shaken out of the ordinary. The desert positively is a place of prayer as it was for the Chosen People and for Jesus. Prayer that arises from solitude and silence. The desert is an on-going experience of preparing a place in our heart for the coming of Jesus. There I must learn not to complain when things do not go my way --- as many of the Israelites did. There I must remember that Jesus Himself lacked a place to even lie down and rest. There, in that interior desert, I have to wait patiently and trust that God will give me what I need if I but learn to depend on Him more and more.
Being in the desert is a way of living. Being in the desert demands emptying of self and its excessive attachment to persons and things. The reward of this desert experience is beyond measure. God Himself comes out of darkness to illumine our hearts and souls with the light of faith. He relieves our dryness with living water that lasts forever. He grants us a true intimacy with Himself that calls us forth to surrender the whole of ourselves to Him: body and soul, mind and heart. He grants us the gift of divine presence from the deepest center of His being. This is the purpose of the desert experience. This is Lent!
As St. Paul tells us in Second Letter to the Corinthians: the love of Christ that overwhelms us (II Corinthians 5:14), that love which is His gift of intimacy is so precious that no price is too high to pay --- even life itself. This is the reward of our desert living experience.
"This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the Good News of Jesus!" (Mark 1:15).
Let us enter into Lent into its deepest depths so as to be filled with the deepest love and intimacy of our God.
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