In the desert to be tempted and to meet God

Manila retreat 7

The way to fight the mentality of this world and his three temptations: The Desert

Why a meditation on the desert? Because Jesus himself started from there. But what is the desert?

Desert is the place where we purify ourselves in order to meet God.

In the OT we have the 40 years in the desert of people of Israel, the 40 days of Moses on the mount Sinai (Ex. 34:27), the 40 days of Elijah in the desert on his way to Mount Horeb to meet the Lord (1 Kg 19:4-8). In the rabbinic stories, 40 days of fasting of Abraham on his way to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac, sustained only by the words of encouragement of an angel.

In the book of prophet Hosea God speaks about how unfaithful Israel has been, like a prostitute, but then he comments: “Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” (2:14).

The experience of the people of Israel in the book of Exodus is an experience of relationship with God and dependence on Him. Very often they complain and rebel but God guides them with patience and constancy. While they are there they have nothing else to worry about, as soon as they get settled in the Promised Land they get into business and material things and start forgetting about God.

Moses and Elijah went to the desert in order to be separated from people, Moses escaping from Egypt after killing the officer, Elijah escaping from the queen after slaughtering the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Both will meet God in the desert and both will go back to their renewed mission. So the desert is a place where to review their vocation and make a new covenant.

Of Jesus in the NT is said that he used to withdraw in a lonely (deserted) place to pray. Deserted place, away from the other people, to be in front of God without the labels we or others built. There, alone we need to be truthful in confronting God and his will.

The most common way of lying, nowadays, is not by saying false things (that would not work with God), nor denying the truth, but filling our mind with noise, thoughts, activities so we do not have time or capacity to face our problems and feel justified for not doing it.

People who are always in need of music, television, who always talk, those who are hyper-active, not always are saints. Often they are people that do it unconsciously because they are afraid to face themselves, their shortcomings, the expectations of God, and, being over-busy, they have an excuse not to think. In the desert we are forced to take decisions, either for God or against, but we cannot escape our responsibilities. Great saints of charity like Mother Teresa spent hours in adoration in front of the blessed Sacrament, and while on one side she used to say that serving the poor is the best prayer, on the other side she insisted that her sisters would have 4 hours of personal prayer every day.

Desert is also a place of discomfort, and this is a very important aspect of our spirituality. If you are hungry there is nowhere to buy food; thirsty: no water available; too much sun: no tree to give you shade; danger: no shelter to run into for safety; fear: nobody to rely on. When there is wind it blows sand on you which penetrates every part of your body creating a lot of distress. This experience brings us to the roots of our existence.

Very often we act pushed only by the instincts, the desires. On these are based the three big challenges posed by the modern society to our religion and to the real meaning of human life. The desert is the opposite of the garden. The big temptation today is to build a better world based only on “realism” and letting the things of God fade away. Bread and power become important and God useless. In the west very few are atheist, but the majority simply do not need God. When we lose the spiritual sight, God looks much less real than the reality.

Pope John Paul II explains it well in the document Vita Consecrata when speaking about the vows (VC 87). So desert is our Lenten season: learn to go without, learn to trust, learn priorities, learn what is temporary, what is passing, what is permanent and eternal.

The experience of the desert is important also in the matter of relationships. In order to handle properly my relationships with God, with myself and with the other, I need first of all to have such relationships, but also to be able to get away from them sometimes in order to reflect on them. When we are under the pressure of the situation, the brain does not work. When we are faced with some problems or even some requests in our apostolate (somebody asking for help), we must allow our compassion to get in union with them, but also remain free enough to withdraw and pray and reflect with our brain on what is the best solution and with our faith on what is God’s solution otherwise we give to the poor only our solution or even no solution at all.

So the hardship of the desert, united with the fact that we are away from the situations become an instrument of purification.

There is a sentence in the gospel of Matthew (16:34): “If you want to be a follower of mine deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me”. What does Jesus mean with the word deny yourself? We do not have to neglect our body but master it through discipline. We do not have to neglect our emotions but master them. We do not have to neglect our skills but master them. Our body is the instrument of our work. If you neglect it you reduce your capacity of being at service. Your emotions are the instrument of your love. If you neglect them then you will not be able to love. Your skills are God given graces for the service of others: you cannot waste them.

So in this sentence Jesus in not telling us to throw away his gifts but to discipline them, to keep them in the right place which is service. If we allow our body to take command, then we will become lazy, glutton. If we allow our emotions to take over then we will fall into greed, lust, fear. If we allow our skills to take command, then we will fall into pride, efficiency.

These three, body, emotions, skills, are the best instrument for our apostolate but are also the greatest dangers if not used in a mystic and prophetic way. Sacrifice and penance are the instruments to discipline them.

This is the meaning of the prophecy of Is 40:3 In the desert put straight the roads for the Lord.

Look at John the Baptist (Mk 1:1-6). He goes into the desert to preach so those who come to him will be willing to repent.

The desert teaches us the real value of material things. Our society bombards us with advertisements so that we are no more able to choose what is best. For young people the important is not what is best but what is trendy, famous, new, what others have or appreciate. That is why when faced with important decisions we need to go to the desert, away from all these influences, without our gadgets but also without the comments of all people and put ourselves sincerely in search of “What does God want from me?”

Even from a Psychological point of view, the much needed unity between emotions, intelligence and instincts is possible when you work on them from a detached point of view, in a place where none of the three is under pressure.

Desert and silence teach us to overcome the temptation of efficiency. Jesus (the logos, the word of God) at the incarnation became an infant (somebody who does not know how to speak). On the Cross which is the summit of his mission says only 7 words and none of them to explain what was going on, in spite the fact that nobody seems to have understood it. After the resurrection he speaks only with the close disciples. The disciples were with Jesus for three years and witnessed all his miracles and words, but this is not enough for them to stand the failure of Jesus' capture and death. They needed to face the absence of Jesus, to acknowledge their failure, fear etc. to be ready to accept him as the risen Lord.

Desert is not only the place of meeting God. The first order the Spirit gave to Jesus after baptism is to go to be tempted. Jesus has to enter the area of danger up to the very centre if he wants to save also the lost and last ones. So Jesus does not escape from people but he gets ready to fight the evil through fasting and penance in prayer. Heb 2:17-18 “Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” Heb 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin”.

For personal work

• How much time do I dedicate to personal prayer?
• When I am there is silence, do I feel the need to pick up a book, to say words? Am I easily distracted by the worries of the day?
• Am I able to break away from my work and activities to find some moments for my prayer?
• Do I plan my activities properly or am I easily pulled by the events?