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To repent always means to turn to the way of God. The desert-wilderness is a place both of trial or temptation and of repentance. It is a place of decision. It is the place where all is lost and all is found. To illustrate this:
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (author of The Little Prince), after crashing in his light aircraft in the desert, lived through isolation, fear and struggle to survive. There in the wilderness, deprived of all human companions and comfort, he found the ultimate meaning of his life. He found himself, and he found the extreme value of other human beings. He also found a new dedication to life. He wrote:
Never shall I forget that, lying buried to the chin in sand, strangled slowly to death by thirst, my heart was infinitely warm beneath the desert stars.
What can people do to make known to themselves this sense of deliverance?
Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, New-York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939, pp. 240-241.
Saint-Exupery told how, in a moment of seemingly final weakness, he thought he must walk with arms outstretched so that those searching for him might find him reaching toward them.
John the Baptist had prepared for his mission—making ready the way of the Lord—by an austere life in the desert. Early in Jesus' public life, in the time just following his own time in the desert, John was imprisoned. Prison is an other sort of desert. Reading between the lines of the gospel account, we could picture John in the dungeon perhaps wondering what has come of his mission and whether the Messiah is truly come. Would he rescue John from this prison-desert? We know he endured to the end.
As we turn our eyes to the place described in Mark's very brief account of Jesus' temptations, we see him, a lone human surrounded by wild beasts, Satan, angels, the Spirit and desert... all elemental forces, as it were. In some sense, Jesus is finding his place in God's plan of things. In some sense, too, we can think of Jesus as "repenting" in the desert inasmuch as he has left his carpenter's role behind and turned over his life to a new and total dedication to the Kingdom of God. It is a dedication and decision unto death.
One is reminded of the meditation of St. Ignatius on the Two Standards, that of Christ and that of Satan. The one making the Exercises is asked to choose between the two. One cannot choose to be like table cream, "half and half"! One has to decide. Like Jesus, like John, like Noah when only a few followed but who reached the rainbow of Covenant, one has to decide.
Are we capable of such decision for God?
Are there such people as they today? I think so.
It is good to remember that John and Jesus were lay persons. Religious are also laity. We are all "religious" brothers and sisters of Christ and religious vows are not the only symbol of total dedication to God's way. We have many courageous examples in our own day: nurse Sheila Cassidy, husband, father, and martyr Franz Jagerstatter, Jean Vanier, Ita, Maura, Jean and Dorothy, returning to their mission in El Salvador, youths Terry Fox, John O'Leary, Sophie Scholl and her brother who resisted Nazism alone. The names are many. They believed the Good News and "repented" with their lives.
Where is the Spirit leading me to repent and to choose? The Reign of God is close at hand: am I keeping it at arm's length? Do I postpone? ignore? even miss it? What real life choice have I made? To what am I really committed? These are the questions of the Lenten desert.
Christ Jesus, God's human Son, in the moment of your weakness and hunger, I see the power of the Holy Spirit at work. I believe the same Spirit can strengthen me in my weakness. Help me to dare the desert of decision and to accept the challenge of life lived fully in your kingdom.For other prayers, see this page
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Last updated: January 15, 2010 -- 02:23:31 pm