In the Desert

“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.”

Mark 1:12-13

Do you remember your baptism? Pope Francis said that if we do not know when we were baptized, we ought to find out, remember it, and celebrate it because it was the day we became a child of God and an heir to the Kingdom. It is this “gateway sacrament” that enables us to live a life of faith, a life that shares in the divine life of the Trinity, a life that is sustained by prayer.

The first thing Jesus does after his baptism is pray. We are told that he was driven into the desert by the Spirit where He stayed and fasted for forty days and was tempted by Satan. This time of communion with the Father sustained the Son even in the face of temptation. In the other synoptic accounts we read of the words exchanged between Jesus and the devil and it was with Scripture that Jesus rebukes the devil. Although the devil quotes Scripture, he is no match for the Incarnate Word that stood before him. The eternal word of God is effective and performative. A life of prayer is a life rooted in this Word. It is this Word that will protect us from the lures of the devil. Mark also tells us that “angels ministered to him.” When we are immersed in prayer and live a life that is rooted in our relationship with God, we will come to experience more fully the hand of God working in our lives, the moments when the angels of God minister to us.

Just as Jesus knew who He was before the devil we too ought to know who we are. Jesus knew He was the Son of the Father and that nothing He did was apart from Him. Likewise we must always remember that by the gift of our baptism we have become beloved sons and daughters of the Father. Let us never forget that. Let us never cease to be in communion with the Father in prayer.

As Christians the desert is a place that we must go. Just as Christ went so must we. A life rooted in prayer is a life that leads us not away from the desert but rather through it courageously. Even when we find ourselves in the middle of the wildernesses and deserts of our lives and the devil stands before us, we have no fear because the Father is with us and He sends His angels to minister to us.

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Return to Me

“Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.”

Joel 2:12

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, a time for all Christians to examine their relationship with God. Wherever we may be on our spiritual journey, God is calling out to us. God is speaking to us. God is asking us to return to Him.

“Even now” the Lord says, “return to me.” Even now. Where are we at this very moment? Where are we in our relationship with the Lord? Wherever we may be we are be invited to journey to the Lord. No matter how long we have been away from God or how far we have drifted from Him, God says “Return to me!” Lent is a time of homecoming, a time of journeying back to the One who has loved us from all eternity. The Lord asks us to return to Him with our whole heart — what else would be fitting? God gave us His very Self so it is only fitting that we return to Him with our whole heart and being.

Repentance is a major theme during Lent. It is not simply confessing our sins, but rather a turning back, a conversion, a transformed way of living. We are not simply “giving something up” for Lent. We are saying “yes” to God and “no” to the enemy. We are saying “I want to reclaim my truest identity. I want to live as the beloved son/daughter of God.” We must say this everyday. We will fall on our path of returning to God, but that should not deter us. God is waiting and He is patient. In fact, He runs to us and He helps us up, but we need to let Him. Even if we fall every day, the next moment is a new beginning. God remains there by our side. God does not give up on us.

This Lent, may we hasten our way back to God and when we begin to stumble let us never forget that God is there and He says to us, “Even now, return to me.”

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Jesus Wills It

“Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, 
touched him, and said to him, 
‘I do will it. Be made clean.’”

Mark 1:41

Have you ever experienced being denied something even though you know the person whom you approached could have easily granted it to you? Perhaps it was because they really did not want to grant it to you or maybe they knew they had authority and power over you and they wanted to make sure you knew that. Or, they genuinely considered it and discerned it was not what was best for you. This can be the same in our spiritual lives.

When a leper approached Jesus, he said to Him that if Jesus wills it, He could make him clean. The interesting thing is that the leper does not really ask Jesus to help him, but his nonverbals did. The leper knelt and begged. He risked being ridiculed to go among the people to reach Jesus. Most lepers were outcast and needed to stay away from people, but this one leper risked being punished or shunned even more just to approach Jesus because he knew He could do something that would change his life. Instead of asking, the leper made sort of a statement or confession of faith, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” The leper expressed his faith in Jesus and His power and authority. And Jesus did will it and He made the leper clean.

The Lord wishes to make us clean too, but do we believe that? Do we see the areas in our lives that need healing? What are the leprosies that eat away at us? Jesus wishes to shed light on those areas in our lives and bring healing, but we need to want it. In order to do that we need to have a relationship with Jesus. Only when we have a relationship with Him will we believe and know that He truly does will our healing and our good, and when our hearts know and believe that, like the leper, we can approach Jesus with all our problems and wounds without hesitation and trust that He will gaze upon us with love and compassion and say to us, “I do will it, be made clean.”

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.