The Word of God in the Desert

First Sunday of Lent

February 14, 2016

Luke 4:1-13

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert (Luk 4:1).”

Today’s Gospel shows us that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the desert. Yes, the Holy Spirit will not spare us from the desert! The desert experience can be anything that spells dryness and emptiness in our lives and souls. Out of nowhere, a seminarian enters into a desert as he is feeling unexplainable meaninglessness in his chosen vocation.  A mother begins to experience exhaustion in fulfilling her difficult mission to rear her children. Through her journals, it was revealed that even holy person like Mother Teresa of Calcutta went through ’the eclipse of God’ when she did not sense the presence of God for almost 10 years in her life.

The Gospel reminds us as well that in the desert, Jesus was tempted by the devil. Walking through the desert experiences, the devil knows well that our defense is at its lowest and surely he will take his change to make us fall from our commitment. The seminarian starts seeing another way of life as more attractive and a solution to his emptiness. Now, not only dryness, he is also facing a crisis. Tired of spending time with her children, the mother starts thinking to shift her focus on something else like her career, hobbies, or friends. The devil is an extremely smart creature. He will manipulate our basic desires and longings. He offers us little compromises that eventually destroy all together our commitment. The seminarian begins not attending prayers, a student is becoming lazy in study and a husband starts spending more time outside his own house and family. 

How then do we counter this situation? Jesus gave the answer: the Word of God. In the desert, Jesus was firmly rooted in the Word of His Father, and resisted the temptations. In the midst of life’s dryness and challenges, we shall turn ourselves into the Word of God. Doubtless, we can do our own bible reading and study. This very reflection and other reflections are an invitation to go deeper into the Word of God. Or, praying the rosary is one effective way to meditate the life of Jesus and to refuse temptation. But, the only place that the Word of God is in the most powerful and unique form is at the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the Word of God is lavishly shared to us through the biblical readings and expanded through the homily. Most importantly, the Word of God finally is made flesh and we partake of it at the Holy Communion. 

When the devil tempted hungry Jesus to change the stone into bread, Jesus resisted by pointing that we truly live because of the real Bread, the Word made flesh, the Eucharist. When the evil one attempted to allure the Son of God to exhibit His power at the temple of Jerusalem, Jesus outsmarted him by showing him that the Temple is the home of the Word, and not place of showoff. When the prince of darkness asked Jesus to worship him in exchange for the world’s glory and richness, Jesus confronted him with the truth that only God and His Word in the Eucharist worthy of all worship. 

The Holy Spirit will indeed lead us into the desert, but it is not to destroy us, but to allow us to find how we truly are, persons rooted in the Word of God, in the Eucharist.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP