First Week of Lent
February 22-28, 2021
The gospel reading from yesterday was of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. We continue our meditation on this text by examining when we, too, have been on a wilderness journey. A friend of mine who was going through a challenging time cut out pictures of rocks and sand. She pasted them all around her bathroom mirror to remind herself of what a wilderness or desert looked like and felt like. She kept them on her mirror until she no longer needed them. Her time in the wilderness had passed, and she was ready to greet life with whatever it held for her.
Jesus, too spends time, as we know, alone in the wilderness. It was for Mark not a time to be tempted, as Satan is never mentioned, but I believe a time when he could set his heart, mind, and spirit for his life of ministry to everyone he would encounter. A life decision which, as we know, had terrible consequences for him. Looking back over your life, where were the desert experiences? Where did you find strength? Who did you lean on for support?
|