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"I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart... She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt" (Hosea 2:16-17).

My brothers and sisters in the Lord:

During this month of March, as we continue our Lenten observance, I thought it appropriate to reflect on the theme of "evangelization in the desert."

When most of us think about the desert, we conjure up images of a vast territory of land as far as the eye can see, covered with dry sand, with a few cactus bushes here and there. We think of a place of intense heat and howling winds with wild animals and occasional wild flowers. In reality, the Scriptural sense of "desert" is not necessarily the same as what our imagination creates. The desert represents not necessarily a dry, arid place, but rather, a state of mind or heart; the desert is the place where we are vulnerable and dependent on God, removed from all the normal noise and distractions that can so easily prevent us from being available to God and others.

The "desert experience" for the Jews

The "desert" has always been a great Lenten theme; again, it is not so much about a place but an attitude. We know that the Jewish people spent 40 years in the desert after they escaped from slavery in Egypt at the time of Passover. In many ways, the years in the desert were a critical, formative time for the Jewish people. In the desert, at Mount Sinai, they received the Ten Commandments and the 12 tribes began to form as one nation. They began to understand themselves as God's chosen people, His holy ones, His priestly people. Through their years in the desert, the Jewish people came to appreciate the providential care and protection of God, who provided water from the rock, as well as manna and quail to eat.

Precisely because of their absolute poverty and dependence on God in the desert, later generations looked back on those years as a special, sacred time when they were closest to the Lord. In the quotation from Hosea cited at the beginning of this column, the prophet is making a point that the Jewish people of his day — about 700 years before Christ or about 500 years after the exile experience — needed a new "desert experience" to rekindle their loving communion with the Lord. In short, for the Jewish people, in a certain sense, the desert was a place of "romance" with their God.

Jesus in the desert

At the very beginning of His public ministry according to the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. Having just been baptized and prior to His initial preaching and calling of disciples, the Gospels emphasize that Jesus took time for quiet intimacy with the Lord. In the desert, He had to come to terms with how He would use His power. For Jesus, the desert was a place of testing or temptation, a place of struggle and purification. Just as the Jews had come to understand their identity and mission in the desert experience of 40 years, so, too, the 40-day desert experience for Jesus was formative and normative. We go to the desert, in order to return, renewed in spirit.

Our 'desert experience' today

If our ancestors in the faith – including the Son of God Himself – lived through the experience of desert, can we expect anything less? The desert for most of us is not necessarily a specific place but probably has to do with coming to terms with our fears. The desert could refer to frustrations about our own spiritual relationship with God or with someone else in our family. The desert place where we might need to go could actually be a new level of awareness and empathy with regard to people who are different from us. The desert could be our own home or the workplace. During this holy season of Lent, the Church invites all her members to consider how God might be inviting us to a new level of intimacy with Him. In that sense, the desert is the "sacred ground" for such an encounter. To go into the desert is to face my greatest anxieties and to trust God completely.

In the desert, discoveries of the heart

In the dryness of the desert, we begin to understand God as the refreshing and renewing water springing up within our hearts. In the quiet of the desert, we can hear the sound of the gentle whispering voice of the Lord inviting us to growth in charity, forgiveness, patience and hopefulness. Alone in the desert, we come to appreciate the gift and blessing of companionship and our need for others. The hunger and thirst we experience for food and drink and companionship in the desert all remind us of the hunger and thirst of all humankind. From the perspective of the desert, we see our deepest vulnerability and inter-dependence; all alone in the desert, we understand how we are part of the mystery of a great universe full of stars above and sand below, connected with every one of the six billion people on our planet.

Hearing the Word in the desert

Out of the intimacy of the encounter with God in the desert, we come to a renewed love for Him and all His creation. In the quiet of the desert, God's Word speaks gently but powerfully to our hearts and the mystery of evangelization begins to happen in a new and profound way.

Most of us have heard the words of faith from our infancy but sometimes they have not taken deep root within us and they have not truly permeated every aspect of our thinking and behavior. That is why we need time apart — in the desert — so we will be more disposed, eager and ready to hear the Word of God and to understand the depth of His love for us.

As we live through our own seasons of desert intimacy with God, we come to hear a unique "Good News" that only God can speak. Instead of the sometimes frivolous or merely surface "good news" of the world (external successes, popularity, security), we are aware of a new kind of good news that flows from the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation. The good news we experience in the desert challenges us to a new type of freedom and to acceptance of the mystery of suffering, death and hope for resurrection in our own life and that of our family.

Having heard, we dare to speak

We all need time in the desert if we are going to be evangelized and become evangelizers. How can we speak to others a word of consolation, hope or challenge unless we have first spent time in the purifying and renewing circumstances of the desert? And if we spend the time in quiet, we will find words and wisdom, a desire and motivation for proclaiming the Good News in a gentle, convincing and persuasive manner in all that we say and do.

A person who has spent considerable time in learning to live in the desert develops a great capacity for being able to listen to the gifts and needs of others and knows how to encourage them as they live through their own unique circumstances of the desert.

Finding peace in the desert

As I say, the desert can be anytime, anywhere, depending on our age and circumstances. For young people, the desert can be the experience of being misunderstood by classmates, family or friends; the desert might be the drudgery and monotony of the classroom or not being able to have the same toys or opportunities as some of our neighbors. For Christian spouses, the desert may sometimes be their home life and the struggle to be prayerfully respectful of the dignity of each other, not taking the other for granted and truly trying to listen to the pain, hopes and dreams our spouse is articulating. For many of us, the desert is a time of physical pain and challenge — being in the hospital or a nursing home, or going through some type of therapy of body or spirit. For many of us, a desert experience is about taking the time for absolute quiet and trying to learn to contemplate and be alone with the Lord.

Whatever the circumstances and possibilities, the desert will make itself known to us; all we have to do is not run away and stay there. If we wait patiently and hopefully, in due course, God will speak and God will touch us. The new evangelization will begin to happen within our own hearts and minds. And then, that energy will take us forth into the world with all of its noise and dazzling challenges. But first the desert. First the silence. First the intimacy. Such is my prayer for you this month of March.

Sincerely in the Lord,
†Adam Cardinal Maida
Archbishop of Detroit

March Prayer Theme
"Evangelization in the Desert"

As we continue our Lenten journey, this month of March, we are invited to reflect on the desert as the premier place for hearing and experiencing God's Word of consolation, peace, and new life. In the absolute vulnerability of the desert, we come to know and experience in ever-new ways the love of God for us and for all people. Hearing that Word in the core of our being, we will be ready to proclaim and share the Word in the new life of Easter.

Heavenly Father, as you formed the Jewish people in holiness and faith through the experience of the desert and as your Holy Spirit led your own Son into the desert to be tempted, give us patience, courage, and hope in our times of desert. Renew us in mind and heart through the silence of the desert that we might better hear and proclaim your Word of life and love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.