Going to the Desert

12-10-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp, V.F.

In today’s gospel reading, we see John the Baptist in the desert calling out to the people of Judea to come out into the open desert and let God find them. Isaiah, in the first reading, calls our attention to the mountains and valley that obscure our vision of God’s Glory. Then, Peter, in the second reading, invites us to a life of holiness and devotion to God. May we open ourselves to the grace that would enable us to respond to this call.

To go into the desert is to leave behind the normal props of life on which we tend to depend on. Such life props we often find in our jobs, in relationships and in routine religious practices. God cannot do much with us if we hope and trust in these things as the first things that give meaning to our lives. When the heart is full, no one can come into it, not even God. You have first to let go of what your heart is holding on to before you can embrace God. This letting go is symbolized by a journey into the barren desert.

In the Bible, the desert has come to mean a place of encounter with God. It is a place to have a personal experience of God. It was in the desert that the people of Israel met God and learned the ways of God. There they became God’s own people, and the Lord became their God. But first they had to give up all the things that make for a good life that they were enjoying in Egypt: “the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic” (Numbers 11:5). These things were the things the people of Israel gave up to be able to experience God in the desert. Jesus, before beginning His public ministry, spent forty days and nights in the desert. It was a time of discovering and deepening His personal relationship with God. By calling the people into the desert, John was calling them to let go of their false hopes and securities and learn to hope and trust in God alone. What are you ready to give up to encounter God this advent season?

John lived what he preached. By his lifestyle, his dressing and eating habits, he showed that the meaning of life is not to be found in the abundance of material possessions but in relationship with God. Simplicity of life and detachment from unnecessary cares and worries of social life frees the heart for a personal relationship with God. To go into the desert is the first step in true repentance. It means abandoning our usual hiding places and putting ourselves in a situation where God can easily reach us. It is the levelling of those hills and the filling of those valleys that make it difficult for God to reach us and save us. Are there valleys in your life that need to be filled and mountains in your life that need to be leveled?

In the season of advent, the church extends to us the call of John the Baptist to repent and confess our sins in preparation for the One who is to come.

I wish each of you a blessed advent and God’s blessings upon you and your families.

Fr. Tony Okolo C.S.Sp., V.F.