Lent Day 6

 Lent Day 6

The journey through Lent can often feel like a desert experience, especially this year as we are all living through a frightening Pandemic. Yet it is here, in such a barren place, that God speaks tenderly and mercifully to us. 

Difficulties and problems always seem to abound in our lives at this time of year. The sense of being in the wilderness is not new to us, though in truth it does not necessarily get easier to bear, the longer it goes on. Yes, if you have dwelled in total isolation for a while, there becomes a familiarity and a way of learning, to an extent, to cope with it, but in the desert, there is also hardship, there is emptiness, there is silence. 

Here we become totally open to God and reliant on His message of hope and perseverance. Here, we can become more aware of His goodness and mercy, we can rely upon Him to hear our need and speak to us and lead us on, for that is also what Christ did. In that He leads the way and reveals to us the importance of our spiritual lives to sustain us during the challenges and temptations that we may endure in the wilderness. 

It is here, in the bleakest of places, that we can hear Him most clearly and come to rely on Him totally. This is where trust and faith grow and expand. This is where we become fully alive in Spirit. This is where we worship God and find Him truly with us. This is where our relationship with the Trinity can grow and develop.

So no matter how hard the journey through Lent is and no matter how dire our own particular life is, we can know that God has called us, that He wants us to be reliant upon Him and that He will hear us clearly and respond lovingly. And when things are difficult, for it is not always easy in such a hard and barren wilderness, we can turn to God in prayer and contemplation and ask that His Will be done, for that Will is always Love and Mercy and thus it can be trusted.

Therefore do not be afraid to enter into the wilderness. Be not afraid of the seeming emptiness and disorientation that it can bring, but rely on the bounty of God who longs for you to be with Him and trust Him.

He will lead us. 

He will guide us.

He will hear us when we call,

for He has called us to know Him more.

Let us give glory to God then. Amen.