The Desert

This probably comes as no surprise to anyone who knew her, but my mother was a worrier; not just about her own soul, but the souls of her husband and children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  To help her cope with these worries, she tried to avail herself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) as often as possible.  She told me that she went to one of the associate priests once for Confession, and the priest said, “You’re over 80 years old!  You don’t need to come so often.  After all, how many mortal sins can you commit at your age?”  It really upset Mom.  So much so that she went to the pastor and relayed the younger priest’s rebuke.  “Hasn’t he ever heard of Sanctifying Grace??”, he asked.  He told her anytime she felt like confessing, she should come to him from then on. 

Repentance brings hope to the dry and seemingly barren areas of our life, the ‘desert of our souls’.  We get discouraged and weak by our sins and short comings.  When the Lord enters these places, we become strong.  In the desert you feel abandoned and alone with no hope.  But the Lord will come and feed you with His manna, the bread of angels, and make you strong again.  This only comes through humility and prayer.  We make straight His paths by saying “You must increase, I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

John’s penitential life revealed his sincerity; he practiced what he preached.  He detested sin and desired to please God, who is worthy of all our love.  He offered up his body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, his spiritual worship.  He wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist.  His food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3: 1-4).  Knowing and confessing our sins is a grace.  “God’s greatest pleasure is to pardon us.  The good Lord is more eager to pardon a repentant sinner than a mother to rescue her child from a fire” (Saint John Vianney).  Again, I repeat; Repentance brings hope to the dry and barren areas of our life.

But you must always come in the true spirit of repentance, not in a public show of self-righteousness as the Pharisees and Sadducees did when they came to John’s baptism site.  John encouraged them to receive this Sacrament with the right disposition (Matthew 3: 4-12).  Our confidence in every sacrament arises from faith in Christ’s power.  It is Christ’s power that makes us strong and gives us strength when we are alone in the desert.  That’s the ‘Sanctifying Grace’ that my mom’s pastor talked about.  Even if we fall Jesus does not abandon us: humility and contrition keeps us firm in God’s love.

John’s baptism inspired repentance and merely pointed to Christ’s baptism—the Church’s baptism—which, by the power of the Holy Spirit, forgives sins and fills us with divine life.  Jesus frees us from sin, purifying our hearts so we can become like the pure wheat consecrated on the altar.  He “bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world” (2Peter 1:4).  We must become like a desert and empty ourselves of all our sins so He can come into our lives and make them whole again.