My dear parishioners, Stephen Crane’s poem XLII (“The Black Riders”) expresses the bleakness of a suffering heart—
 
I walked in a desert.
And I cried,
“Ah, God take me from this place!”
A voice said, “It is no desert.”
I cried, “Well, but—
The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon.
A voice said, “It is no desert.”
 
Father Thomas Merton observes in NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION that of these three spiritual “places” — aridity, obscurity and tranquility — we discover ourselves dwelling in aridity most of the time. Our world, though beautiful, is fallen, and and eternity beckons. “(For) our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”.  [Phi 3:20] 
 
While such longing is a cause for joy, it needn’t intensify our present distress. In the dazzling austerity of the desert, a believer can discover sanctity and the hidden lives of the saints. The scriptures tell us, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea”  [Mt 3:1], and again, “(Jesus) withdrew to the wilderness and prayed”.  [Lk 5:16]
 
The person who eschews the desert never sees or understands these things. When a person enters the desert for the first time, or rarely, he perceives only a wasteland and his own vulnerability. The man who embraces the desert, however, knows it as a sanctuary of striking spiritual beauty and God’s impenetrable wonders. This makes sense. Our Lord Jesus Christ spent much if not most of his time in the wilderness, there communing with his heavenly father. It was the city and its builders, not the desert and its nomads, who would betray him.
 
No, dear disciple, you are not a victim, nor is your life a drudgery of empty piety. You build on solid rock, that is to say, a living holiness.   [cf Mt 7:24-27]  With the Carpenter of Nazareth to help you, you are constructing a house of love on this foundation. You may be rebuked or condemned for being holy. Do not look to the right or to the left. Keep your eyes on the Most Blessed Trinity and the celestial Jerusalem made by heavenly hands. Drawn to see the seraphic fire, Moses stood silently before the burning bush. Take off your sandals. Listen to God.
 
It is an irony that human beings actually don’t enter the desert in this life. We are birthed into the spiritual desert from the beginning! One advances far in the devout life when he consciously embraces the desert which surrounds him always. There, like Jesus, pray to God the Father. There like Jesus, allow God’s Spirit to minister to you and defend you from evil.
 
If you thirst to live a holy way of life, your journey must lead to the Sacrament of Reconciliation — “a spring of water welling up to eternal life”.  [cf Jn 4:14]  The Spirit’s voice speaks. “It is no desert!” In this mystical oasis you will find refreshment, regeneration and the spiritual strength to carry on and serve your brothers and sisters.
 
Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Your pastor,
Reverend Richard Barker.