Birthday of John the Baptist

This past Sunday the liturgy celebrated the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist. The gospel passage ends with these words: The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. For this meditation, I am going to flip the focus from John in the desert to the desert itself. Living in this part of the world we may not have had a personal experience of being in a desert - of experiencing its stark emptiness, its hostile environment. But pictures of deserts can give us some idea, especially the desert emptiness. For people who have embraced the pursuit of a true spiritual life, the experience of times of aridity will inevitably become part of their spiritual life, and with that a real sense of the desert. When Israel was liberated from bondage in Egypt, they were lead into a desert. There in the desert they were purged of all the contamination they acquired while they were in Egypt. All that was not of the God had to be stripped away so that they could come to know the One True God and learn to serve this God alone. Even as Moses was receiving the Commandments from God, the people were worshiping the image of a golden calf.  How fitting it is then, that John the Baptist carries out his prophetic role in the desert - calling God's people to come out into the desert to be purified in a baptism of repentance.  As preparation to begin his ministry, Jesus is taken by the Spirit into the desert to encounter the Evil One, the Deceiver, there to confirm the integrity of his message of salvation; to counter Satan's lies with the truth of God. Every soul who wishes to live a truly holy life will, from time to time, be lead by the Spirit into the desert, into desolation, so that they too can encounter the Great Liar, and discern how they are being deceived. It is in this desolation that they will be given the enlightenment necessary to be purified of all that is not of God. Thus purified, consolation once again returns, enabling them to continue even more devoutly the pursuit of holiness. For more on this click the label "Discernment" below.

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