Signposts On The Way

Lent: Enter the Desert.

There is an enormous cry in the heart of every human being, particularly in those who intensely seek God. "O God! Where do you pronounce your Word?" (John Tauler).  God always pronounces His Word even though it sometimes seems that He is not there, although His presence seems imperceptible, although we feel that He is silent. If we are able to stay waiting as the sentry waits for the dawn (Ps 130:6), even if the waiting is long and we suffer from thirst in the desert of life, we will see it. 

Who is able to wait, who is able not to move from the path where the Lord will pass at the most unexpected moment, when they think that the Lord will pass by and they will hear God’s Word: "Come, today I will stay in your house" (Lk 19:5)? Those who know how to wait, who know how to remain attentive, even in the middle of the night, even in the cold, in loneliness and suffering, will be given to listen. Like Job, they may say: "A word has been silently spoken to me, my ear has heard its whisper" (Jb 4:12). Or what the prophet Jeremiah said: "Whenever your Word was presented, I devoured it; your Word was for me a joy and the joy of my heart" (Jr. 15:16).

There, in the desert, in the depths, in the essential depths, where the human frontier is perceived, where there is only hope, despite appearances to the contrary; there, in an unexpected way, God acts and gives Godself in fullness. Only if we build our house on rock, despite the storms and hurricanes that we face in life, will we stand firm in hope and comfidence. Would that we should live this way this Lent that is beginning now; not just this Lent, but our whole life!