The Catholic Calendar for Monday, July 5, 2004
   Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
   St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, priest

Scripture from Monday's Liturgy of the Word:
   Hosea 2:16-18, 21-22
   Psalm 145:2-9
   Matthew 9:18-26

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

The desert is an important place to God's people. In fact, in scripture, the desert is mentioned no fewer than 380 times. Some of the more familiar happenings in the desert include Israel's flight from Egypt, Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones returning to life, Jesus' forty day fast and temptation and the flight of the woman into the desert in John's Book of Revelation.

Indeed, the desert seems to be a place where God's people find Him and where He influences His people the most. This was true in the Bible and later with the desert fathers and countless saints.

Does this mean that to find God and have Him work great things in us that we must travel to a desert perhaps hundreds or thousands of miles away? Not necessarily! We can each have our own desert right where we live to meet God. For those who live in the city it may be in a park or in a quiet room where one can go without being disturbed. For many it can be at an established retreat house. For some it may actually be in the desert. Here in Wyoming my "desert" is just south of my home in some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

The point is that to meet God in an intimate way we must devote our whole selves entirely to Him, without the distractions of the everyday world. Perhaps for only a few minutes each day - perhaps for days at a time. The length of time varies for each individual.

Seek out your desert now, and marvel and rejoice at the wonders God will reveal to you!

- Don Claunch, SFO



posted by joachim at 4:08 AM