Moving towards Easter in the Desert

For the last weeks of Lent until Easter, we will provide daily reflections on the a desert journey. The citations come from John Moses, The Desert. An Anthology for Lent (Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse, 1997).

Learning humility

“It was said that one of the Desert Fathers had prayed to the Lord and the Lord had taken away all his passions, so that he became impassible. And in this condition he went to one of the elders and said, ‘You see before you a man who is completely at rest and has no more temptations.’ The elder said, ‘Go and pray the Lord to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the soul is matured only in battles.’ And when the temptations started up again he did not pray that the struggle be taken away from him, but only said, ‘Lord, give me strength to get through the fight.’”

Abbot Pastor

Perseverance

“A hermit had persevered for thirty years. One day he said to himself, ‘I have now spent so many years here and I have had no vision and performed no miracle as did the Fathers who were monks before me.’ And he was tempted to go back into the world. Then he was told, ‘What miracle do you want to perform that could be more extraordinary than the patience and courage God has given you and which allowed you to persevere for so long.’?”

A Desert Father