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SCRIPTURE
READINGS
|
Genesis |
9:8-15 |
| Psalm |
24 |
| I
Peter |
3:18-22 |
| Mark |
1:12-15 |
We
don't think of friends as people who would do any
harm to us if they could avoid it. We hope they
wouldn't put us in situations where we would experience
harm or distress but, rather, rescue us from such
places. Which is why it is so surprising to read
in today's gospel from St Mark that Jesus was driven
into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. This is
almost the first thing Jesus does in this gospel
and it is there to tell us that his purpose, God's
purpose, was to face down the ancient enemy of human
nature, Satan himself. The Son of God is left open
to attack by the evil one and is himself tempted
and has to struggle. This gospel does not tell us
exactly how and in what way Jesus was tempted but
it is not difficult to imagine the obstacles which
were put in his path. All of this occurs away from
everyone else and he is he is left to meet this
most destructive of personalities in the desert.
The
obvious image of the wilderness is that of a flat,
barren and deserted terrain with a few scrubs skimming
across the dusty surface of an unwelcoming, even
hostile place. The wilderness is a place of emptiness,
devoid of human occupation and interest, a place
to be avoided. However the gospel places Jesus there
because it is important to him
and to us to have some time alone in an environment
where we would rather not be. We move our understanding,
then, from a geographical one to another and more
interesting existential and spiritual one. For who
among us has not experienced within themselves a
feeling, or better, a sense of isolation and even
abandonment where there is no-one to come to our
aid? It is here that we too are subjected to trial.
The
Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola
are a means of articulating the feelings and sense
that we encounter in our own very personal interior
topography. Through the use of the imagination and
emotive forces within us, we experience the kind
of inner movement which Jesus himself was subject
to and where he helps us now to follow him more
closely.
The
interior wilderness is part of every human life
and it is a place where we are sometimes if not
driven then led or find ourselves without comfort
and alone. Perhaps it is only in such an experience,
fearful though that is, that our characters can
be formed and where Christ can reveal his closeness
to us since he has been there and has conquered
the darkness and terror of that spiritual night.
During
this Lenten time of purification and decision about
who we are and why we live the way we do let us
allow ourselves a foray into our inner life to see
what we find and to become aware of what we would
like to change. Christ is there now, waiting to
help us, as we venture towards greater love and
holiness.
Fr
James Campbell SJ
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