Mornings can have a bleak side for me. Even in a
warm and safe house, usually after a decent night’s
sleep, with work that I’m happy to head off to. First
steps are groggy. Anxieties whisper like no other time of
day. Yesterday’s events replay what was said (or
sometimes what I wish I had said) like a revolving
distraction. Mind and soul need a place to center and
reorient -- alone.
With his usual brevity, Mark tells us the one event
for Jesus after his baptism and before beginning his
ministry: At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert
for forty days; tempted by Satan, with wild animals, and
angels attended him. How did Jesus prepare for the
intense three years of compassionate and courageous
service, leading to the cross? A period of training.
Away from people and from the comforts of home.
Extreme spiritual testing. Exposed to the stresses of
nature as well as the nurture of heaven. To be
strengthened for the road ahead.
Henry Nouwen observed: Solitude is the furnace of
transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of
our society and continue to be entangled in illusions.
Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There he was
tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be
relevant (“turn stones into loaves”), to be spectacular
(“throw yourself down”), and to be powerful (“I will
give you all these kingdoms”). There he affirmed God
as the only source of his identity (“You must worship the
Lord your God and serve him alone”).
Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the
great encounter – the struggle against the compulsions
of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God
who offers himself as the substance of the new self . . .
In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk
with, no phone calls to make. The task is to persevere in
my solitude, to stay in my cell until all my seductive
visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me
alone.
A daily time, sufficiently focused, even with a
physical side of training, helps to fight off self-
centeredness, preoccupied with immediate wants. So
words of Jesus that speak especially to this preparation
time for Easter: “Take up your cross daily and follow” –
remembering our purpose to serve as Christ did, even
when there is risk or sacrifice. Without forgetting the
Lord’s assurances: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your
Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
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