Holy Land Homily Day 4 - Mass in the desert

St George's Monastery. Image: Imaze Marian Davis

Deacon Patrick van der Vorst delivered this homily to our pilgrim group on Friday 14th April 2023 at a remote place in the Judean desert opposite St George's Monastery, which was established in the 5th century by six monks near the road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho, and Jesus's Baptism site. It was built over the cave where Elijah hid from Queen Jezebel and was fed by ravens. ( 1 Kings 7)

Jeremiah 20:7-9
Matthew 4:1-11

Yesterday we found ourselves in the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem.

Today we find ourselves in the middle of the desert… quietness, barrenness, emptiness surrounds us.

In our Western culture we like to avoid the desert. We are are very used to our comforts, our TV, our iPads, our mobiles… Quietness makes us feel isolated, so we do everything we can to escape it.

However, when we look at Scripture, it is exactly in the desert that God talks to us…. Uninterrupted…. With no distractions… His voice can be heard more loudly and clearly in the silence.

In fact, the Hebrew word for the desert is MIDBAR. Because there are no vowels in Hebrew, the letters that spell it out are M-D-B-R.

Coincidentally, this is also how you spell another Hebrew word, MEDABER, which means 'to speak'. So the vowels in Hebrew for 'desert' and for 'speaking' are exactly the same.

This is not a coincidence! The Hebrew language, the language of the Old Testament linked God speaking to his people to the desert, a place where his voice could clearly be heard. In fact the desert was the background of some of the most significant events in our Christian faith: when God freed His people from slavery in Egypt, He didn't bring them straight into the Promised Land. He took them into the desert first.. for forty years… When we look at many of the other Old Testament stories, time and time again we hear of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Elijah all being spoken to - by God - in the desert! God wanted to tell them serious things, and what better place for an important meeting than a place where there are no distractions.

The same in our Gospel reading today: before Jesus started his public ministry, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the desert: into the midbar, so that God could medaber - speak to his Son!

And so the desert in the Bible is not a desolate, hopeless place. It is a place where the most, magnificent things happen.

And that is the same with our "desert times' that we sometimes find ourselves in. Even though we do our best to avoid those times at all cost, in fact it is in these very challenging times that we can hear the word of God the most.

I read our reading of today again last night, as I was writing these words for today's homily. I could not help to think that Jesus in his desert time was reflecting on his vocation, in discernment, at what was being asked from him. I somehow felt that it spoke to me in a similar way, as I prepare to be ordained for the priesthood too.

These last four years in seminary, have been my desert time… away from family, friends, my parish, my country, my home… to create space for more prayer and try to hear God's voice more clearly and to discern. The Latin word 'discernere' means to sift, to separate. That is what discernment does, it tries to sift away the bits which are unimportant, to be left with what is important.

And what is important is to align our will to God's will. God's will doesn't change, it is constant, unchangeable. We are the ones who have to change: by firstly finding out what it is that God is calling us to, and then in step two, doing something about it.

If I may talk personally here standing in the midst of the desert near Jericho, I think I have heard that voice of God calling for a long time. Ever since I was a little boy, the idea of priesthood was somehow always there. But… then doing something about that, the step two so to speak, has proven much more difficult.

So about six, seven years ago, I decided to water and nurture that seed of vocation… And it grew into something beautiful and precious. God has spoken to me in my desert time, and it led to beautiful things… one of them being here with yourselves in this awe-inspiring setting.

BUT each time we try to make ourselves available to God and surrender into his loving arms, there is another power or force that will prevent us from doing that. The Devil. He simply hates it when any of us grow in love for Jesus. And that is what the Devil wanted to achieve in this very place: to tempt Jesus into being unfaithful to his Father, so that all the billions of people after him wouldn't have to be faithful to God either….

But Jesus resisted. By resisting the temptations, Jesus chose to depend totally on his Father and accept his calling. It was a moment of supreme love, between Jesus and his father.

But like with two lovers, it is not real love unless it is mutual love. It is the same with our relationship with God. It is no good if it is only one way. We know that God loves us 100% and is perfect in his love for us. But how much do we love him back?

God is loving us and searching for us here in the physical desert… He seeks us here in the MIDBAR to speak to us… MEDABER

(Note we'll be bringing you our next Holy Land Pilgrimage reports tomorrow.)