“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert…” (Mk 1,12)  Our spiritual lives begin with a trip into the desert.  When the Spirit enters into our lives and we have determined that we are going to set out on the spiritual journey that will lead us into the new life of discipleship, the Spirit first drives us into the desert.  The desert is the place to be tested.  Before we can emerge from our sojourn in the desert we have a little wrestling match that we must undertake.  We have to wrestle with the devil.  Jesus was in the desert to be tempted by Satan.  If we are to follow Jesus in a committed life of discipleship, we too must first get by the devil who is waiting for us in the desert.

The early part of our spiritual journey is spent wrestling with demons.  The first task of our spiritual lives is conversion.  We cannot serve both God and mammon.  Before we can follow the road of discipleship that leads us to the Kingdom of God we must first abandon the false gods that we have served in the past.  Often we are used to “going with the flow” and doing the things that others are doing around us.  We have not resisted the way of the world but allowed ourselves to be caught up in its flowing tides and to be swept along in the current of worldly thoughts and allurements.  We have gone along with the way of the world so that we could get along with others.  We listen to that voice that promises us an easy and pleasurable way of life.  There are not many decisions to be made, just do what everyone else is doing, simple and easy.  Before we know it we have settled into patterns of habitual behavior that are hard to change.  Before we know it we have lost our freedom and we are slaves to the false gods of our culture.

St. Paul challenges us in Romans, “Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom 12,2)  Discipleship requires that we conform ourselves to Christ and not to the world.  It requires that we seek God’s will in all things and not our own selfish pleasures.  Conversion means that we must begin to live another way, a way that the world will resist.  We cannot just “go along to get along”, now we must begin to discern what is the will of God.  As we seek to follow Christ and do God’s will we begin to encounter resistance and opposition.  We begin to struggle with vicious habits and doubts.  Pretty soon we are in a full-on wrestling match and it is the devil himself who has engaged us.  St. Paul tells us clearly, “That enticement does not come from the one who called you.” (Gal 5,8)

“For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”    (Gal 5,1)  We are fighting for our freedom in the desert.  Freedom requires that we make a responsible decision.  To freely say “yes” to God, we must have the courage and discipline to say “no” to temptation and to worldly and carnal allurements.  “I say, then:  live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.  For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want…If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.” (Gal 5,16f.25)  The Spirit drives us into the desert to teach us how to wrestle the devil and attain our freedom so that we might live in the Spirit and follow the Spirit into new life.
Lent is our time to be driven by the Spirit into the desert.  In the desert we begin to learn a new way of life, a way that leads us to discipleship in Christ.  The desert teaches us about discipline and the freedom to say “no” to the world and its enticements.  During Lent we fast, we give up certain habitual comforts, we abstain from meat on Friday and we learn to wrestle.  We are tested and tempted but hopefully we grow strong and attain greater freedom.  Jesus was not alone in the desert, he had angels who were in his corner and who ministered to him.  We need to find our angels in the desert also.  The angels are helpers in difficult times who encourage us.  Angels carry little water bottles of God’s grace, without which we would be defeated.  We find our angels most often through prayer and spiritual reading.  Sometimes they are found through acts of charity and hospitality.

Jesus starts his journey to Calvary with a wrestling match with the devil in the desert.  Spoiler alert:  At the end of the journey, Jesus no longer wrestles with the devil, he wrestles with God in the Garden and on the Cross where he finally surrenders into the Father’s hands.  After we finish our wrestling match with the devil, God is waiting for us.