Conquer your desert, garden and hill

March 9, 2003 -- First Sunday of Lent

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What are the "places" in which you have been tested? 2. Why is spiritual testing so important? 3. What does "put us not to the test" mean to you?

Jesus was tested. Three places come to mind: the desert, the garden, and the hill called Calvary. In each of these locations it was a matter of life or death, of saying yes to the God's will or another's, of being true to one's deepest identity or false to it. We do know the rest of the story but we must not hurry there without tasting the significance of these trials.

Lent
• Lent-related articles  • 2003 Lenten Wish List  • Lenten rules (2/28 issue)

The desert! We can only guess what wild beasts confronted our Lord. How about these? The beast of power that sought to take Jesus down the road of domination? Or the beast of prestige that would focus on making a name for oneself? Or the beast of possessions that promised satisfaction of body and soul? Jesus did not yield.

Rather, he came out of the desert with a clear and forceful message: repent, reform, believe. One thing alone was necessary: God's reign in our lives. God does rule when we turn away from the beasts of empty promises to the good news of God's love and infinite mercy. The desert proved redemptive.

The garden! It was in the garden that Jesus was tempted not the drink the cup of suffering and death. For John the Baptist it would be a prison that his testing took place. What was absolutely crucial for both Jesus and John was to keep their gaze not on the approaching pain of torture and death, but on the mystery of God's providence. Rather than yield to fear, they would be strengthened by the Spirit to do the Father's will.

All of us have our own gardens of testing: a terminally ill spouse, a son or daughter alienated from the family, the loss of one's name, radical self-doubt, religious skepticism and the list goes on. In all of these gardens there awaits all of us the beast of discouragement, to give up on others or ourselves, even life itself. How desperately we need the strength of the Spirit to restore our courage to embrace whatever is asked of us. How desperately we need to hear the good news that God is with and for us.

The hill called Calvary! Just as Jesus was sent out toward the desert, so too he was led to the mystery of the Cross for our redemption. Hung between two thieves he felt the abandonment of God. No other test can compare with this. Yet through it all a resounding yes to God's will and God's reign was proclaimed. The wild beast of death was slain that day, that day we call Good Friday. The really good news is that sin and death have been conquered.

Most of us will not be nailed to a cross but all of us will have our crosses to carry. For some it will be ill health, for others a fear of failure, for still others uncertainty about the meaning of life. Whatever our burden we are challenged not to carry it alone but to focus on the example of Jesus and to realize that faith in God's rule cannot be overcome. God is with us in sickness and health, in success and failure, in every circumstance of our life. Good news that!

Noah was tested. He had his desert, his garden, his hill. But Noah also had his rainbow. His perspective was not limited to the narrow horizons of the tests that came his way. No, he was instructed to gaze heavenward and to watch for that bow in the sky that confirmed God's promise, a promise of recalling a covenant that was one of life and not death.

We do well to watch for our rainbows, not because there is a pot of gold at its end but because it reminds us of the good news of God's love and reign in our lives.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay.)