The voice of one crying in the desertPrepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wilderness A highway for our God!Isaiah 40:3
THE DESERT PILGRIMAGE OF LENT
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the desert has always been regarded as a powerful place of encounter with the ultimate loving Mystery. The early Israelites spent forty years traversing miles of sand and rock in the deserts of Sinai, Edom and Moab. It was here that their faith in Yahweh was developed and tested. A later desert-dweller, John the Baptist, received his message of repentance in the solitude of the Judean desert. If people wanted to hear him, they too had to go out into the desert where he was preaching. Jesus himself developed confidence in his divinely inspired ministry by spending over a month in desert places, where he was tested and tried. During the height of his ministry, he returned often to the arid hills to commune with Mystery. And in the fourth century, hundreds of Christians flocked to the deserts of Egypt and Syria, to practice inner stillness, mental discipline and prayer. By contrast, the Christian faith promises new life; life in all its fullness to those who open themselves up to God, emptying themselves so that they can be filled with the life that flows from the Godhead.
PILGRIM PRAYER POINTS:
God of AshesI want to travel lightI want to walk aware of my humanity.I want to place the ash of my life in your pilgrim careMay this next 40 daysbe a journey of new creation
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As the Holy Spirit of God leads me through the Purple Desert of these forty days, may I be united daily with a global multitude of Lenten Pilgrims. Help me to be aware, O God, that as their Lenten prayers and works will influence my Easter pilgrimage, so my prayer and sacrifice will influence theirs. Together with all the Body of Christ, may we be reformed and renewed during these Desert Days of Lent.
Ed Hays
US Mission Center, 4233 Sulphur Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63109, 877-272-1870 Vocation Office, 1400 South Sheridan Rd., Wichita, KS 67213 - Telephone: 877-ADORERS (877-236-7377)(Copyright 2005 Adorers of the Blood of Christ)
