Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. It's called to mind all those we've promised to pray for.

One of the most iconic images of the Old Testament is the chosen people wandering

through the desert for years and years. A generation in fact they wandered

through the desert.

Now stop and ask yourself, why is it so unpleasant to be stuck in a desert?

Why would it be so awful to live in a desert year after year?

Well, I can think of at least two reasons why no one wants to live in a desert.

First of all, it's unpleasant. There aren't many opportunities for pleasure in a desert.

It's hot, it's dry, and the landscape stretches out the same mile after mile.

Second, it's unproductive.

Not much grows in a desert, at least not much without water.

It's very difficult farming or gardening and no matter what you try to do,

it's not likely to bear much fruit.

Almost everything we humans do, we do either because it's pleasing or because it's productive,

and a desert offers neither pleasure or productivity.

And the point is, it's not just the Israelites who had to wander in a dry

wasteland for years,

it is often the greatest challenge

of the Christian life of prayer,

that our prayer feels like a desert,

it feels dry, it feels like there's no pleasure

...