In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my Father and Lord,

my guardian angel, and to proceed for me.

We think now, in our mind's eye, of the moment in which Jesus was led out by the Spirit into the desert.

It's always the way we begin lent, but we can ask, why did Jesus need to go out into the desert?

We know that everything he does has specific meaning, a purpose.

Indeed, every one of his actions, even the most smallest actions,

even the most inconsequential actions were redemptive,

whether it was the suffering of flagellation, the crowning of thorns,

whether it was the great miracles, his words in front of the crowds, his work of 30 years of

silence with St. Joseph, the moments when he spoke with his mother, his gestures, his sleep, his eating.

Everything was redemptive.

So why did he go out like that into the desert?

In fact, it said the Holy Spirit led him out there into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil,

and he was tested there for 40 days.

He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and he was hungry.

Well, any person hearing that at that time would have understood immediately the significance of 40 days.

The immediate connections with the 40 years of the people of Israel in the desert.

They understood the 40 days of the flood, you know, that it rained for 40 days,

the 40 years of the pilgrimage, 40 days of Moses and Mount Sinai and so many

other references they would understood the 40 days in the desert or the 40 days but why

the desert is a place that doesn't offer you anything.

There's no vegetation.

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