The Bible likes certain numbers. Seven comes up a lot. Forty years in the dessert and forty days Christ wandered the dessert. Its the latter that most identify when they begin their Lenten journey.
Lent begins a lot like a journey into a rocky desert. We are without our usual comforts — physical, emotional, and cultural. We feel vulnerable and exposed. We are called to develop a different lifestyle to accommodate forty days of sacrifice, prayer, and meditation. At first we ask ourselves what’s the point — How is all this going to help me answer, “Who am I?” How am I getting closer to God by giving up chocolates?
Yet, we know when the Israelites left the dessert after forty years they knew who they were and the unique place they occupied in the world. When Jesus emerged from the desert he too comes out knowing who he is and what he had been sent to do. Lent is our wilderness — a place where we can face our doubt, face an uncertain future, test ourselves, and then find out who we are.
This Lent enter the wilderness knowing that when we emerge we will have answers as long as we remain true to the opportunity offers.
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