All of life’s struggles have something to teach us. Note that after each of the temptations endured by Jesus during his desert exile (Mt 4:1-11), he comes away with new insight on God, and on his own relationship with the Father. This was certainly part of the wisdom of the desert experience, that it persisted until it revealed necessary wisdom to Jesus. This is the same reason that we persist in our Lenten disciplines for six weeks leading up to Easter: to give time to engage the struggles and learn from them.

The same can be said for our prayer practices. There is wisdom to be discovered in the faithful, steady surrender to our practices of welcoming and detachment, but it seldom comes quickly. Rather, we must be willing to remain in the desert, not finding ourselves satisfied by our usual consolations and affirmations (be they material or spiritual). In the interior stillness, we may find ourselves weary, feeling lost, and “hungry”, as Jesus was (Matthew 4), perhaps even confronting some of our own “beasts” (Mk 1:13) and being tempted by our devils. It is in that space that we learn to trust God alone, and emerge with new trust in and awareness of the Divine Presence everywhere.