Journey in the Desert

By FATHER RICHARD P. GROGAN, S.J.

Fordham College in the '60s was still a fairly strict and rule-ridden place. No women! Can you believe it? I remember a theology class in which the Jesuit professor was "explicating" with much scholarly lingo Mark's Gospel reading for the First Sunday in Lent.

When he came to the verse: "...he ate nothing during those (40) days, and when they were over he was hungry," the guy beside me burst out laughing.

"Do you mind my asking just what is so funny?" the professor groused. "Father, he didn't eat for 40 days. Of course he was hungry." Not so much as cracking a smile, Father continued with his exegesis. Lent was no time for humor.

The readings in Deuteronomy and Luke for this Sunday each focus on the desert as a place of privation. The exodus leads to the promised land; the triumph of Jesus in the desert heralds a bold and challenging ministry.

Our "desert temptations," I suggest, are the culture of advertising and the malls that dot the landscape. The promise is: You will fit in, you will be cool. Yes, you will be happy if only you buy these jeans for a mere $85.

Mortification? Fasting? Sacrifice? Giving something up? Hey, this is 2001 not the '60s.

But Lent has begun, and there will be no more Alleluias or Glorias or flowers until the Easter Vigil.

A popular book admonishes us that "Simple is beautiful." A self-help group counsels: "Keep it simple." Lent remains an invitation to silence, to prayer and to attending to matters of the heart and the soul.

I wonder if my college buddy still laughs when he hears that passage on the First Sunday of Lent. Actually, I always felt he was right. God never wanted us to give up laughter.

But he does invite us to give up the excess and the distractions of the age for just a time, in fact, for only 40 days, not 40 years. Ironically Jesus derived his strength from the isolation of the desert.

From Egypt to Jerusalem, from bondage to freedom, from manna to Eucharist, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday: a daunting journey leading to a holy and joyous place.

OK, OK. I promise. I'm giving up cigarettes.

Father Grogan is on the staff of the Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House on Staten Island.