The Desert is both the place of chaos and the place of God's Closeness

In her biography, The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day shares how, shortly after her conversion to Catholicism, she went through a painful, desert time. Her prayer at the time was wrenching, naked. She describes how she laid bare her helplessness, spilling out her confusion, her fears, and her temptations to bitterness and despair. In essence, she said to God: “l have given up everything that ever supported me, in trust, to you. I have nothing left. You need to do something for me, soon. I can’t keep this up much longer."

She was, biblically speaking, in the desert – alone, without support, helpless before a chaos that threatened to overwhelm her – and, as was the case with Jesus, both in the desert and in Gethsemane, God “sent angels to minister to her”. God steadied her in the chaos. She returned to New York and, that night, as she walked up to her apartment she saw a man sitting there. His name was Peter Maurin. Together they started the Catholic Worker.

We should not be surprised that her prayer had such a tangible result. The desert, Scripture assures us, is the place where God is especially near. In the desert we are exposed, made vulnerable to be overwhelmed by chaos and temptations of every kind. But, because we are so stripped of everything we normally rely on, this is also a privileged moment for grace. Why? Because when we are helpless we are open. That is why the desert is both the place of chaos and the place of God’s closeness.

Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI

www.crossroadswalk.org

Crossroads was founded in 1994 as a response to the Holy Father's call to take an active role in the pro-life movement in order to establish a Culture of Life.

An integral part of Crossroads is our yearly pilgrimage across the United States and so Fr. Dwight Hoeberechts, OMI, is joining the young adults walking from San Francisco and Los Angeles, California to Washington, D.C. witnessing to the dignity and sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death.