Greetings Glen Mar,

While Lent is just beginning, we now enter our second week of the Lectio365 Lenten series, The Desert Mothers and Fathers. This week, we turn to “the Desert as a Place of Spiritual Testing” and how the desert can intensify our hunger for holiness.

Consider this saying from the desert monastics:

A brother who was obsessed by lust went to a famous hermit and said to him, ‘Of your charity, pray for me, for I am beset by lust.’ The hermit prayed for him to the Lord. He came a second time to the hermit and said the same words, and again the hermit was careful to beseech the Lord on his behalf, and said, ‘Lord, show me why the devil is doing his work in that brother; I prayed to you, but he has not yet found peace.’ The Lord showed him what was happening to that brother. He saw the brother sitting down, and the spirit of lust near him playing with him. An angel was standing near to help him and was frowning at that brother because he did not throw himself upon God, but took pleasure in playing with his thoughts, turning towards them. The hermit realized that the chief trouble was with the brother himself. So he said to him, ‘You are toying with these thoughts.’ Then he taught him how to reject thoughts like these. The brother’s soul revived under the hermit’s teaching and prayer, and he found rest from his temptation.

Many of us know what it feels like to face temptation. The Desert Mothers and Fathers did too. The difference is that they expected temptation and trained themselves to resist it. Too often, we are like the brother in the story. We toy with thoughts that should be rejected. We entertain what we know leads us away from God, and eventually, we give in. We are called to something more. We are called to holiness.

We may not like the word sin, but it names a reality we all share. As the Apostle Paul writes, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is whatever separates us from God and diminishes the life He intends for us. It is not merely a rule broken. It is a relationship strained.

Here is the good news: we can repent and be forgiven (1 John 1:9). Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God has made a way for us to be restored. Christ took our sin upon himself and bore its consequence so that we might die to sin and rise to new life. We are not condemned to live defeated lives. We belong to the Victor.

That means we can resist temptation. We do not have to toy with thoughts that lead us away from God. We can turn toward Him. The desert tradition reminds us that holiness does not happen accidentally. It requires intention, vigilance, and grace.

The desert of Lent is a fitting place to relearn this hunger for holiness. John Cassian and the other desert teachers serve as wise guides, reminding us that testing can become transformation when we surrender fully to God.

I hope you will join us on Sunday as we continue the journey.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Chris