Just a thought about how to feel close to Him with prayer as frequent and emotional as during times in the desert, but with a differentvtone reflecting our peace and gratitude that He has helped us obtain.

I will practice what I preach, because I am more on the fringes of the desert now, as opposed to being in the middle of it.

I remember that you were in a desert a few months ago. You wrote about the difficult time you were having. You also wrote a beautiful reflection about how you were in your weekly Adoration session, and you were wondering if Jesus was even there; if He was listening to you. And at that moment, your son reached out and held your hand. You knew that it was the Lord sending you a message assuring you of His presence and His love for you. I could feel His love for you, and for all of us, in your description, and I cried at the joy manifested in your beautiful writing.

Are you out of that desert now? And when you were in it, did you know that it was a time for growth, and that you had to make straight the path for the Lord?

It seemed to me like you didn’t love the experience of being in that desert, so I’m wonderimg about how to reconcile your descriptions of that time with what you have written above.

I’m asking, becausr I too have been in spiritual deserts, and still am in one, but I feel it less so than before. I know that, at some time, another spiritual desert will find me. I’m hoping to be able to use your advice from this reflection, but how did your own advice wirk for you in your most recent desert?

Have a blessed Advent!