I Will Lead You Into The
Desert
Many readings of the Sacred Scriptures speak of God’s
great love for you:
“I will lead
you into the desert;
there I will speak to your heart.”
God will lead you into the desert,
there He will speak and you will
experience what it is to be a woman
and
there you will establish your identity as a vowed woman.
There you will stand alone,
wondering if any companionship can fill the emptiness
There you will experience a dryness beyond description
wondering
if any reality can refresh you.
There you will suffer the urge to live,
yet wondering if life is possible.
You will know sorrow,
wondering if there can be joy.
You will know conflict
wondering if there can be peace.
You will know sinfulness
wondering if there can be holiness.
Your food will be locust from the heights
or honey from the depths.
The
Silence of this desert will be shattered by a dynamic word,
and God will speak.
God will speak to your heart
God will set you free.
God will speak to your heart:
I will be present with you always.
I will give living water
I will give a joy that is full
and a peace that no one can take from you.
I will give you a holiness that will make you
a child of God.
What greater words does a human heart long to hear!
What more personal words could a woman want to hear!
To your womanly heart He speaks:
I will be faithful
I will never forsake you
I will be with you always
I will never abandon you.
What is mine, I will share.
Where I am, I want you to be.
God never ceases
to speak to your heart:
I know that you need to possess,
come and share riches through poverty.
I know your capacity to love
come and give yourself through chastity.
Your heart longs for mysteries to ponder,
here is the mystery of my love.
Your heart longs for relationships to share,
here is my relationship with the Father,
both the love and the life.
Your heart longs for union,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man listens to my voice
and opens the door to me,
I will come in to him and will supper with him
and He with me.” (Revelation 3:20)
When He speaks, you shall respond as in the days of your youth
with generosity and blindness
with courage and faith
with a commitment that will make all stand in amazement.
“Wherever You go, I will go.
wherever You lodge, I will lodge.
Your people will be my people.
wherever you die, I will die.
Your God will be my God.”
The words that Christ speaks to your heart are words of Love:
“I will espouse you to Myself forever.
You will be my people
I will be your God”
This will be a love relationship
This will be a life relationship.
It will be a presence
It will be a sharing.
It will be a life permeated with love.
It will be a union that is personal.
It will be a bond that not even death can break.
I will espouse you to Myself
in a commitment that is for all times
and even for eternity.
in a relationship that involves total persons…..
in a self-giving that knows no restrictions
and no reservations.
I will be your God.
You will be My People, My Religious.
I will espouse you to Myself
You will be “My Word”---“My Letter” to my people.
Through you they will come to know
the primacy of the love of God
the power of the Spirit
the reality of the Resurrection
the greatness of the Spiritual
Through you they will understand:
kindness rather than coldness
rejoicing rather than revenge
compassion rather than complaining
courage rather than cowardness.
You are written by the Spirit
sent by the Spirit.
Your message is authentic and vital.
May your whole message
be accepted by God’s
people.
You
are a word,
personally spoken.
You
are a word
expressive of love
In
the words of Saint Paul (
2 Cor. 3:1-6)
You are my letter
When
He leads you into the desert
may you follow.
When He
speaks to your heart,
may you hear.
When He sends
you as His “letter”
may the whole world know
“That the Word is made flesh
Finis
Homily by: Msgr. Bernard Powers
Priest of the Owensboro Diocese
Passionist Oblate
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