In the Wilderness
In the book Wild, Cheryl Strayed describes her solitary walk on the Pacific Crest Trail, 1100 miles along the West Coast of the USA, much of it wild, difficult terrain. She had no hiking experience and did not seek good advice regarding her equipment. One could almost say it was suicidal, except that the personal demons she was fleeing from, her addictions and selfishness, were well on the way to destroying her life. The walk was tough, so tough, but out in the wilderness she confronted her demons. At crucial times she was supported by the ‘angels’ of other walkers along the trail.
We all have liabilities that undermine our lives and Lent is the time when we are encouraged to face them. Most of you reading this probably don’t have ‘demons’ as dramatic as Strayed but yours are real none the less. Sometimes they can seem even paltry - until we confront them. This Lent, I have decided to finish jobs that I start. As I do this, it is dawning on me just how much I must have driven spare the people I have lived with. How often must they have worked around what I had left behind. Such behaviour would not normally be called ‘bad’ but now I realise it was still selfish.
In last Sunday’s Gospel, we heard how Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. There he was challenged by demons and cared for by angels. We too need to go out into our wilderness. Our demons will attack and ridicule us but we will also be supported by the Holy Spirit. Hard and difficult as it may be, the release we will have from our own ‘bad’ behaviours we allow to be more loving, in practical and concrete ways, to our family and those around us.
Loving God, you know how my personal liabilities undermine my loving. This Lent give me the courage to enter the wilderness of my heart and with your Spirit face with my personal demons. I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.
Sr Kym Harris osb
Wild has been made into a movie, produced by Reese Witherspoon, who also plays the lead role.
