HE WENT TO A DESERTED PLACE

1 Cor 3,1-9; Ps 32; Lk 4,38-44
5 SEPTEMBER
Moses goes up the mountain and returns with the tables of the Law. The mountain is the lonely and deserted place of Moses. Even Elijah, prophet of the living God, goes to the desert. He must meet the Lord. The journey is long. He gets tired. The Lord gives him strength and he comes up to the Horeb. He returns from this meeting with a new vision of God and also with a mission to be accomplished. When man is in the presence of God, he always assumes in all the form, the appearance, the thought and the will of our God. Iron changes in fire.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done – that he had put all the prophets to the sword. Jezebel then sent a messenger to Elijah and said, “May the gods do thus and so to me if by this time tomorrow I have not done with your life what was done to each of them.” Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there and went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

There he came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the Lord came to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” He answered: “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” Then the Lord said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord – but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire – but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, why are you here?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. But the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” “Go, take the road back to the desert near Damascus,” the Lord said to him. “When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram. Then you shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, as prophet to succeed you. If anyone escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill him. If he escapes the sword if Jehu, Elisha will kill him. Yet I will leave seven thousand men in Israel – all those who have not knelt to Baal or kissed him” (1Kings 19,1.18).

In his true humanity, Jesus enters the fire of the Father’s thoughts and will every night. He comes out of this fire transformed into the thought and will of the Father. He returns to the world as the pure thought of God and his firm and determined will.

After he left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

The disciple of Jesus must also immerse himself in His heart to be his thought.

Virgin Mary, Angels and Saints, immerse us in the heart of Christ to be his light.