February 21, 2021
Editor’s note: This reflection was originally published on Fr. Mark-David’s Facebook page.
“The Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert. He stayed in the wasteland forty days, put there to the test by Satan. He was with the wild beast and angels ministered to him.” Mark 1: 12-13
Angels ministered to him…
The Spirit sent Jesus into the wasteland with wild beasts
And there, tempted by the devil for forty days.
He was not alone in the wasteland
Satan was there, wild beasts to devour him were there,
But so too were angels.
Angels are sent my God,
Angels are filled with messages from God
Angels reminding Jesus of God’s presence
Even when surrounded by barren desert, Satan and ravenous beasts.
Jesus’ story begins in the wasteland with beasts and devils
Because that that is where we spend a lot of our time.
Metaphorically and literally, we spend much of our life
In a wasteland where we must struggle for survival
Tempted, by all the devils in our lives.
Tempted to call on them to use our selfishness
To fight off the wild beasts of life that seek to devour us.
Covid-19 has made our country a wasteland,
Close to 500,000 deaths,
and for each death a family ravaged by grief.
Over 28 million cases of illness
exhausting every health care worker we have.
People out of work, losing livelihoods
many risking their lives just to go to work.
Our educational ladder to success has been shortened.
We are all lonelier, precariously balancing on our last nerve,
Anxious, bored, depressed, frustrated.
This past Friday night, bitterly cold,
I heard a surprisingly young homeless man scream out
“would someone kill me and put me out of my misery!”
Always, really-but especially now
We need Sabbath time,
Time to let God’s angels care for us,
Soothe our brow wrinkled with worries,
Anoint worn out bodies,
Ease our soul tired of wrestling with the devil
And losing more than we care to admit.
When life was much simpler
God first commanded we keep holy the Sabbath
To give the angels time to care for us.
Life has a way of wearing us out.
Work has a way of possessing us
As we are possessed by the wild beasts:
Fear, sadness, hopelessness.
We are a world of Sabbath breakers-
With the stress of life pushing away all of God’s angels.
Cardinal Walter Kasper writes on the Sabbath:
“Sanctification of the Sabbath affirms that human being
is not just a creature made for labor
and that Sabbath rest does not mean resting from work
to recharge one’s batteries in order to work more.
It means resting to have time for God, and for people,
for one’s family, one’s friends, and social interaction in general.”
Sabbath angels remind us we are made for relationship.
Sabbath angels sooth us with the voices of friends and family.
Sabbath angels energize us with play and laughter.
Sabbath angels refresh us with music, learning, art and sport.
Sabbath angels come to us when we are bruised and battered,
Wearied by the devil, scarred by life, alone in our wasteland
Reminding us we are not deserted, not unloved.
The God who made us holds us dear,
even when devils and beasts do not.
Covid-19 prevents us from gathering for Sabbath worship
But it cannot keep us from Sabbath time.
Sabbath time connects us to God
To friends, family, the mystery of life,
The mystery of our life-
Not so that we can go back to work on Monday,
But to remember time is God’s gift to us
And is meant to be filled with love, relationship and joy.
Monday morning, with all its wild beasts and devils
Comes soon enough, and will do our best to outwit them
Or, survive them, all over again.
Life is not made just for that.
We are made for so much more,
Made for God’s kingdom of love
Not simply later, but now, at our fingertips.
Before you rush into Lent-giving up this, giving up that,
Improving this and that part of your character,
Try this Lent, to keep holy the Sabbath
Giving God’s angels a chance to minister to you. Amen.
Paulist Fr. Mark David Janus is president of Paulist Press.