We've just spent forty days fasting in the Lenten desert, in imitation of Jesus' forty-day desert fast (Mt 4:1-2). Now Jesus is risen, and we celebrate the season of Easter, a fifty-day Sunday of feasting and rejoicing. Yet, like Philip, some of you may find yourselves in the desert after Easter Sunday (Acts 8:26). You may have lost a loved one (Acts 8:2), suffered persecution for your Easter faith (Acts 8:3), or are simply returning to your normal life after the spiritual high of Easter (Acts 8:27).
If you are in the Easter desert, you are not alone. Others, such as the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:27), are also in the Easter desert. In the Easter desert can be found:
If you are still in the desert, ask not so much to be taken out of the desert; rather, ask for "ears open to obedience" (Ps 40:7; see also Is 50:4). Your emptiness and suffering might be exactly what the Spirit uses to bring Easter joy to the world. After the Lord's purpose is completed, the Spirit can quickly carry you out of the desert to the refreshment you need (see Acts 8:39-40).
| PRAYER: | Father, use me to spread Your Word to the whole world. |
| PROMISE: | "If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world." –Jn 6:51 |
| PRAISE: | By choosing to spend time volunteering to prepare the One Bread, One Body subscriptions for mailing, Cynthia is living Jesus' command to preach the Gospel to the four corners of the earth (see Mt 28:19-20). |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College