- - - Jesus says to the apostles, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile." More literally, the Greek says, "to a desert place."

While certainly most of us are not going to sell all of our things and begin to live as hermits in the desert (although the world and Church might be a far better place if more of us did!), there is a sense in which every Christian is called to cultivate some space for the "desert" in his or her life.

In a culture that bombards us with noise and busyness, it becomes increasingly difficult to hear the voice of God.

Christianity, too, threatens to become more and more about action and doing rather than contemplation and being.

In such a world, we need the silence and isolation of the desert where we can be alone with God.

This "desert" need not be much: perhaps it is simply the conscious decision to spend ten or fifteen minutes in quiet in the evening instead of flipping on the TV.

Perhaps it is signing up for one hour a week of Eucharistic adoration at a local parish.

We shouldn't forget why Jesus calls us into the desert: "to rest awhile."

Jesus knows that we are weary and burdened. He wants to refresh us. He longs for us to come to him and "rest awhile." He waits for us.

Let us go into the desert and meet him there.