The prophets were sent to Ancient Israel to not only relay a message God was sending them, but also to bring them back and to to reconcile them to the Lord. Israel may think that God had forsaken them for their transgressions and sins, but Isaiah reaffirms the message of the covenant that God made with his people, of his steadfastness in maintaining that relationship. The psalmist echoes this same message, telling us that the Lord is gracious and merciful.
It is interesting, the saints that we celebrate in the Church, how they reveal different aspects of the faith. There was a movement in the early Church called the Desert Fathers and Mothers that arose several hundred years after Christ’s death and resurrection, when men and women left their earthly possessions and the comforts of society to live in isolation as hermits in the desert. Antony of Egypt is one such desert father. He gave away to poor the inheritance he received from his family, living in solitude in an abandoned fort in the desert. Mary of Egypt is another such saint whose feast day we commemorate this upcoming weekend. Tradition passes down that Mary of Egypt had been a well-known singer and actress in Alexandria, Egypt in the middle of the 4th century. She realized her evil ways while praying in front of an icon of the Blessed Mother, having moved to the desert of Egypt to live in solitude for 47 years. Her fame spread after her dead body was found in the desert and a strong devotion to her developed in medieval Europe. There has been a great interest in the Desert Fathers and Mothers in recent years, probably because many in our modern world are looking to the wisdom of these desert fathers and mothers and to their witness against the excessive attachment to material possessions in our modern world. God calls us to recognize the ways we can turn back to him, to change our lives in order to truly live out the true faith. May we trust in God’s mercy and in his faithfulness to us as we continue our journey during Lent.
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