On Ash Wednesday we began our Lenten journey towards Easter. During these forty days of grace, we will be guided by the word of God towards the celebrations of Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection and the renewal of our baptism at the Easter Vigil. Therefore, before all else, the Church is inviting us to be attentive and open to the voice of the Lord speaking to us in this special time. One of the Lenten themes that will be recurring in the readings of the season is that of desert. Already on the first Sunday of Lent we see how Jesus is going to that place of solitude to be tempted by the devil. In this way he relives the experience of the exodus of Israel and forty years which they spent in wilderness. He goes to conquer the devil in a spiritual battle as he is tempted by him. These are the same temptations that made Adam and Eve and later the people of Israel fall. But this time, it is Jesus who comes out victorious from the battle. For our contemporary mentality these stories may sound a bit foreign and distant. We are accustomed to living with the abundance of goods able to satisfy our needs. But even for us, at times life becomes a spiritual desert where we find unable to find peace and happiness. Passing through all kinds of trails in this life, we face the forces of evil that trying to separate us from God. We face a choice between two paths—the path of life and the path of death. We know it too well, how it is easy for us to abandon the way of life and follow the path to self-destruction and sin. But how did we end up there? Did not God create Adam and Eve and put them in the garden of Eden? Undoubtedly, but exactly because of their fall, this garden full of life became a lifeless desert. That is exactly what happens to us when we separate ourselves from God. Once the gates of Eden have been shut down for us, we try to find the source of life in all kinds of created things, but it is pointless. A cheap fake substitution doesn’t compare to the authentic diamond. “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), God asked Adam after the fall. The same question resounds during this Lenten season. We have gone astray and got lost, unable to return home. That’s why Jesus himself is setting on a mission to bring us back home. The gospel reading for this Sunday reminds us that Jesus wants to enter the desert of our lives to make of it a garden again. Through the power of baptism, he comes to give us back eternal life. As Jesus himself says in the gospel, “This is the time of fulfilment.” (Mark 1:15). This is a time for us to choose between the life in the garden and the life in the desert. Let us not harden our hearts to the voice of the Lord.