Into the Desert: Week 3 | Seeking God & Self

Week 3 | seeking God, seeking self

“O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you... as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.”
— Psalm 63:1

The desert is a landscape of paradox. It is full of striking beauty even as it holds fearful reminders. It can offer both trial and rest, challenge and stillness, pain and peace. Throughout history, this land of contradiction has called out to restless souls.

The desert - for all its uncertainty - offers one surety: Change.

In the Christian tradition, there is a rich record of mystics for whom the desert served as spiritual home. These Abbas and Ammas embraced the desert's incongruous gifts as an appropriate setting for examining self and seeking God.

St. Antony of the Desert was one of the earliest of these mystic Desert forebears. His journey of self-discovery informed his understanding of God and his Christian faith. Moreover, his own steps into the desert invited countless others to a similar path of inquiry and transformation.

Abba Antony's life and wisdom invite us to journey towards the "inner mountain" where we can discover God anew and uncover more wholly who we are.

// resources

"The courage to live authentically is meaningless without the courage to do it with and for others. We all have deserts to cross."

  • Longer Read: "Coming Out: How to Cross a Desert" Jane Hale in Juneau Empire

"The enigma of St. Anthony is the end result of Christian theology. God is not a being in the world ... God himself is being."

  • Shorter Read: "St. Anthony of the Desert and the Three Divine Paradoxes" John Koerke in NC Register

"if the world has ceased to hear you, say to the silent earth: I flow. To the rushing water, speak: I am"

// questions for going deeper

  1. Reflecting on the ascetic principles of desert monasticism, how are our own Lenten practices calling us to simpler, more conscious ways of being?

  2. What can the story of St. Antony teach us about personal spiritual discipline? How does it honor the call of community?

  3. How can our time in the desert teach us more about ourselves? How is it calling us to understand and live more fully into our whole, authentic self?

Payton Hoegh