Within each of us lies an interior desert—a place of dryness, of silence, of vulnerability. Here illusions fade, and we stand face to face with our fragility, our limitations, our unhealed wounds. Yet this desert is not a place of punishment; it is a place of encounter, a threshold where God waits to meet us.

We often try to escape it, filling our hours with noise, movement, and distraction. But in the stillness, life stirs. Silence is not emptiness—it is presence, tender and patient, waiting for us to listen.

Lent teaches us that transformation does not come from fleeing our deserts, but from walking through them with faith. Do not fear what you may find within. The One who calls you into the desert walks beside you. In your vulnerability, in your struggle, you are not abandoned. Grace meets us quietly, gently, invisibly—sustaining the heart that dares to trust.

The soul that enters the desert emerges renewed. More grounded. More free. More attuned to the living God.

May this Lenten season be a time of sacred transformation: where weakness meets mercy, where wounds are touched by healing, and where the tender presence of God quietly renews our hearts. May your journey through Lent draw you ever closer to the Lord.

In Christ,
Fr. Lijoy Jose, OFM Cap.
Pastor