Did you know that up to half of all teachers quit teaching within the first 10 years of their career? It has one of the highest exit rates of any profession.
And there I was early in my teaching career having one of the worst years of my life. The students didn’t get along with me, the commute was incredibly long, and I had been given a new subject to teach only a few weeks before the beginning of the school year. I was developing an ulcer and I was floundering. I found myself day after day in the chapel praying to God saying, “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”
And then one day my principal happened to stop by the chapel and he could tell that I was spiraling. Without even meaning to, I spilled all of my troubles and he patiently listened. Then after I finished ranting, he paused and he said something I will never forget:
“You are in the desert now. God will see you through. And when you come out of it, you will be a stronger teacher.”
All of us are together are about to enter the desert of Lent. But it is important to remember that in the Gospel of Matthew, it says that Jesus was “led by the Spirit” into the desert. And we are the same as we are led by the Spirit to enter into this holy season. But make no mistake, it is a desert. On Ash Wednesday we will pray and fast together and take up individual penance and sacrifice.
And we are led by the Spirit here to remind us that throughout life we all go through the desert, whether we want to or not. The great saints like Teresa of Avila would go through times called the “Dark Night of the Soul” where they received no comfort or consolation from their spiritual life. But for those of us who are not yet saints, we still walk through the desert. Those of us who are married, after that honeymoon ends and you have arguments about leaving dirty clothes on the floor or who should take out the garbage our marriage can enter into that desert. Those of you who are athletes, as much as you love what you do you hit that wall, the drudgery and then you enter the desert.
Sometimes we enter the desert when we least expect it. My wife and I entered the desert once when she unexpectedly lost her job. Money was so tight that sometimes our groceries for the week would be a couple jars of peanut butter and a few loaves of bread. I entered the desert with my mom when she got sick with cancer and I would sit there holding her hand for hours as she lay in that hospital bed. I remember sitting there desperately wanting her to know that she was not alone.
Because one of the worst things about being in the desert of our lives is that we can often feel alone.
But our Gospel today reminds us that we are never alone.
First of all, we are in this together. On Ash Wednesday we will walk around with the ashes on our foreheads. We don’t do it to brag about how holy we are in our penance. We do it to show to each other that we are not alone. Look around at the people in church. We gather around the Eucharistic Table as a reminder that we are not alone.
And God is with us in this desert of Lent.
When Jesus was in His desert, He showed how to draw closer to God. He was there for 40 days and He was hungrier than I ever will be. And when Satan tempted Him to break His fast, Jesus turned to the Word of God.
In fact, for all of His temptations, Jesus relied on Scripture. His time in the desert wasn’t just about denying Himself, but it was about drawing closer to the Father. I mentioned my wife and I entering the desert when she lost her job. It was a very anxious time where we didn’t know if we could even afford our house anymore. But when I would be overwhelmed and Satan was trying to focus only on my fears, I googled “Scripture quotes for when I am afraid,” and I would turn to His word. I let His Word comfort me, even when things felt impossible. I let His Word see me through the desert.
All of us will be doing that very thing. Like Jesus, we gather at Church to attend to God’s Word. We are there because we hunger not just for human bread, but the Bread of Life that will come to us on that altar.
When you feel yourself in this desert, when the fasting gets difficult, when your Lenten crosses seem heaviest, I invite you to spend time with God’s word. You can grab your Bible or even find Scripture on your phone. When the tempter tells you that you are weak, that you are not good enough, and that you are all alone in your desert, I invite you to be like Our Lord and turn to the Word of God. I invite you to come and spend time before Him in the Blessed Sacrament… Let God fill that hunger deep within you and He will see you through the desert.
And as we journey through these 40 days of Lent we remember this: our time in the desert will end. Sometimes it seems like the hard times will go on forever, but Lent reminds us that they will not. And just as my principal reminded me all those years ago, we will be stronger when we leave this desert. We will be stronger because we used this time to grow closer to our Lord. Lent doesn’t end in the desert but with the Risen Jesus.
We will be stronger because in our desert of Lent we drew closer to the God who loves us.
Copyright 2026, WL Grayson
W.L. Grayson
I am a devoutly Catholic theology teacher who loves a popular culture that often, quite frankly, hates me. I grew up absorbing every movie, TV show, comic book, science fiction novel, etc. I could find. As of today I’ve watched over 2100 movies and tv shows. They take up a huge part of my life. I don’t know that this is a good thing, but it has given me a common vocabulary to draw from in order to illustrate whatever theological point I make in class. I’ve used American Pie the song to explain the Book of Revelation (I’ll post on this some time later) and American Pie the movie to help explain Eucharist (don’t ask). The point is that the popular culture is popular for a reason. It is woven into the fabric of our lives and imaginations, for good or ill. In this blog I will attempt to bring together the things of heaven with the things of earth. Of course this goal may be too lofty for someone like me.
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