Spiritual Desert

Pope Benedict XVI, in his homily during the Mass on the final day of World Youth Day 08, said that a "spiritual desert" was spreading throughout the world and challenged young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind. He stated: "In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair."

In the present times, the ideologies of materialism and individualism have overtaken most human beings in all corners of the earth. Pop culture effectively propagated by two powerful tools – media and Internet – have detonated materials on a regular basis in centres of populations that cater to the desires of the flesh and the mind. Many who see and hear have easily bought into the wholesale bargain – mortgaging their lives to items that add ‘value’.

The ornaments that beautify the homes and upgrade the status of individuals are superficial and fleeting. What may be in today may be obsolete at the blink of an eye. Innovation, upgrade and similar terms entice consumers to acquire what is new and better. There is nothing wrong being in tune with the times, but once the individual becomes wrapped up in self-gratification and material attachment, he/she unconsciously distances from God. The nourishment of the soul then takes the backseat causing spiritual dryness. When there is mass spiritual dryness, the world becomes a spiritual desert of hopelessness, gloom and uncertainty.

In the great deserts of the world in China, Africa and Australia, inhabitants fight difficult, if not helpless, battles against the expansion of sand into farmlands and populated communities. It is not so against the spiritual desert for we have our Almighty God leading us to sure victory. All that is required is our decision to be at His side. We must cry out: "God, my God! How I search for you! How I thirst for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. How I long to find you! At last I shall be fully satisfied; I will praise you with great joy." (Psalm 63:1,5) As Pope Benedict XVI puts it: "(We) must embrace the power of God "to let it break through the curse of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age."

by Mel Libre