Lanterns in the Desert/Lenten Lectio: One does not Live by Bread Alone

Your word is a lantern to my feet
 and a light to my path.

 Psalm 119:105

Every year we begin our Lenten journey in the desert with Jesus as he encounters the devil for a time of temptation, or perhaps better translated for our understanding as "testing."  Jesus is tested in 3 different ways and each time he uses the Word of God as his Light and his "Lantern in the Desert."   The desert, or the wilderness, is a spiritual place of coming to know ourselves, of preparing, of getting ready for the next step in our journey. It is a place where we learn to trust God for there really is nowhere else to put our trust.  Jesus is tempted to turn away from trust in God to embrace trust in himself.  If we are going to learn to put our trust in God, we also must struggle with these same tests and challenges to our trust in God provision.  

For the next couple of weeks we look at the 1st temptation of Christ as we expand our Lectio and Labyrinth experience.  This week we engage in Lectio and next week we'll walk the Labyrinth.  

Before we engage in Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, let us focus on God's loving presence by creating and breathing with a Breath Prayer.  Try this one or create one of your own:

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit
Breathing out ... Strengthen me

When you are ready to enter into prayer with the text via Lectio Divina, take one last deep breath and pray for illumination of the text:  Holy Spirit, light the candle in my lantern as I read and pray with the Holy Word.  Increase my trust as I listen to the movements of God in my reading and reflection.  Amen.

Step 1:  Read Matthew 4:1-4 (Contemporary English Version) with the "eyes of your heart."   What word or phrase calls for your attention in your reading?  What word or phrase is this week's "lantern in the desert" for you? 


The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, so that the devil could test him. After Jesus had gone without eating for forty days and nights, he was very hungry. Then the devil came to him and said, “If you are God’s Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.”  

Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say: ‘No one can live only on food. 

People need every word that God has spoken.’”

Step 2:  Read the passage again and Reflect ...
How does your lantern in the desert illuminate your life and the temptations you encounter in your hungers and appetites?  How is God inviting you to deepen your trust?

Step 3:  Read the passage again and Respond ...
What do you say to God about the insights you have discerned in your reading and reflection?   How do you pray when you consider how you are being invited to trust in God more deeply?

Step 4:  Rest ...
Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.  Try for 10 minutes or beyond. When you are ready to move on,  pray:  

Holy Spirit, lead me deeper into a wandering wilderness this Lenten season but boldly light a Lantern in the Desert so that I may find my way with you.  Amen.

If art is a pathway to God for you, you may want to gaze upon this image ...and engage in visio divina ...

By William Hole [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 Read the Image ... Allow your eyes to seek softly what you are attracted to in the image.  Simply receive the gift of seeing.  What image within the image is drawing you in ... Allow yourself a few moments simply to sit with this gift.

Receive the Image ... Take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a receptive spirit.  After receiving, close your eyes and reflect by allowing your imagination to form that image in your consciousness ... what are you receiving from God through the image?  How does this illuminate your life right now?

Respond to God ... Now take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a grateful spirit.  How do you sense yourself desiring to respond to God through the image you have received?  What would you say to God about what you are hearing, seeing, feeling?  Allow yourself to pray with gratitude ... 

Rest in God ... Now take a deep breath and rest ... notice how your body feels.  Is there something more here?  Then go back and repeat your "gazing" prayer.   If you feel that you have received all you need in this moment, simply rest in the silence and come to a place of shalom, peace, wholeness ... 

To end your time of Visio Divina ... Join Jesus in lifting up his Lantern in the Desert:

“The Scriptures say: ‘No one can live only on food. 

People need every word that God has spoken.’”