40 / Wilderness / Quarantine

Now about 40. It’s used a lot in the Bible. Certainly in regard to time in the wilderness. (40 days for Jesus, 40 years for the Israelites). My thought is that 40 is the time between conception and birth. 40 weeks is about the length of an average pregnancy. So, when we enter Lent for 40 days we are entering the wilderness. But, could we also be entering a womb of sorts, a time of gestation. After his Baptism Jesus could not have started his ministry without entering the wilderness. I suppose he could have, but it wouldn’t have been as effective. I don’t think entering the wilderness is optional for us, if we are followers of the way Jesus took. It is essential.

During the Plague in the 14th century the officials quarantined ships arriving in a port for 40 days. In the Italian ‘quarantine’, a space of forty days from ‘quaranta’,  forty from Classical Latin ‘quadraginta’ from base of quattuor, four. I believe they chose the number not for scientific reasons, but rather because of its use in the Bible. The time they thought it’d take to make it safe for passengers to disembark.

So, if Lent is a time of gestation, what are we about to give birth to? It is also interesting, that we entered Lent, and reside there for 40 days, into the wilderness. We do this at the time of the Coronavirus outbreak and possible ‘quarantines’. So, we might ask, What might we need to be quarantined for, spiritually? 

Abandonment to the Present Moment

”...the author speaks of the inner turmoil experienced in the state of self-abandonment. We encounter one disappointment after another and suffer immensely from both spiritual and mental anguish. Although united to God, we are deeply confused and find our selves in a state of total darkness. We are disappointed in ourselves and in our inability to be holy. We do not have any saintly zeal or austerity or even charity. We lead quite ordinary lives and feel that we have not accomplished anything worthwhile. We hunger for holiness, but it always eludes us. God leads us along a lonely path, one with little if any worldly reward or recompense. He has specifically planned it this way because he wants himself to be our sole delight. He wants us to realize that we can do nothing of ourselves and that he alone can make us holy. We have few comforts in life and are not free to enjoy normal activities because we have surrendered ourselves and follow the movements of his Spirit. Our sole task is to keep our eyes on the Lord, listen to him, and quickly do what he says. We should not worry about our troubles and disappointments. They have been given to us in order to draw us closer to God. He wants us to be poor within so that he can be our sole source of nourishment. He humbles us to prevent us from being proud and thus able to turn more readily on him. God wishes only that we be open to his will and carry it out. Since he alone can make us holy, we must surrender ourselves to him and let him do his work.”

From ‘Abandonment to Divine Providence’ by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Absolute Trust

“When God becomes our guide he demands with justice that we trust absolutely in him and be in no way disturbed by the way in which he leads us. We are pushed without seeing the road over which we are passing. What we have seen or read is no guide to us now. In the case of our own action, we must walk guided by experience. We cannot do otherwise. We cannot take risks. But God’s action is always novel. It does not return on its steps. It always finds new paths. Those led by this action do not know where they are going. The paths they follow are not to be found in books or in their own reflections. God’s action continually shows them the forward path. They follow it by a divine impulse”

From ‘Abandonment to Divine Providence’ by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Re-Membering

It is important to keep learning and opening to the new things that are emerging, but it is also, extremely critical that I remember what I ‘already know’. I forget or dis-member so easily. What I ‘already know’ is very similar to dreams. They, dreams, quickly fade from consciousness, as well. They must come from the same place, and have similar chemistry as the insights I have. Retrieval is essential. Re-collecting. Re-membering is the challenge.

It is interesting to note that at birth we also dis-member, forget why we chose to be born, here, at this time. Also, the Akashic records have similar properties. They also fade from consciousness after having been accessed. These all describe the terrain and challenges of this type of work.