On the feast of the nativity of John the Baptist, Luke’s gospel highlighted a particular setting. And that is the desert. We’re told that it was out there in one of those barren places where through the years, John grew and became “strong in spirit!” And it goes without saying that was because God was with him out there, strengthening John and giving him purpose.

It’s a scene most of us can recognize: the experience of passing through desert times of our own.

We think back to the barren stretches in our lives—times that felt lonely, difficult, and endless. Yet even amidst the suffering, we sensed growth and glimpsed a light breaking through, either during the darkness or after it. Looking back now, we recognize that God’s Holy Spirit was walking with us then and continues that accompaniment now.

Just because we are human, any one of us can bring up some desert story of our own – a sharp or a lasting disappointment, a loss that lingered on, a low stretch along the road. And yet noticing that glint of light in the darkness, we came through.

Looking back to such times can be its own kind of prayer, arousing not just our thanks, but also the realization that we couldn’t have done it on our own, that somehow God’s strengthening nearness was out there with us all along.

On the feast of the Baptist, we come across something that the lives of most all the saints, including Vincent’s, can do for us. Highlight some story, pattern or drama in our lives that, when looking back, revealed God’s presence through a tough time.

Remembering in this way is an exercise in seeing the light. That is, autobiographically recognizing times when while out there in our own deserts we also grew, occasions when like John we came to experience the Holy Spirit’s soothing accompaniment.

In that desert, “John grew and became strong in spirit.” Looking back to our own deserts, we give thanks for the resilience that flowed into us then from that same Divine font.

In a letter to a faltering member, Vincent assures him of the Divine accompaniment:

“Courage then, Monsieur! Do not be surprised; what God guards is well guarded. …you must have great confidence in His paternal protection.” (Volume: 5 | Page#: 424) To Charles Ozenne, 3 September, 1655