And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. (Luke 1: 80).

This concludes the gospel's first chapter. Luke's second chapter tells of the nativity and youth of Jesus.

The desert is a common feature in Christian spirituality. Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the desert.

The desert fathers of early Christianity developed the foundations of a spiritual tradition that continues today at Saint Catherine's and other monastic communities.

At the heart of this tradition is a desert aridity. Paradoxically, growing closer to God emerges from a conscious and deeply felt absence of God.

St. Macarius the Great tells us, "The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it may do ten thousand righteousnesses, esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspiration after God. Though it should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them."

Any separation from God leaves us thirsty.

A young John the Baptist by Carravaggio.