An element cleansed the earth from which it came. And the divine cleansed what came from it. We turned from God, and yet he is always turned toward us. God was covered with blood and spittle so that we might be washed clean. The waters cleansed the earth, the waters of baptism cleanse the soul from its original stain, but now it is the desert that cleanses our minds and hearts.
Baptism is both free and pain free.
It is at this moment that the Spirit calls to the desert. A place of abandonment where we can abandon all that is not pure, where vicious humours can be dried up, where we can learn to distinguish the hunger and thirst for the world and the hunger and thirst that we have for God and perhaps more importantly God s hunger and thirst for us. For it was with that death that the Father s hunger for us was satisfied the gates of heaven were opened, not to flood the earth with water, but to flood heaven with his son s and daughters. But before this death came the passion, a time of intense suffering, both within and without. And the passion was preceded by the lonely time of struggle in the desert of Gethsemany.