"The idea of the desert as being a place where we escape the pressures of everyday life in order to hear God speak afresh is intimately associated with Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness - our model for keeping Lent today. It is easy to gain a romantic idea of desert sands beneath starlit skies, but in reality the desert is a hard palce tat tests our endurance and few venture there, geographically or emotionally. Reflecting on the work of writers such as Salman Rushdie and R.S Thomas,...
