Being United to Jesus in the Desert – Lent 2025

Summary

---

The Liturgical Cycle is a great gift given to the Church by God to transform you more into the image of His Son. In this talk, Fr. Patrick Gonyeau will give you a deeper understanding of what this gift is and shares how Lent, in particular, offers you the opportunity to turn your heart back to God by uniting yourself to Jesus in the desert. 

Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat!

Not Registered, yet? Don’t miss the rest of the talks! Register for the Pray More Retreat!

Downloads

---

Audio MP3

Click here to download the audio file.

Printable Study Guide PDF

Click here to download the printable study guide.

Printable Transcript PDF

Click here to download the transcript of the video presentation.

Reflective Study Guide Questions

---

“Let us not allow this season of grace to pass in vain! Let us ask God to help us set out on a path of true conversion. ” 

Pope Francis

1. How do the different liturgical seasons help form your personal prayer? Have you experienced a “year of the Lord’s grace” by participating in this gift of the Church?

2. Where are you right now in your journey as you enter into the desert alongside Christ? In what ways can you more fully embrace this penitential season of Lent?

3. What does it mean to enter the “desert” with Christ during Lent? How can this time be both a challenge and a gift?

4. Do you want to be transformed to be more like Christ? Do you feel the “Fire of desire” in your hearts for this transformation? What might be holding you back from true repentance and conversion?

Text: Being United to Jesus in the Desert

---

Hello, brothers and sisters in Christ. My name is Fr. Patrick Gonyeau and I am here with John Stockwell. We work together on the Renewal of the Mind daily devotional and the radio program. You can check it out at ClickOnCatholic. com. We are here in the studio to record these Pray More Novena Lenten Retreat talks.

A Fire of Desire

Shout out to John- Paul, and Annie. I love your ministry. We’re so happy to be a part of this Pray More Novena Lenten Retreat. So, John, producer extraordinaire. Co-host radio extraordinaire. What’s on your heart for the Lenten season as we’re entering into Lent? I think for me What’s important in the Lenten season is to be more like Jesus at the end of Lent that I am at the beginning, you know, it’s not necessarily about not eating potato chips or cookies, but it’s really being transformed, you know, so on Easter, when the resurrection happens, I too can resurrect and be different than I was 40 days ago.

That’s awesome, man. Yeah. Come on. John kicks us off. Now he’s going to run the show behind the scenes. Thanks a lot. Jumping Johnny. And this first session, John really kicked us off well, the first session. that John and I are going to put together is A Fire of Desire. That’s the name of this first talk that we’re contributing to the Lenten Pray More Novena Retreat.

A Fire of Desire. Now, listen to this wisdom from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 540. It’s By the solemn forty days of Lent, the church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. By the solemn 40 days of Lent, the church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.

Like John had said, becoming more like Christ. It’s through this intimacy with Christ in the desert of the Lenten season that we can receive this incredible transformation. And as I was praying with this, uh, mystery of the Lenten season of Being united with Jesus in the desert, I had this image of Jesus standing before me and behind him was a desert and he had a hand out and there was a light of love in his eyes that was unmistakable and with his hand extended he said, as the father loves me, so I also love you.

As the Father loves me, so I also love you. And it was clear in the prayer that he was inviting me, and he’s inviting us to come with him into this mystical time with him united in the, in the desert. Uh, the Lenten season being that, being united with Jesus in the mystery, of his 40 days in the desert.

And the light in his eyes, looking at me, and as he looks at all of us, he knows what he has in store for us. Like John had said, become more like him by the end of Lent than we were at the beginning. This divine transformation, this is why he invites us into the desert. What I wanted to do for a couple minutes was break down a couple of phrases. First is liturgical season, and then penitential season. What do these words mean, right?

Understanding the Liturgy 

So I’m going to pull some wisdom from the Catechism of the Catholic Church for us. First, let’s look at the word liturgy, which is going to give us liturgical season, liturgical year. The heart of it is the word liturgy. So, if you see me glance down, I got a couple of notes just under the camera.

So, Paragraph 1069, the word liturgy originally meant a public work or a service in the name of or on behalf of the people. In the Christian tradition, it means the participation of the people of God in the work of God. If you can lay hold of that for a moment. A participation of the people of God. In the work of God. That is, in the Christian tradition, what the word liturgy primarily means for us. It is a participation of the people of God in the work of God.

Now listen to this next portion of paragraph 1069. Through the liturgy, Christ, our Redeemer and High Priest, continues the work of our redemption. In, with, and through His Church. So, you could hear there in the liturgy, there’s a reference, certainly of course, to the Mass. That Christ, our Redeemer and High Priest, continues the work of our redemption.

In, with, and through His Church. You remember that old Classic Catholic saying I’ve been saved. I’m being saved and I hope to be saved Christ the Redeemer and our high priest Continues the work of our redemption in and through his church and the liturgy the Christian people participates in the work of God through the liturgy.

One more time. It feels a little bit technical, but it’s so good to lay hold of this. Liturgy. We are participating in the work of God and God is working on our sanctification and making us saints one day. Now, when you take the liturgical cycle, we’ve got a sense of liturgy there. The liturgy is, truly, our participation in the work of God.

And through the liturgy, Christ our Redeemer and High Priest continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through His church. Okay, so the liturgy comes to us through the gift of the church. Jesus said, you’re Peter, upon you I’ll build my church. So he gives us the church, and then through the church, He gives us the liturgy, the Last Supper being the First Mass, and then we receive the gift of the liturgical cycle and the liturgical seasons.

But with liturgy, remember, the people of God participating in the work of God, the people of God participating in the work of God. And I should say, in the New Testament, the word liturgy refers not only to the celebration of divine worship, which is what I’ve emphasized so far. That’s huge for us because of our prayer lives and, uh, the mass and the penitential season we’re going to engage in.

That’s huge. Divine worship comes first. The first commandment, keep God first, you know, and then love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now, In the New Testament, this is paragraph 1070 in the Catechism, in the New Testament, the word liturgy refers not only to the celebration of divine worship, but also to the proclamation of the gospel and to active charity.

So think of how every mass ends. Go! and announce the gospel of the Lord. We go out to proclaim the gospel and to live act of charity. So that definition there in paragraph 1070 of the catechism, you can see it all flows from divine worship. Liturgy does mean divine worship, absolutely, and the people of God participating in the work of God as he’s transforming us more and more into the image of the Son.

And also, Liturgy in the New Testament does refer to the proclamation of the word and the proclamation of the gospel and act of charity. We see these things flowing right from the altar, right from the the gift of the Eucharist we receive that transforms our lives. Now, liturgical year. I have to read you another passage of the Catechism because this is pure gold.

The liturgical year, and it really is the context for our Lenten journey. The liturgical year is the celebration throughout the year of the mysteries of the Lord’s Birth, life, death, and resurrection in such a way that the entire year becomes a year of the Lord’s grace. Isn’t that awesome? Through the church, the Lord gives us the liturgical cycle to really guide the rhythm of our prayer life, that it’s a year of the Lord’s grace as we meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s birth, life, death, and resurrection.

And so thus, the cycle of the liturgical year And the great feasts constitute the basic rhythm of the Christian’s life of prayer. Swallow that for a second. The basic rhythm of the Christian’s life of prayer. Isn’t that cool? Jesus gives us a church. Through the church, of course, he guides our faith and our morals. And he guides the rhythm of our prayer life. Isn’t that awesome? That’s what the liturgical seasons really help us engage in, are these different seasons of prayer.

Understanding The Meaning of Penitential 

Now let’s get to the word penitential, for penitential season. Lent is the primary penitential season of the Catholic Church. And we remember from paragraph 540, By the solemn forty days of Lent, The church unites herself to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.

So the word penitential, let’s break that open. Penitential season. Penitential is related to the word penance. It’s also related to the word repent. They’re of a similar family, but they don’t all mean the exact same thing. So here we go. Penitential is referring to the quality of the acts or practices done that bring us to interior penance. The next session we’re going to focus on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Fuel for the fire. This session, the fire of desire, John kicked us off. It’s about, do you want to be transformed to be more like Christ? He’s inviting us, that light in his eyes, come into the mystery of the desert with me.

Spend these days of intimacy with me. And in the light of his eyes, he sees what he wants to work out in our lives to grow more and more into being conformed to him. And that puts a fire in our hearts that I do want. I do want to engage with you, Jesus, in this transformation. So we have a fire of desire to say yes to what God invites us to.

Much like Mother Mary, when she was given this invitation through Gabriel. Now back to penitential. It’s referring to the quality. Of acts or practices done that dispose us for interior penance. That, I’m telling you, that’s sweeter than honey, that, that phrase, interior penance. You’ve had that moment in your life before, right, where you, you catch a vision of a life of holiness. And you say, I don’t want the sin anymore. It makes you want to have a good confession. Turn away from things that have sapped us of the joy of divine life.

So, the penitential season is about the quality of the acts we’re going to do that will dispose us for interior penance. And now, interior penance is conversion of the heart toward God and away from sin and implying, uh, a commitment to change our life. So we continue to turn away from the things that have led us to sin. Interior penance is that conversion of heart toward God and away from sin.

A Time of Interior Penance

So we got penitential, we got penance. One more, repent. Repent. And you know the Greek word, you’ve heard, I’m sure, homilies before, metanoia. It’s a change of mind, a change of thinking. And so, if you go back one more time with me, to paragraph 540 in the catechism, that by the solemn 40 days of Lent, the church unites herself to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. Now, we go there for transformation. And in this penitential season, we get to move with prayer, fasting, almsgiving. Uh, the life of charity, move in a direction where the quality of our actions are disposing us for interior penance. That conversion of heart away from sin, toward God, toward the transformation God has in store for us. And that will bring us the gift of repentance, the metanoia, the change of mind, so we can think more and more like Jesus.

So God has glorious things in store for us in the Lenten season through this penitential season in the liturgical cycle. We are participating in the work of God, which is our transformation, our redemption, and our transformation. So we go to the, to the desert with Jesus to experience this penitential season, a time of deep interior penance.

Let’s turn that off. A time of interior penance that brings conversion and that metanoia, that change of thinking. So we want to go back now to the image of Jesus. Holding out his hand with that light in his eyes and he’s full of divine love always and he sees you, he sees me, he sees the version of you he is continuing to form in his love and he knows what he has in store in this Lenten season for you and the reality is that Jesus wants to bring us more and more into the fuller life of divine love that we’re destined to live forever as saints.

But we’re on our way, we’re growing into the fullness of maturity in Christ Jesus. And it’s exciting to think about what he has in store and the changes that are going to happen in our lives.

So, I wanted to say one time that penitential, like, it’s not penitentiary season. Like you’re busted, shame, guilt. It’s not, that’s not what Lent is. Penitential is about a transformation, a divine transformation that comes from intimacy with God and the Divine Bridegroom Jesus. Remember, there’s a wedding happening in Heaven forever. Jesus the Bridegroom and His Church. And that’s what we’re called to. And the Bridegroom Jesus is inviting us.

Come away, beloved. Some of that language of Song of Songs. Come away, beloved. Come away with me. I have so much to show you. So much to fill you with. Yes, I want to help you change. To be more alive in my love. And it’s in His eyes. and his invitation that we can find the grace to experience a fire, a holy fire of desire and say, Yes, I’m not only open to this, I’m all in. Take me to the depths of your transformative love that you have set aside for me in this penitential season, in the midst of the liturgical cycle of the church here, that is Lent. That word, Lent. It really sparks a holy desire in our hearts. We’re going to become more like Jesus Christ.

A Time to Embrace Lent

So I want to invite you as you conclude this session, pray, ask the Lord, give me the grace to passionately embrace Lent. Give me the grace to passionately embrace Lent. It will be a gift from him and you giving a full yes. Like mother Mary, give me the grace to passionately embrace Lent. And then you’ll. Be led by the Spirit into the mystery of being united with Jesus in the desert. We’re going to talk more about prayer fasting and almsgiving in the next clip.

For now, start with, Lord, give me the grace to passionately embrace Lent. And you will have that fire of desire that he’s going to meet you in and bring amazing transformative grace. In the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

May God bless you with incredible graces to embrace the Lenten season. And to see amazing transformations in your lives. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Happy Lenten Journey!

About Fr. Patrick Gonyeau

---