During Lent, we apprentice to Jesus in his forty-day sojourn in the desert. The Spirit drives holy people into the desert because it is the place where the divertissements disappear. The action arrives at the end of the Lord’s fast because a decision follows clarification. Jesus provokes the stark choice: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” This clarification leads Jesus to begin his mission; immediately after the temptations, he gathers his disciples around him and commences the ministry that will reach its culmination only on the cross. The Lenten lesson is learning to rid ourselves of divertissements, going a bit hungry and thirsty, and purposely running on empty so that the great questions may be asked with clarity. Let us allow the devil to come, tempting us with the love of pleasure, the ego, and power. For in passing through temptation, we reach decisions. And in the desert with Jesus the Master, let us realize that we too are people on a mission because decision brings about identity.