The Nanjing Museum, one of three mainland Chinese museums to host an exhibition on Father Matteo Ricci in 2010

BEIJING (UCAN) — Preparations for the celebration of the 400th death anniversary of Jesuit Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) are picking up in China, the country where Ricci performed his life’s work, and Italy, where he was born.

The Nanjing Museum, one of three mainland Chinese museums to host an exhibition on Father Matteo Ricci in 2010

Taipei, Macau and three cities on the mainland will run academic symposiums and exhibitions on the pioneer missioner’s life and work.

The Marche region of central Italy where Father Ricci’s hometown Macerata is located, is organizing a touring exhibition in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing next year.

Riccardo Sessa, Beijing-based Ambassador of Italy to China, told UCA News that the Marche exhibition “will focus, through the person and the work of the eminent Jesuit, on the first encounter of great significance between Europe and China in the late Ming period.”

The exhibition is to celebrate Father Ricci’s “many, great contributions to the contacts between East and West, Asia and Europe, China and Italy,” Sessa said.

Each of the three cities will host the exhibition for two months. Beijing’s opening is scheduled for Feb. 9 at the Capital Museum, Shanghai’s in the first week of April at the Shanghai Museum, and Nanjing’s on June 12 at the Nanjing Museum.

After Nanjing, the exhibition might also travel to Macau and South Korea, although details have not been finalized, Sessa said.

The exhibition comprises two sections. The first will display important documents and texts from Europe that Ricci introduced to China. They include works on art and architecture of the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, science and technology, philosophy and theology.

The second part of the exhibition will illustrate Ricci’s voyage from Macau to Beijing with images of the cities where he stopped on the way and artifacts mainly from the museum collections in China.

A video showing Ricci’s trip from Italy to Macau will be an “intermezzo” in-between the two sections.

Meanwhile, Church organizations in Macau and Taiwan are inviting scholars to join their international symposia, both commemorating Father Ricci’s contributions to the Church’s mission and to wider East-West relations.

The Jesuit-run Macau Ricci Institute’s symposium focuses on the theme “Education for New Times: Revisiting Pedagogical Models in the Jesuit Tradition” on Nov. 25-27. The institute said the event is “dedicated to the intellectual and humanistic Jesuit formation that Matteo Ricci has brought to China.”

In Taiwan, Fu Jen Catholic University will organize another symposium themed “Beginning and Development of Dialogue between East and West” on April 19-22, 2010.

Riccardo Sessa, the Italian ambassador to China

The Tainan-based Catholic Window Press will print the 2010 Catholic diaries based on the illustrations and monuments of Father Ricci and Macerata.

UCA News learnt that some mainland dioceses also plan to hold activities in commemoration of Father Ricci, but concrete information has yet to be announced.

Father Ricci began his journey from Portugal in 1578 and arrived in Goa, a Portuguese colony in India. Four years later he was sent to Macau, then the gateway for foreigners entering China.

In 1583, he traveled inland to Zhaoqing and Shaozhou (today’s Shaoguan) in Guangdong province and then on to Nanchang in Jiangxi province and Nanjing.

Wherever he stayed, he met with intellectuals and bureaucrats who appreciated his wide knowledge of geography, mathematics and science. With the help of Jesuits and Chinese Catholic scholar Paul Xu Guangqi, he also published world maps and books in Chinese, as well as translating Confucian classics into Latin to introduce the dominant Chinese philosophy to Europe.

Father Ricci arrived in Beijing in 1601 and the Chinese emperor allowed him to stay in the capital until his death on May 11, 1610.

Although Father Ricci never visited Shanghai, his Jesuit counterpart Father Lazzaro Cattaneo introduced Catholicism there in 1608. Shanghai gradually became a major center of the Jesuits’ missionary activities, particularly after foreign powers forced China to open its doors in the mid-19th century.

KOLKATA, India (UCAN) — Suranjan Makhal was surprised when a Jesuit priest sang about the teachings of Jesus on an ektara, a one-string musical instrument, during a religious program in this eastern city.

Father Chinnappan performs baul songs

“It was the first time I listened to baul songs by a Catholic priest,” Makhal admitted. He had come from Keorapukur parish in Baruipur diocese to see two Jesuit priests use local art forms to explore biblical themes.

The Aug. 23 program at St. Xavier’s College was titled “Bible, Baul and Bharatanatyam: An evening of song and dance meditations.”

Baul, popular in West Bengal and Bangladesh, is a folksong tradition with philosophical overtones. Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form that developed in southern India.

Father John Chinnappan, a self-taught baul singer, and Father Saju George, a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, together with their musical troupe, enthralled the audience for two hours.

“I found it interesting to listen to Father Chinnappan’s rendering of the message of the Bible in an idiom which is easy for me to understand,” Makhal commented.

Father Chinnappan sang about Jesus as the way to the Father, his invitation to people leave everything in order to follow him, his words of encouragement and other Gospel themes.

The 41-year-old priest, who performed eight songs, told UCA News his vocation is to preach the Gospel in the vocabulary and idiom of Bengal, fulfilling the command of Jesus to share the Gospel with the whole world. He added that the people’s response to his presentation overwhelmed him.

Makhal said Father George’s 15-minute solo Bharatanatyam performance of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus also surprised him.

Father George, 44, explained: “The Lord was nailed to the cross and requires my hands to reach out to the people in need, and he invites me to offer myself in the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola — ‘Take Lord, receive!'” He said he has performed this particular piece more than 100 times in Europe and several times in India.

Father George enacts the crucifixion of Jesus using Bharatanatyam dance

In the West, he added, people do not like to watch depictions of great suffering, whereas in India people are affected deeply by it.

Father George said his other troupe members, all Hindus, go beyond the narrow boundaries of religion and find fulfillment in performing works with Christian themes.

According to Christian baul singer Sonojit Mondol, who attended the program, baul is a spiritual tradition. With the Bible’s focus on spiritual values, it is easy to compose and sing baul songs based on biblical themes, he said.

The program was part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Church’s presence in Bengal and the founding of St. Xavier’s School in Kolkata.

Church leaders who attended included Bishop Salvadore Lobo of Baruipur and three heads of Religious congregations: Missionaries of Charity Sister Mary Prema, Missionaries of Charity Brother Geoff Brown and Daughters of St Anne Sister Florence Rozario.

MANILA (UCAN) — The president of Taiwan’s Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop John Hung of Taipei, has left the Asian bishops’ plenary assembly to lead the Church’s response to deadly flooding back home.

Archbishop John Hung of Taipei — UCAN photo

“People have been texting me and calling to ask, ‘Where are you?'” Archbishop Hung told UCA News before leaving the Pius XII Catholic Center in Manila on Aug. 13, the third day of the 9th plenary assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).

“I feel like a shepherd being called back to tend to his sheep,” Archbishop Hung said. The prelate added that he wants to find out for himself the extent of the damage and work out ways of getting Church aid quickly to those who need it.

“I heard the estimated extent of the damage is too big for the government to deal with by itself,” he explained.

Typhoon Morakot, the most powerful storm to hit Taiwan in the past 50 years, slammed into the eastern and southern parts of the island on Aug. 8. The government’s Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said on Aug. 13 the storm had killed 108 people, injured 45, with 62 reportedly still missing. These figures are expected to rise as many villages are still cut off.

Bishop Philip Huang of Hualien, whose diocese is badly hit, is attending the FABC assembly with Bishop Martin Su Yao-Wen of Taichung and Bishop Baptist Lee of Hsinchu. In Bishop Huang’s absence, Auxiliary Bishop John Baptist Tseng King-zi of Hualien is directing Church relief work in eastern Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Kaohsiung diocese has stepped up its relief effort to victims in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, the two hardest hit counties in southern Taiwan.

In an update, the diocese said it has set up a central relief aid collection center in a Church school downtown. It has also set up a relief command center at St. Joseph Church in Chishan town of Kaohsiung, and two centers in Pingtung — at the Immaculate Conception Minor Basilica in Wenluan township and the Holy Cross Church in Chiatung township.

The “Daily Bread,” a charity group from Kaohsiung diocese, has called for donations of gasoline, rice, cooking oil, clothes, torches, candles, toiletries, canned food as well as other necessities.

Dominic Kao Hung-po, 60, a Daily Bread organizer, told UCA News that they are now in need of volunteers and vehicles to deliver the relief aid.

Though many indigenous laypeople live in the two counties, the Church is not yet able to get information on the number of Catholics dead and injured due to a breakdown in communication links, he added.

In the Wutai township of Pingtung, Father Dominic Tu Yung-hsiung, vicar general of Kaohsiung, told UCA News that four Catholics and one Protestant in his neighboring village had died in mudslides. All in his village were accounted for as they managed to evacuate in time. Almost all the Lukai indigenous people in the mountain township are Christians, according to Father Tu, the first Lukai priest in Taiwan.

In Manila, Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, the FABC secretary-general, conveyed an appeal by Archbishop Hung for help. Archbishop Quevedo said money and supplies are needed, especially drinking water. He advised participants of the plenary assembly to channel donations through Caritas Taiwan.

RANCHI, India (UCAN) — People of various religions have welcomed a Jesuit priest’s appointment as vice-chancellor of a new university in Chaibasa, in eastern India’s Jharkhand state.

Cardinal Toppo (left) congratulates Father Ekka following the Jesuit priest’s appointment as vice-chancellor of Kolhan University

Father Beni Ekka’s appointment as the first vice-chancellor of Kolhan University “is a matter of pride for Christians and others in Jharkhand,” says Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo of Ranchi, head of the Catholic Church in the state.

“It is also recognition of the Church’s contribution in the field of education,” the cardinal told UCA News.

On Aug. 12, Jharkhand Governor K. Shankaranarayanan named Father Ekka to a three-year term as the effective director of the university, which is still being set up. Governors, who represent the Indian president in their respective states, serve as the chancellors of all state-run universities. The vice-chancellors function as chief executive officers.

Father Ekka, 62, officially moved into his new office at the governor’s residence in Ranchi, the state capital, the day after his appointment. He had been director of Xavier Institute of Social Science (XISS), a Jesuit-managed business school in Ranchi, since 1994.

The priest described the “unexpected appointment” as a challenge. “It is an opportunity for me to work in an area that is rich in natural human resources, but remains underdeveloped.”

His first priority, he said, is to set up new colleges and introduce professional courses. “I have a vision to produce tribal youth professionals” to work in the region, he added.

Cardinal Toppo called Father Ekka “the right person” to lead the new university, after proving his leadership ability as XISS director. “He can do much more than others. He understands this is a special role God has assigned him,” the prelate remarked.

On Aug. 13, thousands of students from all religions held a rally in Chaibasa, a major town in the state, to celebrate the priest’s appointment. Madhu Koda, a member of India’s parliament and former state chief minister, led the celebrations.

People in Jharkhand are “lucky” to get Father Ekka to head the new university, Koda later told UCA News. “He will provide a firm base for the university” as did for XISS, he added.

According to Koda, who follows a traditional tribal religion, the new university will bring higher education to students in one of the state’s most backward regions. “I dreamt about such a university during my college days,” he added.

In 2007, the state government Koda led promised to establish the university in Chaibasa. “Some vested interests delayed the foundation of the university. They opposed providing academic facilities to tribal students,” Koda alleges.

Some students said they expect the Jesuit priest to make the university a shining light in the country. “Now we have our own university and are lucky to have Father Ekka as vice-chancellor,” enthused Sunita Sumbroi, a Ho tribal girl in Chaibasa.

Former governments “left us educationally backward,” said Salkhan Soy, a Catholic tribal student. “Now we hope to have many colleges under this university.”

Mohammad Bari, a Muslim leader in Chaibasa, acknowledges the university has brought “tremendous joy” for local people. Father Ekka’s appointment “has further increased our happiness,” he told UCA News. “We have high expectations for the Catholic priest.”

In Ranchi, Muslim leader Naushad Khan said he would miss the Jesuit priest. Father Ekka maintained good relations with people from all religions and “always found time for people, especially in social work,” he said.

Catholics now head two of the state’s five universities, and the two administrators are former classmates.

Victor Tigga, vice-chancellor of Sido Kanhu University, studied with Father Ekka at St. Ignatius High School in Gumla and said the priest will do “his best for Kolhan University, since he is an able administrator.”

KATHMANDU (UCAN) — Catholics bade farewell to American Jesuit Father James J. Donnelly who died here on Aug. 17. The priest, who had dedicated his life to education in his adopted homeland, was 80 and suffering from various ailments.

Portrait of Father James Donnelly at his funeral

“Father Donnelly was a warm-hearted person and an astounding teacher,” Jesuit Father Augustine Thomas Amakkatt told the crowd at the funeral held at the Church of our Lady of Assumption on Aug. 17.

The late priest was also a “walking encyclopedia of chronology of Nepal,” an expert on the Himalayan mountain peaks and a lover of Nepal’s natural beauty, Father Amakkatt said.

Father Donnelly was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and celebrated his 80th birthday on Aug. 5 this year. He came to Nepal as a young priest just after his ordination in 1961.

He was assigned to teach English at Godavari St Xavier’s School, one of two Jesuit-run schools in Nepal. Over the years, he taught students who went on to become doctors, engineers and businessmen.

Father Donnelly remained at the school till 1968 when he moved to St Xavier’s School at Jawalakhel, staying there until 1980. He then returned to Godavari St Xavier’s where he was principal until 1990.

He began writing textbooks for schools in 1991. He wrote three English language textbooks — “The Writing Handbook,” “The Workbook I for the Writing Handbook” and “The Teachers’ Key.”

The priest was among four Jesuits to receive the highest award given by the state to the public. Former King Gyanendra Shah gave him the Gorkha Dakshin Bahu III for his dedication to teaching young people in the country.

The other Jesuit recipients of the award were Father Marshal Moran, Father Casper Miller and Father Lawrence Maniyar, the current regional superior of the Jesuits in Nepal.

Father Maniyar told UCA News that Father Donnelly was also renowned for his trips abroad to raise funds, mainly for the construction of school buildings and houses for Jesuits in Nepal.

Various people shared their recollections of Father Donnelly with UCA News.

“His English was great and he taught the boys very well. He was strict but loving and caring as well,” said Rama Parajuli, a Catholic whose son was taught by the priest.

Catholics paying their last respects to Father Donnelly at the Church of Our Lady of Assumption on Aug. 17.

“He had this special gift of spirituality that touched everyone he met and had this amazing knack of remembering the names of all his former students.”

Maggie Fetch, who knew Father Donnelly from her early childhood, “deeply regretted” his death.

“Priests like him are rare and very few exist in the country,” she said. “No one can forget how friendly he was, his ability to recognize people and talk to them even if he had met them only once.”

According to Father Amakkatt, Fr Donnelly’s most popular activity was showing his large collection of slides which featured the development of Nepal and the growth of the Jesuits among others.

Father Maniyar said the priest had died with one regret — he failed in his attempts to become a Nepali citizen. Father Maniyar said Father Donnelly had always remarked: “Nepal is my home; Nepalis my people.”

  CAROL K. COBURN 

  America magazine 

My companion said it out loud first: “Carol, we’re in trouble.” She was right. Early that morning we had set off for the last leg of a five-day backpacking trek through the beautiful but challenging Weminuche Wilderness in southern Colorado. We had survived fierce sun, 

raging creek crossings, snowy glaciers on the Continental Divide, avalanche crossings, a hail storm and climbs of over 11,000 feet. Now we stood on a seemingly endless ridge that dropped 50 feet to a mountain river ripping down the gorge on its way from a glacier lake to a reservoir, where a campground and our car awaited. The trail had simply vanished into endless overgrown forest, steep angles and craggy rock ledges. As the more experienced backpacker, I had to figure a way down with our 50-pound packs. No trail was in sight, and I knew the path of the river was the only road map to the car.

After much thinking and silent praying, I decided we would go down the ridge on our bellies with our backpacks off, sliding them one at a time as we descended, using strategically positioned handholds and footholds. It was slow, painful and frightening but successful-so far so good!

Leap of Faith

We regrouped on the edge of the river, strapped on our packs and hoped simply to walk alongside it until we could pick up the trail on the other side. This worked until we reached a point where the edge of the cold, crashing river met the wall of the gorge and there was nowhere to go but into the freezing water to continue our descent. I do not know how long I stood and looked into the river before finding the courage to take that first step. Just below the clear, deep and fast-moving water I could see a very large root submerged but jutting out from the side of the gorge. I put weight on it tentatively; it felt strong and stable. How it would respond to our weight with our heavy packs, I had no idea. I have used the phrase “leap of faith” cavalierly in the past, but this was the real thing. No matter how long I looked at that root, I would not know until I leapt whether I had made a wise decision. Then I stepped. It held me and my companion. Although it took us that evening and part of the next day, we worked our way down the river and found the trail, as we had hoped. In soggy boots and clothes we trudged quietly and painfully to the campground and our car.

Wilderness as Leveler

The wilderness areas are still wild, untamed and exist on their own terms. As yet they are untouched by human ideas of civilization. That is the attraction. Backpacking in the wilderness is an experience that never fails to put me in my place, not as a master of the natural world but merely a player, a small piece of the cosmic puzzle.

The wilderness is a leveler for humans who base self-perception on education, age, race, gender, socioeconomic class or the like. The wilderness does not care who you are or what you have done; it will reward or punish you just the same. Money allows you to shield yourself through the use of gadgets, high-tech clothing and equipment, but these give a false sense of security. Such misplaced confidence makes you less watchful and less mindful; and these “crutches” can be negated by unexpected circumstances or when they simply do not work. Ironically, scientific research on the human brain shows that we have far more natural survival strategies than we realize or use. Underused skills rust in the urban confines of the 21st century; we have forgotten them. We have been lulled into a sedentary complacency of body and mind. We spend our brainpower figuring out ways to outsmart and “tame” the wilderness, with little time for understanding, appreciating and coexisting with it. It has been made into the enemy, something to conquer and control-an adversarial relationship that has made our time in the natural world all about winning or losing. In actuality that is not only a foolish paradigm but a false one, socially constructed and meaningless within the context of the natural world.

I love the life of the mind and my academic life, but I never want to fail to appreciate the life of the body and spirit. My physical experiences have brought me into closer touch with my spirituality than almost any other aspect of my existence. I am more apt to find God in nature than in a building full of people. Backpacking in the wilderness focuses my attention, forcing me to be mindful of the present, not obsessing about the past or future. I have to find and stay on the trail using only a topographic map, compass and my powers of observation. I have to avoid the dangers around me and respect the fact that I am a visitor in a world of other living things. I have to be mindful of the weather and where to camp, obtain water, prepare food and sleep safely at night. My clever brain identifies the basic elements. Ultimately, it does not matter how technologically savvy I am, how many degrees I have or the amount of money in my bank account. The focus is here and now, and I must be ready to negotiate my survival for the next few days.

Jesus’ Wilderness Experience

I am not a biblical scholar or a trained theologian, but the story of Jesus in the wilderness makes complete sense to me. He went there to escape, think and clear his head of the social and political whirlwind. The temptations to bail, take the easier path and avoid the inevitable were there, as they are for all of us. But Jesus needed the wilderness to experience the fear, the uncertainty and the elemental aspects of who he was. I am convinced no other experience could have helped him crystallize who he was and what he needed to do. I am also convinced that the wilderness experience and his acute physical and spiritual survival skills, challenged by severe deprivations and temptations, gave him the courage to fulfil his destiny.

Living as I do in the fast-paced 21st century, with a life full of demands and stress, going into the wilderness helps me understand my own existence. Compared with the life and purpose of Jesus, my life is insignificant, but his example holds powerful truth for me. In a small but significant way, it helps me move forward to whatever and wherever forward is. It gives me perspective and, more important, an understanding of who I am and why I am here. Ultimately, it nourishes my soul and provides balance in the crazy world I return to, helping me remember that life is much more than my daily to-do list. In The Soul’s Religion, Thomas Moore wrote: “To be spiritual is to be taken over by a mysterious divine compulsion to manifest some aspect of life’s deepest force. We become most who we are when we allow the spirit to dismember us, unsettling our plans and understandings, remaking us from our very foundations…. [It is] the invitation of the spirit to become who we are and not who we think we ought to be.”

The wilderness connects me to life’s deepest force and challenges me to reach beyond the everyday-an invitation to infinite possibilities.

Carol K. Coburn, an avid backpacker, is a professor of American religious history at Avila University in Kansas City, Mo. 

   CAROL K. COBURN 

  America magazine

My companion said it out loud first: “Carol, we’re in trouble.” She was right. Early that morning we had set off for the last leg of a five-day backpacking trek through the beautiful but challenging Weminuche Wilderness in southern Colorado. We had survived fierce sun, 

raging creek crossings, snowy glaciers on the Continental Divide, avalanche crossings, a hail storm and climbs of over 11,000 feet. Now we stood on a seemingly endless ridge that dropped 50 feet to a mountain river ripping down the gorge on its way from a glacier lake to a reservoir, where a campground and our car awaited. The trail had simply vanished into endless overgrown forest, steep angles and craggy rock ledges. As the more experienced backpacker, I had to figure a way down with our 50-pound packs. No trail was in sight, and I knew the path of the river was the only road map to the car.

After much thinking and silent praying, I decided we would go down the ridge on our bellies with our backpacks off, sliding them one at a time as we descended, using strategically positioned handholds and footholds. It was slow, painful and frightening but successful-so far so good!

Leap of Faith

We regrouped on the edge of the river, strapped on our packs and hoped simply to walk alongside it until we could pick up the trail on the other side. This worked until we reached a point where the edge of the cold, crashing river met the wall of the gorge and there was nowhere to go but into the freezing water to continue our descent. I do not know how long I stood and looked into the river before finding the courage to take that first step. Just below the clear, deep and fast-moving water I could see a very large root submerged but jutting out from the side of the gorge. I put weight on it tentatively; it felt strong and stable. How it would respond to our weight with our heavy packs, I had no idea. I have used the phrase “leap of faith” cavalierly in the past, but this was the real thing. No matter how long I looked at that root, I would not know until I leapt whether I had made a wise decision. Then I stepped. It held me and my companion. Although it took us that evening and part of the next day, we worked our way down the river and found the trail, as we had hoped. In soggy boots and clothes we trudged quietly and painfully to the campground and our car.

Wilderness as Leveler

The wilderness areas are still wild, untamed and exist on their own terms. As yet they are untouched by human ideas of civilization. That is the attraction. Backpacking in the wilderness is an experience that never fails to put me in my place, not as a master of the natural world but merely a player, a small piece of the cosmic puzzle.

The wilderness is a leveler for humans who base self-perception on education, age, race, gender, socioeconomic class or the like. The wilderness does not care who you are or what you have done; it will reward or punish you just the same. Money allows you to shield yourself through the use of gadgets, high-tech clothing and equipment, but these give a false sense of security. Such misplaced confidence makes you less watchful and less mindful; and these “crutches” can be negated by unexpected circumstances or when they simply do not work. Ironically, scientific research on the human brain shows that we have far more natural survival strategies than we realize or use. Underused skills rust in the urban confines of the 21st century; we have forgotten them. We have been lulled into a sedentary complacency of body and mind. We spend our brainpower figuring out ways to outsmart and “tame” the wilderness, with little time for understanding, appreciating and coexisting with it. It has been made into the enemy, something to conquer and control-an adversarial relationship that has made our time in the natural world all about winning or losing. In actuality that is not only a foolish paradigm but a false one, socially constructed and meaningless within the context of the natural world.

I love the life of the mind and my academic life, but I never want to fail to appreciate the life of the body and spirit. My physical experiences have brought me into closer touch with my spirituality than almost any other aspect of my existence. I am more apt to find God in nature than in a building full of people. Backpacking in the wilderness focuses my attention, forcing me to be mindful of the present, not obsessing about the past or future. I have to find and stay on the trail using only a topographic map, compass and my powers of observation. I have to avoid the dangers around me and respect the fact that I am a visitor in a world of other living things. I have to be mindful of the weather and where to camp, obtain water, prepare food and sleep safely at night. My clever brain identifies the basic elements. Ultimately, it does not matter how technologically savvy I am, how many degrees I have or the amount of money in my bank account. The focus is here and now, and I must be ready to negotiate my survival for the next few days.

Jesus’ Wilderness Experience

I am not a biblical scholar or a trained theologian, but the story of Jesus in the wilderness makes complete sense to me. He went there to escape, think and clear his head of the social and political whirlwind. The temptations to bail, take the easier path and avoid the inevitable were there, as they are for all of us. But Jesus needed the wilderness to experience the fear, the uncertainty and the elemental aspects of who he was. I am convinced no other experience could have helped him crystallize who he was and what he needed to do. I am also convinced that the wilderness experience and his acute physical and spiritual survival skills, challenged by severe deprivations and temptations, gave him the courage to fulfil his destiny.

Living as I do in the fast-paced 21st century, with a life full of demands and stress, going into the wilderness helps me understand my own existence. Compared with the life and purpose of Jesus, my life is insignificant, but his example holds powerful truth for me. In a small but significant way, it helps me move forward to whatever and wherever forward is. It gives me perspective and, more important, an understanding of who I am and why I am here. Ultimately, it nourishes my soul and provides balance in the crazy world I return to, helping me remember that life is much more than my daily to-do list. In The Soul’s Religion, Thomas Moore wrote: “To be spiritual is to be taken over by a mysterious divine compulsion to manifest some aspect of life’s deepest force. We become most who we are when we allow the spirit to dismember us, unsettling our plans and understandings, remaking us from our very foundations…. [It is] the invitation of the spirit to become who we are and not who we think we ought to be.”

The wilderness connects me to life’s deepest force and challenges me to reach beyond the everyday-an invitation to infinite possibilities.

Carol K. Coburn, an avid backpacker, is a professor of American religious history at Avila University in Kansas City, Mo.