Israel Centeno

When you fast,

do not show affliction like the Pharisees,

do not seek the eyes of the world,

but the Father’s secret.

When you pray,

enter the hidden place,

the place unseen.

For man does not live by bread alone,

but by the one who comes from heaven,

the one that never fades,

the one that gives eternal life.

Whoever eats of Him

will never hunger,

whoever drinks of His blood

will live forever.

And only when the body obeys the spirit,

do you understand

the bread of life

and the cross.

II

In the desert, time stands still,

things settle into the landscape:

sandstone and rock.

A mirage appears,

the temptation to fill your mouth with stones

believing them to be wild berries.

Desire rules over your thirst,

the longing to be cool and whole.

Your flesh cracks,

your lips break,

and the skin, once open to touch,

dries out,

a land where nothing takes root.

Then you understand:

matter has no other fate

but to expand,

burn to the limit,

and cool into a bed of dust.

III

And remember:

We were not made

to remain.

We are passage.

To move,

in time,

with time,

toward what was

and what will be.

Life is a shifting path,

what clings too tightly

becomes fossil,

remains trapped

in the unchanging.

To the earth returns

what belongs to it,

without sorrow,

without delay.

That is why,

when you fast,

do not be

like the Pharisees.