The following is an adaptation of the Lenten reflection Solidarity Bridge gave during Mass at St. John XXIII for the first week of Lent, on March 9th, 2025.

Luke tells us in today's Gospel: “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness."

The wilderness: Harsh terrain, hot and dusty air, rugged, remote, desolate....

Throughout scripture, wilderness is a physical landscape -a place of long, harsh challenges where survival is threatened. But this physical landscape is also a symbol for the particularly rugged moments of life.

For some of us, this wilderness is marked by the loss of a loved one, or worry for a child’s wellbeing. For others, it’s the financial stress of a sudden job loss or the incredible fear of deportation and family separation.

Most of us will at some point have experiences encountering the wilderness in acute or prolonged illness. And the wilderness of illness is particularly treacherous in the parts of our world where access to health care is limited.

Solidarity Bridge aims to respond to this wilderness reality. With our partners in Bolivia and Paraguay, we provide surgical care to patients in need through short term mission trips and year-round programs. And we build bridges that channel critical resources of training, skill building, supplies, equipment, and perhaps more importantly, solidarity and accompaniment.

This solidarity and accompaniment allow us a glimpse into the harsh reality our partners and patients experience. In Bolivia, for example, there are only two public cancer hospitals and three radiation centers to serve more than 12 million people. People travel tremendous distances and endure months-long waits for care. A scarcity of early detection resources means patients tend to be diagnosed at very advanced stages, making surgeries more complex and financially out of reach for most.

Our team recently met one of these patients in Santa Cruz. Mirko was a husband and a father and, at just 29 years old, he had had an unusual type of tumor in his abdomen. For months, he received frequent blood transfusions because the tumor caused hemorrhaging. He couldn’t eat, lost a tremendous amount of weight and was unable to work. His wife took on extra shifts at the bank and his mother moved back to Bolivia from Chile to take care of him. Their close knit family was scared and desperate for medical care. But the surgery he needed was not available at the public hospital and the cost in the private sector was out of reach. His family believed they were out of options and were devastated.

Duke professor Dr. Kate Bowler says,

“Lent invites us to sit in the wilderness and hold space for life’s fragility. And yet,” she says, “It’s also where God meets us - in the mess and in the ache.” We see this throughout scripture. The wilderness is indeed harsh and heartbreaking, but it is also the place where God breaks in; where important spiritual encounters take place. Liturgist Peter Moser calls this, “the place from which change comes—the promise of something new and life-giving. ”

“The promise of something new and life-giving” is also part of the wilderness story we encounter at Solidarity Bridge.

We saw a beautiful example of this at the public cancer hospital in Sucre, Bolivia. Less than 10 years ago, there was no public facility for cancer treatment anywhere in the region. Patients with treatable cancers were suffering needlessly and dying far too soon. Local doctors knew their patients deserved better and decided to create that better option themselves. They found a vacant run-down building. When told that there was no money for its renovation, the doctors and nurses did the work themselves - construction, painting, securing equipment - they did it all. Today, this gleaming hospital has two top-rate operating rooms and a pathology lab that serves the whole region... and it is still staffed by many of the medical team whose determination and commitment brought it into existence.

A place from which change comes—the promise of something new and life-giving.

Four years ago, our US medical teams began offering these surgeons in Sucre training in laparoscopic techniques and helped procure specialized equipment needed for those procedures. Over several mission trips we began to develop deep relationships with the hospital team and the dream of these young Bolivian doctors became our shared dream. We will continue this training, until the local team is prepared to independently perform the skills that will bring new treatment options to their beloved patients.

A place from which change comes—the promise of something new and life-giving.

And what about Mirko? While he feared he was out of options, his doctor knew of our sister organization Puente de Solidaridad and referred him to them. In our training model, local hospitals select cases for our trips that allow US physicians to work side-by-side with their South American colleagues. Together, they provide surgeries for patients who couldn’t otherwise access them, while helping advance the skills of the local teams. Mirko’s case was a good fit! He received surgery through one of our missions and went home several days later.

A year later, one of our teams returned and had the chance to visit Mirko in his home. He and his younger brother came out to greet us and he looked wonderful - healthy and full of life! We were invited into their house where the table was overflowing with cakes and drinks. The brothers recounted stories of the past year’s journey to restored health, and we Face-timed with their mom, who had returned to her work and life in Chile. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

A place from which change comes—the promise of something new and life-giving.

Kate Bowler says, in today’s Gospel “Jesus shows us the way to endure the wilderness. But Jesus does not do this alone.” Luke writes, “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was by the Spirit into the desert.” The Spirit is with Jesus both before he enters and throughout his days in the desert. Jesus was not alone and neither are we.

This year, Solidarity Bridge is again the Lenten cause at St. John XXIII. Through this Lenten program, together we get to be a living sign to our patients and partners that they are not alone in the wilderness. Please pray for our patients and partners this Lent. Download our Lenten Prayer Card here.

We can't avoid the harsh and rugged wilderness. We can't always prevent the people we love or those in our communities from experiencing it. This Lent, as we sit together in that wilderness, we are challenged to remain rooted in our conviction that God is here with us and we are never alone. May this place, indeed, be the promise of something new and life-giving for all of us.

Amen.

Read more about Mirko's story in this blog, and more about the cancer hospital in Sucre here.

A Lenten Reflection