This is a painting of St Anthony in the desert. We, too, can be in a desert or arid place, fraught by all kinds of difficulties – bodily, mental or spiritual illness, relationship problems, bereavement, economic hardships. We have to weather the storms. Our spirits can be in darkness and even despair.

St Anthony is a symbol of one who sometimes lived in dryness, beset by the demons. These symbols of darkness are not far from Anthony ; the snakes and spiders. He concentrates on the Word of God. His prayer, in this case, is not one of consolation. He digs his heels into the sand and looks harassed but stays with it just as we have too when our prayer becomes arid and dry.

But there is beauty and life in the desert, as there is for us as we steadily journey with God. There are the delights of the desert blooms and flowers .