Exodus 90 had the privilege of meeting with His Eminence, Robert Cardinal Sarah during his recent visit to the United States. We have been drawn to his writings due to his emphasis on the priority of silent prayer and the importance of asceticism, including in relation to technology. His Eminence is truly a leader of spiritual renewal in the Church today.
The Exodus 90 team was struck deeply by the Cardinal’s spiritual presence and witness to the truth of the Gospel. He emphasized how much we need clarity in our time of confusion. We need God more than anything else and often think we don’t have any time for him in the midst of our frenetic activity and noise. If we put God first, then everything else would fall into place.
Jamie Baxter, Founder and CEO of Exodus 90 reflects on reflects on his time with Cardinal Sarah, “The time we shared with Cardinal Sarah was a profound gift, and honestly, one of the best days in the history of Exodus. I was so struck by his presence. When he spoke, he looked you in the eye with total presence, and his words of wisdom obviously came forth from a heart that is rooted in silence. As I reflected and prayed on our time together afterwards, I was struck by how different we are on a natural level (i.e. vocation, country of origin, age), and yet how much we share in common on a spiritual level. The fingerprints of God are one. It was a profound encounter with the unity and universality of the Catholic Church, and a moment that inspired us to greater silence and interiority in our own lives and works.”
Cardinal Sarah emphasized to the team a few different times how important it is for every person to pass through the experience of the Exodus. More than a complete experience of the past, as Israel left its bondage in Egypt, it remains a perennial necessity to leave the bonds of the world behind and find freedom in Christ. Even after discovering this freedom, we can fall back into slavery, requiring an ongoing purification in the desert.
And this is what he impressed upon us most of all: that we must follow Israel into the desert to experience God there. The purification of forty years of wandering comes to its perfection in the forty days Christ spent in the desert fasting and praying, overcoming our enemy. There, in this silence, his Eminence insisted, men will find freedom in their encounter with God. Only in the desert, away from distractions, will they be able to hear the voice of God and answer his call to be his disciples.
Adam Minihan, Head of Marketing for Exodus 90, related, “I was very encouraged to listen to the hope he has for the future of the Church here in America. His emphasis and encouragement for men to not only read the Gospel but live it resonates with us at Exodus 90. This is what we strive to do everyday as a company.” Dr. Jared Staudt, Director of Content, remarked that the meeting reinforced his commitment to the heart of Exodus 90’s mission. “I felt inspired to deepen my own commitment to silent prayer in the Exodus experience and to find new ways of bringing this to the men we serve.”
We invite you to join us in answering Cardinal Sarah’s invitation to follow Christ into the desert. Unite with other men throughout the world in committing to daily prayer in silence and the fight against the enemy through fasting and removing distractions. The Church and the world need the renewal that will only come from the peace that Christ brings to us in the silence of communion with him. Together, let’s undertake this essential work of renewal. Let’s also pray for the continued ministry of Cardinal Sarah, who asked us to pray that he would be a holy priest.
