In The Desert

Sed cur idem tentandus ad desertum ducatur non abs re quaeritur, praesertim cum omnis mundus laqueorum tentamentis sit ubique plenus, nisi forte, quod ubi serviendi Deo major est quietudo, ibi major exhibeatur necesse est virium colluctatio, quia et ibi nusquam deerit fraudulenta oblectamentorum persuasio. Per desertum quippe a mundi pressuris et tumultibus remotior vita significatur; ut omnes discant quietem appetere, et soli Deo vacare, etiamsi inter homines videantur versari. Alioquin in Canticis non quaereret de Ecclesia: Quae est ista quae ascendit per desertum, quasi aurora consugurgens, pulchra ut luna, et electa ut sol, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata? Quae nimirum idcirco ut castrorum acies contra hostes ordinata narratur ascendere, quia illi viam ad coelum eundi obsident, ut in nullo frangatur conamine. Porro per desertum hujus mundi ideo sustollitur, quia etsi inter tumultus hominum versatur, ipsa mundi fragoribus segregata, secum ubique solitudinem cum Deo habet. In cujus nimirum figura, exercitus ille Dei ex Aegypto per desertum ascendisse creditur ut solius ducatu cum Deo gradiens ad partiam remearet. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Lib III, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 120.184d-185a

But why He had to be led out to the desert for trial 1 is not an irrelevant question, when certainly the whole world is replete with an abundance of snares, unless perhaps, that there where greater is the quiet for the service of God, there is greater need to show that there is yet the speech of men, because even there there is never an absence of the persuasions of deceitful pleasures. The desert certainly signifies removal from the pressures of the world and the tumults life, so that all learn to seek quiet, and to give space to God alone, even though they appear to live among men. In the Song of Songs it is not said concerning the Church: 'Who is she who ascends through the desert, like the dawn rising, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army ordered for battle?' 2 She, then, is said to ascend as an army ordered for battle, so that she will not be broken by any assault, because for her the way that leads to heaven is besieged. Moreover she is lifted up through the desert of this world because even if she goes among the tumults of men, she has been separated from the clamour of the world, and wherever she is, she dwells in the desert with God. In which certainly is the figure of that army of God, which is said to have gone up through the desert from Egypt, which marching out, led by God alone, returned to the fatherland. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 3 Chap 4 1 Mt 4.1 2 Song 3.6, 6.10