Desert or place without water. It is a geographical concept, but it is configured in ascetic literature as a silent place.
The term was popularized in early Christian times when many ascetics fled urban life and persecution and devoted themselves to prayer and penance in solitary places, convinced that persecution was a divine punishment for sins and a form of punishment. that God has to purify his elect.
The desert or wasteland lends itself to a life of austerity, silence and prayer.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy