Advent Emptiness
I decided that for Advent this year I would read The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander. It’s a book I’ve attempted before without success. As I perused the first chapter, I realized this is what I need. And as I read through the first chapter entitled “emptiness,” I realized how perfectly it makes for a pre-Advent examination of our hearts. Please join me as I share some reflections as we prepare to enter into a new church year and the penitential season of Advent. In the coming weeks I hope you continue with me in my walk through The Reed of God.
If we are to receive fully from the hand of God, it’s more important than ever that we are empty. Mary is the perfect example of this. She was perfectly humble, perfectly empty of self. This is not to say that she was an empty void, her emptiness had a certain form that God wished to fill in a specific way. Caryll Houselander explains it in this way:
“It is emptiness like the hollow in the reed, the narrow riftless emptiness, which can have only one destiny: to receive the piper’s breath and to utter the song that is in his heart.
Reed of God by Caryll Houselander pg. 21
It is emptiness like the hollow in the cup, shaped to receive water or wine.
It is emptiness like that of the bird’s nest, built in a round warm ring to receive the little bird.”
Disposition of Receptivity
Mary lived with a disposition of receptivity, hands outstretched and ready to receive all things from God. She, perhaps, didn’t realize the exact “shape” of her emptiness or the magnitude of what she was going to receive into her life and within her very body until the moment was upon her. But imagine if Mary hadn’t lived with this disposition of receptivity. What would she have missed? What would the world have missed?
I can easily say that I don’t usually live with this level of emptiness. I fill my heart and life with so many distractions when I get frustrated or fed up with the monotony of life. In many ways, the very nature of motherhood makes it hard to live in this way, as our life is so full with responsibilities and tasks and obligations. But if this role of motherhood is my path to holiness, being fully open to receiving all that motherhood entails will simultaneously lead me to receive more fully from God. So this leads me to the question – what is my life “filled” with that takes me away from my role as wife and mother, or whatever my role may be? What is my life “filled” with that distracts me and prevents me from receiving from God?
What Clutters Your Life?
It seems obvious, but you can’t fill a cup that’s already full. You can’t pour into something that is at capacity. How often is God trying to give so many gifts to us, but we miss them because we are not empty? In The Reed of God, Caryll goes on to talk about all the ways we fill our hearts. These pages are a gut check. I think that oftentimes, we have chosen a particular vice or a specific type of “clutter” that we love to keep around. What is it for you? Money… material goods… clothes… phones… social media… praise… approval… flattery… gossip… fear… busyness…sports… perfection… superiority… shopping… exercise… ?
Nearly anything that isn’t God, whether it be inherently good or bad, can become clutter when it fills our hearts and replaces that which we could be receiving from God. And it’s very important to stop and identify these areas within our lives.
For Prayer:
Now, as we shift into a societal season of “more” – more gifts, more money, more stuff, more parties, more celebrations – I encourage you to retreat back into the arms of the Church who quietly urges us to empty ourselves, as Mary did, in order to receive Christ within her very body. Take some time in prayer and silence. Consider what you have allowed to fill your heart and mind and thus prevented you from receiving the fullness of God’s plan for your life.
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