By Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Director of Formation Ministries
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
It’s hard to explain how emptiness can be a good thing. It seems as if we are always trying to fill empty spaces, not keep them open. I put pictures on barren walls and flowers on barren tables. I fill shelves with books and an empty stomach with good food. I fill the silence in the car by turning on the radio, the silence between friends with conversation.
What is so threatening about emptiness? Why does the pulse quicken at the entrance of a cave, in deafening silence, or before ocean’s expanse? Why do we want to fill every bare counter, crowd every unfilled room? Perhaps the truth of our lives is waiting there—in the space we can’t bear to make, the emptiness we can’t bear to see. Maybe in the void is where new life is found.
During Lent we actually meant to open space, to remove some of the clutter from the rooms in our soul. A culture of accumulation blared around us while we walked the wilderness way. We have been seeking the more that comes in clearing out and letting go. We are seeking Spirit abundance which lives in the space we struggle to make. The Easter question is about the purpose of this space as it is being made. Do we make this space for Christ to fill, or for Christ to live?
In Mark’s Gospel, the sun had just risen as three women made their way to the tomb. When they saw the empty tomb, they were alarmed. The angel presence in the void tried to ease their fears, “He has been raised. He is not here.” What they had expected to fill the space was gone. They were greeted with a sacred absence, a holy emptiness. In the absence was what their hearts desired even as it caused them to tremble. “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them.”
What does it mean that Christ’s absence is a sure sign of resurrection? What does it mean that emptiness is the threshold to new life?
What if we looked at the empty places in our lives as spaces not to fill but to hold open for the Holy to live?
Prayer Phrase
“Creation itself will be set free” (Romans 8:21).
Spiritual Practice
Holy Attention
Spend a few moments paying attention wherever you are. Notice what draws your focus surrounding you. Look more closely at detail and color. Notice what pulls or prods within you. How is the God-in-all-things speaking to you through what you see and feel right here, right now?
Today’s Prayer for Peace
Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.