Mar. 1, 2012 Thursday: 1st Week of Lent
Letting Go of Our Fear of God
We are afraid of emptiness. Spinoza speaks about our
"horror vacui," our horrendous fear of vacancy. We like to
occupy-fill up-every empty time and space. We want to be occupied. And if we
are not occupied we easily become preoccupied; that is, we fill the empty
spaces before we have even reached them. We fill them with our worries, saying,
"But what if ..."
It is very hard to allow emptiness to exist in our lives.
Emptiness requires a willingness not to be in control, a willingness to let
something new and unexpected happen. It requires trust, surrender, and openness
to guidance. God wants to dwell in our emptiness. But as long as we are afraid
of God and God's actions in our lives, it is unlikely that we will offer our emptiness
to God. Let's pray that we can let go of our fear of God and embrace God as the
source of all love.
-Fr. Henri Nouwen
