We all know what it is like to buy something with enthusiasm, only to feel a few days later that we want something more. We all know what it is like to feel satisfied with a delicious meal, only to feel the next day hunger for more. We all know what it is like to feel filled-up with love by a spouse or a friend, soon after only to feel lonely and empty.

This is because within every one of us there is a place that is empty and needs to be filled. And as human beings searching for something to satisfy, we use food, we use things, we use people, chemical substances, anything that will help touch what is hollow, console what is alone. This emptiness in us is not a belief or a philosophy, it is simply an experienced fact. And we proclaim it at the altar now during Passiontide as a reality that humanity must awaken to if we are to know ourselves, “Oh human being, empty is the place of your heart”.

And yet, dear friends, this emptiness in us is destined to be filled! The wonderful secret in the depths of our hearts is that our deepest longing is not for stuff or food or money or even other peoples love, our deepest longing that wells within our blood is our longing for the Spirit, our deepest desire that surges within our breath is communion with God.

This is Passiontide- Recognizing we are empty, longing for Christ to come close, knowing that being filled with The Spirit we will soon be able to say, ‘the grave is empty, the heart is full’.