Free to Love.

That hollowness we sometimes feel
is not a sign of something gone wrong.
It is the holy of holies inside of us,
the uncluttered throne room of the Lord our God.
Nothing on earth can fill it,
but that does not stop us from trying.
Whenever we start feeling too empty inside,
we stick our pacifiers into our mouths
and suck for all we are worth.
They do not nourish us, but at least they plug the hole.

- Barbara Brown Taylor, from "Settling for Less"

These words from Barbara Brown Taylor remind me of Pastor Carol's sermon for Ash Wednesday, in which she invited us to a little "spring cleaning" of our souls.

In our spring cleaning, we might pull everything out into the open, so that we can see what we're dealing with. Then we might sort through all of the things that we have collected. Are there things - fears, desires, habits, ideas - we are carrying around in ourselves that have outlived their usefulness, and that we no longer need? Have some of these things now even come to be a burden on us, weighing us down or blocking our path? Are there things that are just, in Barbara Brown Taylor's words, just "pacifiers" serving to "plug the hole" rather than nourish us for the fullest life God intends for us? What shall we get rid of this year? What shall we leave behind?

At the beginning of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises stands an introduction he calls "The Foundation." Like a guide preparing us for the adventure we are about to undertake, the Foundation encourages us to shake ourselves free of attachments to things that might hinder us, that might trip us up, that might block our path on our journey with Jesus.

The Foundation, writes Brackley (p. 10), speaks to the heart of life's drama. It is about getting free to love.

This Sunday we will hear the story of Jesus' temptation. We will hear the story of Jesus preparing for his own journey - yes, Jesus, too, had to prepare! Different pacifiers are laid at his feet; each one he leaves behind. We are not told whether this was easy or hard for him. We are only told that we was human, and that like us, Jesus, too, had to get free in order to love.