Spring Cleaning

There’s a real feel of springtime in this part of the world, even on cold days! The birds are singing and there’s a brightness pouring through the windows on sunny days that shows up all the dust and cobwebs! It creates a desire in me for spring cleaning and decluttering. Isn’t there a great sense of satisfaction when a good cleaning job has been completed and one can sit back and enjoy a tidy room again?

This week we began the season of Lent, when people traditionally “give up” something like sweets, chocolate or smoking. I was reflecting about what I might give up this Lent, when (as often happens) the words of a secular song popped into my mind, an upbeat chart-topper from 1990 by Irish rock band “Hothouse Flowers”. The song is called “Give it up” and the theme of the lyrics are about giving charity to the less fortunate, but the opening verse seems particularly appropriate for me this Lent:

Well, I'm coming face to face with my conscience
Coming to an understanding of myself
Clear out all the old cobwebs
Clear out all the old books from the shelf

Listening again to this song with its positive vibes, I got to thinking: What if I do some spring-cleaning in my spiritual life and my mind and clear out some cobwebs and clutter
? Wouldn’t that be a great Lenten practice, to make more room for God in my life and in my heart?

St Teresa, our Carmelite Mother and Founder, often wrote about the soul as a palace for the King, and with her typical humour and vivid imagery she said: “if we fill the palace with vulgar people and junk, how will there be room for the Lord with His court? He does enough by remaining just a little while in the midst of so much confusion.” (Way of Perfection 28:12)

This is good food for our reflection. What are the cobwebs and junk that fill up our minds and hearts? Can we do some spiritual decluttering this Lent so as to make room for God to come and fill us with the graces and joys of Easter? I hope and pray that we can!