“When someone is empty of Christ then a thousand and one other things come to fill his/her soul: jealousies, hatreds, boredom, melancholy, negativity, a worldly frame of mind and worldly pleasures. Try to fill your soul with Christ so as to not have it empty.”
- St Porphyrios Wounded by Love pg 177.
Reflection:
There are many reasons why we end up feeling negatively, but at the root of it is a yearning for Christ, the need to fill our soul with love for God. Sometimes we try to pacify the negativity with temporary distractions, but that relief does not last and is sometimes unhealthy.
When we recognize these things within ourselves, we need to turn to Christ even more than we already do. Strive to increase our love for our Savior.
Turning to Christ in these moments is not distracting us from the problems at hand, it is addressing it head-on by inviting the One who created our entire being to help address the issue. We take a car to the manufacturer who created it to get a tune-up or repair, why wouldn’t we do the same and more for our heart and soul?
If we want temporary solutions and joys in our life, the world has many options. Professional help is effective and necessary at times, helping us grow. In addition, we naturally yearn for a lasting inner peace, joy, and comfort while in the midst of the challenges in life - and the deepest and truest way to get to the core of it all is to fill our soul with Christ.(1)
When we address what we are feeling or experiencing, let us not forget to invite Christ into those moments by prayer, silence, reading, and the sacraments. Our soul - our entire being - is healthiest and strongest when we are filled with Christ. We will live with a deep sense of purpose, wholeness, and peace since we are rooted in our relationship with God Himself who created us and loves us.
Resources:
