Our lives can be likened to an
empty cup. There is neither
water nor tea in it. When a
person is arguing with someone and
tells the person, ‘you are empty.’ It
means there is nothing in that per-
son. That means the person is like a
gong. The gong is empty yet it makes
a sound that makes music melodi-
ous. But it cannot be music in itself
because in music, the gong is just an
appendage.
If a human being cannot live a
fulfilled life, a life demanded of him
by his Creator then something is
wrong. When a man’s life is boring
and does not create space for God,
life becomes meaningless for such
a person. He needs Christ to fill the
emptiness or void. When human life
is empty what will fill it again? When
life is empty, fill it with Christ.
The modern man of today lives a
life outside God and Jesus values.
He is confronted with the meaning
of life. When he escapes life, he is
trapped; confused and alienated.
When he sees life as either empty, or
worthless, he begins to feel threat-
ened. If he is not smart enough
he doubts himself and doubts his
existence. He becomes a stranger to
his environment.
He needs to believe in something.
He needs to believe in himself and
believe in God if he wants to have
a meaningful life. Life without
God is an empty life. Think of the
sacraments. Do you go to confes-
sion? What does life mean to you?
Life without Jesus is an empty life.
Life without morals is an empty
life. Life without a moral code is no
life. Living our lives as we want it,
breaking the laws will bring untold
harm to us. When we continue to
live like that, we hurt ourselves and
hurt others.
Listening to rock music will never
help. Drowning our minds with
noisy music will not help. Using
drugs to feel high will not help.
Searching for ourselves outside of
God will not help. Knowing who we
are now and taking the first step to
meet God in our estrangement, lone-
liness and absurdity of life will help
to fill our emptiness. As long as we
recognize that we are not comforta-
ble with ourselves, there is someone
who will shatter the darkness per-
vading our life; that person is Jesus.
When Jesus fills the emptiness in
our lives, we become new persons
and liberated. One is then able to
live in a real world not a false one.
When a person fills himself with
half-truth, he cannot communicate
the truth without being afraid of
exposing himself. He communicates
half-truth always. Saying things as
they should be, makes him nervous.
He does not want to come out of his
closet. But he needs to fill his false-life
with truth.
A man of emptiness withdraws
from an environment that is confron-
tational. He avoids people always. He
is hostile. He is afraid of people. He
feels that people will know that he is
empty. He can bark like a mad dog
to scare people, but deep inside he is
crying for help. You won’t know un-
less the God in you helps you know
that he is a patient gasping for help.
He may drive a car, and dress beauti-
fully, yet he needs help. All his antics
are window dressing and cover-ups.
Such a person will hide his empti-
ness because he is afraid that if people
know who he is they will not accept
him anymore. Emptiness is a spiritual
problem. No amount of money
one has can fill ones emptiness. No
amount of alcohol intake or rate of
socializing can remove the emptiness.
The only remedy is to go back to the
ancient God, the God of Abraham;
our father in faith and worship him
in truth and love and be re-filled.
