As we enter the great feast of Pentecost, we call on the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts to transform us so that we can become more like Christ in our own lives and share our faith with those who need to know of His love for them. But if we are going to ask the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts then first of all we need to make sure that they are empty!

It may sound a strange thing to talk of an empty heart, but if we think about it we want our hearts to be empty of anything that prevents God from being at work in our lives: bitterness, resentment, anger, jealousy. The list could go on and on. In fact a good way of asking ourselves what needs to be emptied from our hearts is to think of the opposites of the fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, joy, patience, goodness, kindness, long suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, self control and chastity. If we use the opposites of these and ask ourselves 'do these things fill my heart at the moment?' then now is the time to try and empty our hearts of such things so that the Holy Spirit can be poured into us.

The process of self emptying is central to our faith. We are given the example by Jesus himself and we are reminded of this in the letter to the Philippians (2:6-11): 'Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant...' The fruits of the Holy Spirit place others first whereas the fruits of an unholy spirit place our own needs and desires at the very centre of our lives where Christ should be. So as we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit this Pentecost, let us begin by emptying our hearts of anything that is taking us away from God so that we may bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit and inspire those around us to make this their prayer as well:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.