Spring Spiritual Cleaning

These past few weeks I have begun to hear the song of springtime. While the melody remains faint, if I listen closely, I can hear expectant whispers of the symphony to come: the sole wildflower growing outside my window, the patches of my room dappled with the morning sun, the surprise encounter of a bluebird, the sky drawing me outside a little longer each day, the soft earth beneath my feet anew. 

Each of these moments is a prelude to the beauty that will soon arrive. As the earth prepares to awaken, it begins to show signs of life. Yet spring cannot flourish without first clearing out the dead, the dilapidated, and the decayed. The garden soil must be tended before anything can flourish. 

In the same way, we too mimic the seasons. During this time of year we feel an itch to draw the curtains open and let the light pour through. We clean our closets, declutter our homes, and care for the places that have been neglected in the darkness of winter. We “spring clean” in anticipation not only of something novel, but also of something lovely. 

If this movement is reflected by the natural world, if it is even reflected by hardwood floors and concrete walls, then how could it not be most profoundly reflected by our very souls? As Lent comes to its climax, we are yearning not only to be touched by the light of the Resurrection, but to be drenched in it. We ache for its glory to be made manifest within us—for it to bloom into a garden of inconceivable beauty. Like the rest of creation, we long to sing the song of springtime. 

As we enter into the holiest days of the liturgical year, let us not waste the opportunity to let the Father deeply clean our hearts, especially in the spots that have yet to be touched this Lent. Let Him scrub away the dirt, even if it hurts and even if it bleeds. Know that He is creating room— that your heart may be supple and soft and capable of holding greater magnitudes of the Divine. He is preparing you, dear sister, so that when you look into the eyes of His resurrected love, you may also see your own radiance reflected in His gaze. 

He wants to create something sacred. He wants to create something holy. He wants to create something divine. Give Him permission to do so.

Here are five ways to allow the Lord to spring clean your soul: 

1. Let the Lord Be the One To Decide What To Keep and Toss

We often believe that we are the ones who know what is best for our souls. Throw this away, hold onto that, rearrange this. Let me recreate it according to my own designs of what I think is good. 

The more I journey with Him this Lent, the more I see the fallacies of my heart, and my own propensity to control. He has been showing me (ever so gently) how the things I am trying so desperately to throw away are precisely what He intends to keep, while the things I am grasping on to with clenched fists are those which He is inviting me to hand over. 

Listen to the guidance of the Father. Press in where He tells you. Detach where He tells you. 

Surrender to the sound of His voice and to the movements of His grace. He will lead you to holy ground.

2. Spend Time With Him 

It is impossible to discern how God wants to clean your soul without asking Him. Spend time with Him, most especially before the Blessed Sacrament and in the liturgies of the Triduum, and let Him look into the depths of your heart. It is there that He will illuminate the places that He desires to cleanse and sanctify. 

3. Receive The Sacrament of Confession

The past few weeks, I have felt the Father gently ask me the following question: How confident are you in the strength of My mercy? How confident are you in its ability to make you new?

By my own human measure, my confidence inevitably fails. However, the more that I actually receive His mercy, the more that I repeatedly run back to the Sacrament of Confession with less reluctance, with less hesitancy, and with less fear, the more that my confidence grows. 

It is the reception of His mercy that makes us feel safe and secure. It is the reception of His mercy that gives us the freedom and the courage to run. 

Let the Father embrace you in the Sacrament of Confession. To cleanse you and to purify you, but especially to simply delight in you. 

I pray that His mercy becomes the very air that you breathe. 

4. Clean The Exterior 

The exterior is an indication of the interior. I have unfortunately tested and proven this to myself more times than I wish. When my life contains physical disorder, it is quite likely that it contains spiritual disorder as well. Cleaning the spaces in which you spend the most time—such as your room, kitchen, or car (guilty)—frees up space within your soul. I am astonished every. single. time. 

Throw on a happy playlist, open all the windows, and order the spaces that need it most. 

5. Grow Something of Your Own

As the Father tenderly cleanses your heart, it can often occur in ways that at first go unseen. Growing something of your own is a small reminder that He is inviting us to patiently embrace pruning. As you cultivate the soil before you, remember that it is much like the soil of your own heart. So much is happening beneath the surface. So much is happening outside of view. Do we trust that the Father is gently tending our own gardens? Do we believe that it is our soul that is coming to life? 

“My lover speaks and says to me, ‘Arise, my friend, my beautiful one,

and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come,

and the song of the turtledove is heard in our land.’”  // Song of Solomon 2:10-12