A Discussion of Grace in Caryll Houselander’s The Reed of God Conor Hardy
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n The Reed of God, Caryll Houselander begins a reflection on grace by examining emptiness. Rooted in the paradox of having being and having emptiness, Houselander reveals deep insights into how grace works with our nature. It is the union of nature and grace that make us participants in the love of the Trinity. The insight that Houselander delves deeper into in her reflection is that we are nothing without God; we are empty vessels to be filled with grace. She uses three analogies to embody for us this insight: a reed made into a pipe for music, a hollow cup furbished into a chalice used for sacrifice, and a bird’s nest furnished to be a home for nurturing life.1 These metaphors serve as threads she weaves together to form for us a tapestry by which we can better understand and appreciate how we can be receptive of grace and be participants in God. Houselander notes one must first empty or let go of the rubble one possesses. A bird’s nest cannot be the home it was made to be if it is cluttered with trash and glass and harmful things.2 These things can be grasped onto out of fear of being empty, of the poverty of being alone, but they do not nourish us like soil does for a plant. Truly we experience a void, an emptiness, a longing unfulfilled, which we may loath and seek to avoid. This comes from the innate reality within us for which we were made: to be participants in God and be filled with love. A sense of lacking and the need to have something other than ourselves to fulfill us is intuited naturally. We do not naturally intuit the paradox Houselander examines here, which is that of the Gospels: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mt 19:21). This participation in God is reflected in this having, giving away and then receiving again. We are given life freely, graciously, and it is 1 2
Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2020), 1. Ibid., 2.
