Our Immortal Soul

Dear Friend,

 What if what we call our “soul” is nothing other than our “life story”? The idea intrigued me when I heard it expressed a few weeks ago, back at our friar gathering in Kansas City. I had been introduced to a friar I’d never met, a scholar in his eighties, prayerful and wise, who wondered aloud with us about the nature of the soul…

 Our immortal soul – each one of us a unique human story from conception made “immortal” in our union with the story of Jesus Christ proclaimed each time we gather. Our soul, our deepest self – not a blackboard with chalk marks erased (made clean) every time we go to confession – but a story of course correction, stumbles, high point vistas, and a lot of in-betweens - all of it a soul to be cherished and shared with those we dare to love.

 As I write this and as you read it, we are living this moment of history together – we are not autonomous. Through his incarnation Jesus Christ entered this broad story of the human family, including its woundedness. Today our story is marked by the suffering and violence currently rampant in the Holy Land, Ukraine, Somolia...  This suffering bears an imprint on our souls, our stories.

 This Sunday Jesus tells a story about the moment of a darkness that precedes the end of history, a story of oil in lamps and the virgins who hold them. The foolish teach us that that oil cannot be bought at a marketplace – our lives, our stories, are far more precious than that. Our souls can feel empty at times and our stories meaningless. Don’t turn away, says the Lord - welcome Christ. Stop for a moment and be aware of his presence now.  

 Gratefully

Fr. Dan ofm