“Soul” | Reflection by Charles Lemert

Lent is a season of many possibilities. Among them, perhaps more than any other, it is a time of soul searching—above all, searching for our own souls that they may be joined with those of others.

For Geri, Anna, and me the first soul of this Lenten season is that of Noah and—through him—that of his brother Matthew. They are the souls of our personal dead. They lost their lives, as did our Lord, in their youth. The accompanying picture is of Anna embracing me on her birthday. Geri looks on in love. If I seem a little feeble, it is because I was still recovering from a surgery that saved me from cancer. Anna and I in this image embrace the life we share with Geri.

Yet we, like all others, do not have a sure hold on this life. Geri and I are closing in on the end of our lives. Anna is beginning hers. Yet, no matter how long we have, we, like all others, live on with hope and an occasional pleasure because we have a soul within.

Souls are not like selves. They are not ours alone. They are a gift God implants somewhere, somehow, within. We seldom pay proper attention to them. They are the grace-empowered spiritual engine that moves us when we reach out to others to be touched by what we and they have in common.