The State of Our Souls

Photo by Hal Weiner

Last weekend an early, rather-unexpected, but awesomely beautiful snowstorm surprised us here. We weren’t quite ready for snow in October – at least not that much!

That weekend I was leading a retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY. Although the winds were strong and blustery cold outside the Monastery, inside it was warm and hospitable. As the storm continued to pound the earth outside, we pondered our inner spiritual lives and how we could deepen our relationship with the Divine. An amazing setting to consider the ever-changing state of our souls!

Most of us don’t take time to think much about the state or condition of our spiritual lives. We know that the President gives an annual State of the Union address, teachers assess their students’ progress, and supervisors give performance reviews. We don’t always like what we hear from these assessments, but sometimes we discover they can be helpful to our understandings and to our growth. However, very few of us do a routine assessment of what should matter a great deal to us: the state of our soul.

Considering just how our inner spiritual life is doing could be a very useful spiritual practice. Asking ourselves questions about our soul might help us better understand how we are progressing. If we do go through such an assessment, it’s important that we try to seek ‘answers’ to our questions from within ourselves rather than turning to someone else for their opinion or their appraisal. Also when we do this practice, it’s helpful if we have a sense of humor and are kind and patient with ourselves. Unfortunately, most of us tend to be very hard on ourselves.

Here are some questions that I’m going to use as I take a look at the state of my soul:
1) What do I believe is my ‘soul’?
2) As I think about my soul, what do I see as the ‘state of my soul’?
3) Can I work on improving that state?
4) What are things I can do to improve the state of my soul?

As we do this assessment, it’s good to take a few quiet moments to relax and hang out with God. We may want to say a prayer before we begin. Then we might remind ourselves that we are children of God, that we are deeply loved, that we have been created in God’s image.

Beloved God, thank you for creating us in your image. Help us to have faith in your energy that resides within us. May we recognize our truths, our sparks of life, our gifts. When we are in despair, may we find our way back to you. Help us create a healthy life for ourselves and for others. Amen.

Joy Carol