Reflect
In episode 3 of Franciscan Media’s Off the Page podcast, Father Murray Bodo, OFM, discusses the creative action of partnering with God to make one’s soul, quoting poet John Keats’ notion of the world being a “vale of soul-making.” I remember visiting St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and being awed by its beauty, history, and the myriad stories woven into its art. Seeing a beautiful statue of St. Teresa of Avila near the entrance made me think of her metaphor of the soul being an “interior castle” and the opportunity to partner with God in making our own souls into a work of art.
Pray
Craft my soul like this, oh Lord, with the sacrifice of the saints always on my heart,
with the story of my faith always in my mind.
Is it gaudy, garish? No—all are free to enter here,
to gaze upon what God has done, and become more attuned
to beauty in one’s own soul, life, story.
St. Teresa of Avila greets us at the doors of the cathedral,
reminding us to partner with the one who crafts our own interior castle.
Lord, let us make a soul together.
Act
Consider journaling or contemplating these questions: If your soul were a basilica, what would it look like? What kind of art would line its walls? What stories would the architecture tell? What people would be sculptured?
