Whom My Soul Loves

July 22, 2020

From today’s reading…

I sought him but I did not find him.

The watchmen came upon me,

as they made their rounds of the city:

Have you seen him whom my soul loves?

I had hardly left them

when I found him whom my soul loves.” Song of Songs 3:2-4

Today is the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, one of the earliest victims of fake news. (There’s nothing in the Bible that says she was a prostitute but I guarantee you when you read her name the idea of her being a lady of the night popped into your mind.)

How many things do you believe today, right now, that just aren’t true but they’ve been repeated enough—probably by people you don’t even know, like, or trust—that they just seem to enter your subconscious and live there comfortably…maybe forever?

What do you believe about love? Is it true that “love is love”? Or is love deeper, more meaningful, more spiritual, more divine than you and I can ever comprehend?

Today’s first reading is from the Song of Songs. In the first four verses the phrase “whom my soul loves” is mentioned four times. To admit you have a soul is to admit you have eternal life. To admit you have eternal life is to admit there is a heaven and a hell. To admit there is a heaven and a hell is to admit God and the devil exists. (Lots to unpack from four words, huh?)

We often hear couples who are in love as finding their soulmates. Is the bride in today’s reading seeking her spouse—her lover—or is she seeking the divine? Can those be one in the same? (I bet you believe sex is “icky” or dirty or not to be discussed in mixed company or whatever, don’t ya? Yeah. That’s another bit of fake news you’ve swallowed hook, line, and sinker.)

Many times we see Jesus describing His relationship with us as bride and groom. There’s something sacred, something divine, about the marriage bed.

Understand that powerful connection and it’ll be much easier to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.

Now go sell something.