The City of Soul
October 17, 2020
A young woman in her early twenties sits at a table looking shy as she watches two older men approach her and sit at the table across from her. It’s just the three of them. They interrogate her and hit her with a series of questions. She answers each one without hesitation. While she appears sweet and nimble, nervous perhaps, deep down, she’s as tough as nails. She knows what they are looking for and she has no intention of giving it to them. She sticks to her conscience in the face of great opposition and intimidation, in the face of men forty years her senior, quite impressive for any person.
The young man they were asking about was at the time in another state. He was on trip in a rural area once known for its plantations. This was in the days before the phones of today. He had no connection to the outside world until he returned to the big city for the return flight. They spoke as her anxious voice moved quickly. Two men came to visit her, they were asking all sorts of questions but left empty handed, she told him. This was good, he thought, and wondered what it could all mean.
But the story did not end there. As he returns from his trip, the young man was asked to make an appearance before the same men with one chairman of the board. This young man was also interrogated and hit with a series of questions. He answers the questions with hesitation. He also gives them an opening. They jumped on it since it was all they had, just a crumb that fell from a little shaking.
What others see as a simple kiss among friends, they saw as their chance to send this young man on a trip. This time he would not return to the city where the kiss took place. Imagine that, a little kiss is all it took.
The young man was not as strong as the young lady. Sad and embarrassing as the young man looked on years later. She had nothing to lose. He could lose it all. Perhaps this explains the weakness on his part. They would never see each other again.
A blast from the past was all there was.
But this is the way it was supposed to be.
On this trip, he told his truth, to the two men who at one point pounded the tables, and to some women who served as drill sergeants for the soul. It was like a spiritual club med for men gone wild, this trip.
It worked.
Truth spoken abides in our Lord’s Word which is His truth, and this sets free, just as Jesus had promised.
It was like the scene at the beginning of the French epic The Messenger directed by Luc Besson, when a young Joan of Arc says “I need to confess again” to the priest who absolves her with the joy he feels in her united in Jesus.
She runs off with great joy. It is a beautiful scene.
The next time this young man would go on to speak his truth was years later when everything would change.
Laudem Dei.