Course XLVII - Teaching 17: We Are a Soul Gathering (June 9th, 1956)

One of the greatest pleasures in spiritual life is the union of the souls. Human beings are ever in search of company, because a man alone cannot live, he needs always a companion; life itself is a succession of events that reunite beings with links of blood, circumstance and work. Now, man possesses the unusual privilege of communication with other beings, but his great sorrow is to see that separation is ever inevitable.
The union of a human being involves a future separation, because life on Earth implies successive events outside the human will. But God has reserved to those that follow the Spiritual Path a reunion that is beyond time and beyond the joy to stay one moment together: it is a union that begins on this Earth, and ends up on the Eternity.
Our Regulation says that “We are a reunion of souls”; this means that this is an eternal link because is supernatural. Is there something more unusual than to know that we found many souls and that we will never be apart from them? But on this Earth there is something that is a pale reflection of this union: friendship. Friendship is the only thing that spiritualizes and lifts the reunion of beings; this link is beyond material things. Saint Francis of Sales said: “Love for the sake of loving, with no need of loving that being for anything material or for a blood link, but just love for the sake of love.
The meeting of those souls that follow the Spiritual Path is a pure, noble and unselfish friendship; but it is different because of the Eternity, that is, because of the supernatural aspect; for this reason, this friendship continues throughout time, space, and events.
While some few souls have preceded us in the hereafter, nothing is as vivid as their presence, and they wait for us in that world with no beginning or end. Even for those that were not familiar with them, their presence is vivid, in the lamp or in a little task, in a wall erected, in a stone, or in a little detail around (the kitchen kettle that Violeta bought). Their words resound more and more; they look like Santiago Rebora’s car coming here.
As years pass by, this true “togetherness” of souls is greater, but this is nothing more than a rehearsal; how more vivid shall be this reunion when we find these souls in spirit, at the harmonious whole of the Mystical Cafh’s Body. This is a miracle of love and realization.
Let us stop at these words: “meeting of souls”. All is there, and we cannot be separated. This comes to me from the word of the Spiritual Director, from that of the companion, from that of the Superior.
All is there as a light illuminating our path. This voice comes to me continuously; its life lives with us, and one cannot compare this with anything on this Earth. If we did not see each other again, this link, this presence would be more intimate and real.
Sometimes we tell our sorrows and disappointments to the Director, but when we are far away, our communication is a greater expansion, by means of a greeting, or of a silence that is like oblivion. We look each other square in the eye and we observe to way to travel through in order to reach the summit, and we wonder about the distance that still we should travel through.
This is beyond any worldly bliss and fear. On this Earth, a human being also wants to eternize this instant of union through common understanding, but this moment passes and he feels embittered and empty, emptier than before, because there was a personal pleasure, and pleasure has nothing to do with spirit and the secret of the spirit.
But the spiritual life reveals us this secret: souls can eternize their union just through spiritual love; thence, even though we never met, as soon as we see each other, we recognize each other, and it is as if we were together one hundred years from now; there is a loving discretion to forgive our defects and faults; there is immediate understanding and fusion of soul with soul. The joy of friendship consists in being able to see each other and in being intrinsically united, because one’s joy feels embittered when we think that we cannot see each other any more. The reunion of souls is a gift granted to us by the Eternal Renunciation. Once we said “Your life is my life, and your love is my love”, this remains forever.
Even those who passed away come and say: still we are here. Do you believe that your veil is not my veil, and that your cloak is not my cloak? We are ever young, and have chosen a life of the same kind: we have the same enthusiasm, not a negative enthusiasm, but an enthusiasm that gives life, which confirms one’s reciprocal love throughout little differences as to words or opinions. Time shall pass, other events shall come, but we shall be ever united in a supernatural way, even though we go across the dark vale of death; we shall be united because our meeting is a reunion of souls.