Collector of Souls

I am traveling by train today to Saint-jean-pied-de-Port. The train has wifi so I downloaded a few episodes of Jerry Seinfeld’s, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I love this show. It has a needed levity and joy. Jerry enters with playful curiosity with his guests. He (mostly) releases his grasp for control and allows conversation to flow. The give-and-take is delightful. 

The last several days have felt a bit of release for me. I have no emails to check, no todo list to manage, and the only items in my possession fit in a 42 liter backpack. I’m no Jerry but i have sensed a freedom to enter into conversation and enjoy where conversations go. 

I think this is a key to the pilgrim’s life. I’m not fully free from my own grassiness yet but am moving in such directions. I look forward to what this allows me to learn on the Camino. I won’t be driving a 1973 Citroen with a Maserati engine, but I’ll have my own specially discovered shoes alongside the other pilgrims and their chosen soles. 

Encountering pilgrims on the way is probably the most fearful yet anticipatory aspect of the coming days. Who will i meet? What will we talk about? How will the conversations begin, and even more, end? William Wey (15th century pilgrim) said the following:

Si fore vis sapiens sex serva quae tibi mondo. Quid loqueris, et ubi, de quo, cui, quomodo, quando:

If your life would keep from slips,Five things observe with care;Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,And how, and when, and where. (Thanks to Rich Ray for the quote).

In Emilio Estevez’s, The Way, President Bartlett (also known as Martin Sheen) walks the Camino de Santiago de Campostelo for his son. The encounters he has with other pilgrims is the delight of the movie. The relationships share, bear, and expose pain. They share life, including confession and longings. They exchange love and mercy. I imagine i will delight in such types of relationships and sometimes wonder if i will be the fat Dutchmen, the aloof and driven doctor, the eradic journalist, or the woman with a hurting and abused soul? Maybe I will be all of the above at different times. 

I was recently offered a term for some pilgrims, collector of souls. A collector of souls is a pilgrim who receives the stories of other pilgrims with gentleness and expansiveness. The friend who informed me of the term wrote this of his friend, a gifted collector of souls:

“Joe explained that he met a woman - Jan from Korea - whose soul needed a bit of first-aid. Joegreeted her in his usual manner and she poured out her life story to him. She grew so emotional in conveying her sentiments for the pilgrimage that she broke down and wept. Once her waterworks were suitably primed all of the broken relationships in her family were detailed and laid under the care of Joe’s patient gaze. And this was her first day on the Camino. Joe did what he does best - he listened and was simply present to her during a time of need. What a guy. He’s worth waiting for. Lunch can wait.”

He goes on to write about his friend, 

‘I sat under a star spangled 6:00 am sky in the albergue’s courtyard waiting for Joe to emerge, I found myself giving thanks for this good natured friend. He is a terrific pilgrim-partner. He balances me perfectly. When I'm in a hurry to get to the next place, he goes a bit slower and we see more as a consequence. While I'm a bit introverted, Joe - while naturally quiet - has "Hola. Buenos Dias. Buen Camino" on his lips for every single person we encounter. And if they speak English - and maybe even if they don't - he asks how they are, if they're enjoying the day, where they're from, etc. He's a collector of souls, this guy. I don’t thank him often enough for his friendship.’

From what little i know, those pilgrims who become collectors never knew they were such, yet day-after-day on the Camino, collectors of souls become attractive to aimless pilgrims in need of a confessor. In  few brief minutes, soul collectors are receiving the life story of these pilgrims. They are joining the ministry of christ to bind up wounds and to heal the broken hearted. I’ve heard of some soul collectors who will listen to one person’s story for more than 4-5 hours. They do not interrupt, judge, fix, or console - they simply listen.

Unless there is a miracle of the Lord, I don’t imagine i will be a daily collector of souls, but i do hope i find other pilgrims on the way with whom we can enter into free speech and hear one another’s heartbeat. I do hope to share in the ministry of Christ through such mutuality.