Who Tends the Soul?

This October, spiritual directors from Faith and Light communities will gather in Rome for a training meeting. The movement considers their presence essential to the spiritual growth of each member. Yet it is not always clear that priests, consecrated religious, or seminarians will commit themselves to Faith and Light. In some cases, a lay person with particular sensitivity and preparation takes on the role instead. Sadly, the parish communities from which these members come are not always fully engaged in the spiritual growth that should be available to every baptized person. Unlike the gains made in school inclusion, we have yet to see the fruits of a widespread and genuine spiritual inclusion—even for people with disabilities. And yet the light of Jesus shines in every human being, a precious member of his body. The spiritual director can live out that fruitful, generative work of mediating our knowledge of Jesus, helping us follow him in his love and sustain the full participation of each person in Christian life: in prayer, in the sacraments, at Mass. This commitment can change the way we see, and live, not only as believers but as priests themselves. Father Paul Gilbert, a dear Jesuit friend, used to say that he understood what it truly means to be a priest precisely through his work in a Faith and Light community. So even those meeting disability for the first time have learned to become true friends in the evangelical sense. They have learned to listen to families in their suffering, to call each person by name—as Jesus does—not by diagnosis or by what someone can or cannot do. They have not handed over the care of souls to those with specialized training in education or psychology. Instead, they have shown us the place that Jesus wants children and people with mental disabilities to occupy: all of us together, beside him, in communion around his table.