Ever notice that when Christians speak of the human soul that we always refer to it in the feminine gender? We use the pronoun she and not he, even when we speak of the soul of a male. All of the popular and great saints referred to their souls as feminine. I wonder why that is?
One of my most favorite hymns is #497 in our current mass aid, Breaking Bread 2025. It is “O Lord, I Am Not Worthy”. The words are:
O Lord, I am not worthy, That thou should come to me;
But speak the word of comfort. My spirit healed shall be.
And humbly I’ll receive thee, The Bride-groom of my soul.
No more by sin to grieve thee, Or fly thy sweet control.
Eternal Holy Spirit, Unworthy though I be.
Prepare me to receive him, And trust the Word to me.
Increase my faith dear Jesus, In thy real presence here.
And make me feel most deeply, That thou to me art near.
Who is the Bride-groom of my soul? None other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God and second person of the Trinity! That language indicates that my soul is feminine, or at least has feminine characteristics. Masculine or feminine, it doesn’t matter. What is important is that in the deepest, most intimate essence of the Christian dwells the Son of God in union with the soul.
In the last few articles. I wrote about the need to follow God’s commandments. That is an important way to be Christian. Another way, and far more holy is to know Jesus, for the soul to dwell in the most intimate unity with God. It is no mistake that the Christian tradition expresses the love of God with his people, collectively and individually, as the love between a man and a woman in marriage. The depth of our relationship with God is that between a bride and groom. “And humbly I’ll receive thee, The Bride-groom of my soul.” Jesus is not only my Lord, Savior, and Center of my life, He is also the Bride-groom of my soul. We are his bride.
“May the Lord bless and keep you. May he let his face shine upon you, be gracious to you and give you his peace.”
