April 20, 2015                               CHAPEL OF BONES

Bones of over five thousand people, arranged in geometric patterns, form The Chapel of the Bones in the Church of San Francis in Evora, Portugal.

Thousands of skulls, arm and leg bones sit quietly in order, forming the walls of this morbid chapel. A white stone altar sits quietly at the far end, offering a space to pray and forgive.

I was there yesterday.

A faint feeling of nausea stirred in my stomach. I recognized this sensation as a sign that there was spiritual disturbance held in this space. From the physical point of view this was only a massive collection of human bones, but from a spiritual view this was a major violation of human spirit.

The story goes that monks of a local monastery wanted more land for their community, so they dug up the graves of the local townspeople in the nearby cemeteries. They collected the bones and created a chapel to remind the world of the transience and impermanence of life.

Anger surged up inside me, as I surveyed the thousands of bones around me. I wondered where the souls were who had inhabited the bodies of these people. I realized at that moment that the souls were still there, trapped in the chapel with their bones. The nausea in my stomach was a response to their agony and pain. I thought, “Maybe I can do something about this”.

I closed my eyes and asked Mary for help. I felt her open her arms and heart to these souls.

Suddenly, a giant door with brass or gold fittings opened in my vision and the souls flew up to her, like a flock of birds. The force of the flow of the souls was so strong that nothing could stop it. In a few minutes the surge slowed and door began to close. After it shut softly and completely, I opened my eyes. The nausea was gone.

A wave of gratitude flowed through me. I was so glad that those five thousand souls were now with Mary, free at last from their spiritual imprisonment.