Tag Archives: healing
Trauma and Healing: Weekly Summary
Trauma and Healing Saturday, May 8, 2021 Week Eighteen Summary and Practice Sunday, May 2—Friday, May 7, 2021 Sunday Great religion shows us what to do with the absurd, the tragic, the traumatic, the nonsensical, the unjust. If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it. Monday You can do this,… Continue Reading Trauma and Healing: Weekly Summary
Gazing on the Crucified Jesus
Trauma and Healing Gazing on the Crucified Jesus Friday, May 7, 2021 Those who “gaze upon” the crucified Jesus (John 19:37) long enough—with contemplative eyes—are always healed at deep levels of pain, unforgiveness, aggression, and victimhood. It demands no theological education at all, just an “inner exchange” by receiving the image within and offering one’s… Continue Reading Gazing on the Crucified Jesus
The Soul Wound
Trauma and Healing The Soul Wound Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Attorney and activist Sherri Mitchell from the Penobscot Nation writes about the collective trauma and “soul wound” [1] that Native Americans have suffered: My group, Native Americans, have suffered an unrecognized holocaust in this country. The brutal genocide of Native peoples is hard to acknowledge… Continue Reading The Soul Wound
Our All-Vulnerable God
Trauma and Healing Our All-Vulnerable God Tuesday, May 4, 2021 Very few of us can actually imagine God suffering. I bet almost half the prayers of the Catholic Church begin with “Almighty God” and when you’re “all mighty,” you don’t suffer! And yet if we believe that Jesus reveals the hidden heart of God, we… Continue Reading Our All-Vulnerable God
Healing Takes Place Here
Trauma and Healing Healing Takes Place Here Monday, May 3, 2021 Claude AnShin Thomas suffered for years from the trauma of war as a Vietnam combat veteran. A retreat with Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh set him on the path of mindfulness and healing. He is now a Zen Buddhist monk. He recounts his story:… Continue Reading Healing Takes Place Here
What Do We Do with This Pain?
Trauma and Healing What Do We Do with This Pain? Sunday, May 2, 2021 We have heard the word trauma a lot in the last thirty years or more. I am not sure if it is happening more, or if we finally have a word to describe what has probably always been happening. When we… Continue Reading What Do We Do with This Pain?
The Contemplative’s Call to Nature
The Contemplative Call to Nature The Contemplative’s Call to Nature Wednesday, April 21, 2021 The monk here and now is supposed to be living the life of the new creation in which the right relation to all the rest of God’s creatures is fully restored. Hence, Desert Father stories about tame lions and all that… Continue Reading The Contemplative’s Call to Nature
Jesus and Bias
Learning How to See Jesus and Bias Wednesday, March 3, 2021 Learning how to see our biases is a psychological exercise, but one with immediate theological and social implications. It demands self-knowledge and the crucial need to recognize (1) when we are in denial about our own shadow and capacity for illusion; (2) our capacity… Continue Reading Jesus and Bias
A Balm in Gilead
African American Spirituality and Song A Balm in Gilead Thursday, February 11, 2021 The Hebrew prophets deeply loved their tradition and profoundly criticized it at the same time. Such truthful love is a very rare art form and a hallmark of prophetic identity. The prophet Jeremiah lived in a time of deep grief and loss.… Continue Reading A Balm in Gilead
Free to Serve Others
Liberation Free to Serve Others Friday, January 22, 2021 German theologian Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003) describes how seeing with God’s eyes, hearing with God’s ears, and acting with God’s passion for justice is a truly liberating experience that benefits the entire community. Sölle writes: In the sense of theology that liberates, the soul that is united… Continue Reading Free to Serve Others