Wednesday, August 9, 2017
FEAST OF ST. BENEDICTA
OF THE CROSS
Job, Chapter 9, Verse 33-10:1
33 Would that there were an arbiter between
us, who could lay his hand upon us both 34 and withdraw his rod from me, So that his
terrors did not frighten me; 35 that I
might speak without being afraid of
him. Since this is not the case with me, I loathe my life.
It certainly sounds as if
Job is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
The Pained Spirit[1]
·
Job decides he won't take this lying down.
·
This is his "why me?" moment. He asks
God why he specifically has become God's target.
·
He's in such pain that even death would be
better.
·
Bildad (friend #2) tells Job to repent. Why? He
thinks it could have been his kids who sinned and brought this misery upon Job.
·
Then he gets all poetic, comparing Job's
suffering to a garden sown with bad seeds from his past or from his offspring.
·
Bildad is just trying to give the situation some
sense for his buddy.
·
Job wants a mediator. Can't someone just judge
who's right—him or God? Because really, if God is omniscient and omnipotent,
then what he did was really, really mean.
·
He laments that there is no justice between
mortals and immortals, and then he demands a trial with God.
Trauma and Spirituality[2]
Step One: Validate the effects
the trauma has had on your life. Trauma
affects lives in so many different ways. It is important to honor how it has
affected yours. It may have had an impact on your relationships, self-esteem,
feelings of safety, and the list could go on ad nauseam. These are scars that
only you know about and it's time to share them with others and lessen the
shame associated with them.
Journal Exercise:
Write a list of the effects the trauma has had on you in the following areas;
- Physical
- Emotional
- Sexual
- Relational
- Self-esteem
- Financial
- Occupational
Step Two: Write a list of
characteristics you want in a Higher Power or Spiritual practice. There are
no boundaries here. You have the right and permission to create a Higher Power
of your understanding who you always wanted and needed. One suggestion is to
think of characteristics you want in a best friend or a parent.
Journal Exercise:
- Write
a list of characteristics of a friend or someone you know whom you admire
or feel safe with.
- Write
out a list of characteristics of your new Higher Power.
Step Three: Surround yourself
with a loving and understanding person with whom you can share your spiritual journey. This is a delicate matter, you
want to choose someone you see practicing spirituality themselves. You want
someone you can be honest with about your experience and how you are feeling.
Exercise:
- Tell
someone you trust that you need his or her help.
- Share
some of your journaling exercises with this individual.
- Initiate
a conversation on how they found spirituality.
Journal Exercise: Journal
what it felt like to tell someone about what had happened and discuss the
concept of spirituality and what you may have learned from this conversation.
Step Four: Recognize your
Spirituality or Higher Power. Try and envision your
Higher Power. Next, recognize where you see your Higher Power or witness
Spirituality in the world. Make a list of characteristics that you see in daily
life that is evidence of a spiritual presence. An example of this is seeing the
concept of "peace" within the ocean or witnessing
"strength" in the eyes of a child. Make your Spirituality or Higher
Power something you can see in your daily life.
Journal Exercise:
- Write
out what your Higher Power looks like, feels like and smells like.
- Write
down some things that your Higher Power would say to you.
- Recognize
in the world where you see evidence of the characteristics of your Higher
Power. There are an infinite number of answers to this question.
Step Five: Communicate with your
Higher Power. Have a dialogue with this new Higher Power on a
regular basis. Write letters if it best suits you. Remember, there is not wrong
way to have a dialogue
Journal Exercise:- Write
out a few things you say on a daily basis. These can be
"prayers" or take the form of affirmations. Type them up and put
them in places where you will see them daily. Be specific. If there is
something that you are struggling with, write a prayer or affirmation
about it.
- Note
where you see your Higher Power work in your life. If you are able to get
through something that was difficult and feel as if a Presence got you
through it or may have contributed to your strength then write it down.
Perhaps you felt an instance of peace where you used to have none. Put it
on paper. Feel the presence in your life.
This is not an easy journey. It may take
time for you to develop this relationship. As with any relationship, it takes
time and effort. I have witnessed strength in survivors where they thought
there were none. I have seen them capture spirituality that they thought was
beyond them. It starts with a willingness to believe in Something. Remember
this is a journey, not a destination.
For those who are suffering from PTSD I am willing to offer guided spiritual hiking using my book "Divine Mercy Hike". You may contact me via this website.
A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was fourteen, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Gottingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to philosophy. Excelling as a protege of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until 1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the Nazis. After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-1938), she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.
Things to Do: In the month of August we celebrate two martyrs of Auschwitz, St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Teresa Benedicta. We need to pray, hard and often that our world does not return to the inhumanity to man. The acceptance of euthanasia and abortion, embryonic stem cell research, IVF, are the first steps to deciding who can live or who can die. Offer a Mass, say a rosary, offer sacrifices, etc. to end abortion and other sins against mankind. Read about Auschwitz and ponder the modern gas chambers in every state of our Union and resolve to do all that you can to end the killing.
Daily Devotions/Prayers
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