We're gonna go ahead and start today's webinar.
If you're here to learn about how to preserve a good heart in times of adversity, you're in the right place.
I'm sure that many of you are going through, or hearing about people going through difficult times.
And, in today's presentation, father Robert will be sharing ways that you can help others overcome those those trials.
Alright.
So father Robert.
Great.
Thank you so much, Evan.
It's a great blessing to be able to join you this afternoon.
My name is father Robert Persuti.
I serve as the program director for the spiritual direction certificate program here at Divine Mercy University.
And our our theme today, I think, is a relevant theme, and I wanted to offer it not so much from a, academic perspective, though we'll we'll touch on some themes there.
But above all, kind of on a day to day, maybe, addressing maybe more hearts than our minds.
And what I invite you let's begin with a, with a prayer just to invite our lord's presence and put ourselves in his presence.
Lord god, we thank you for your abundant goodness and many blessings in our life, and we invite you, lord, and humbly ask that you always keep us in your presence, especially when life's hardships might tempt us to think that you're far away.
And help our dispositions, help our own goodness, our own reflection of your mercy, help be your presence in the lives of others, especially those who do suffer and who are undergoing trial.
We ask this through Christ our lord.
Amen.
And our lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us in the name of the father and son and holy spirit.
Amen.
So we wanted to do today is, I think maybe offer some prayerful reflections on a theme, I think, which is a theme relevant.
And on the one hand, its relevancy is highlighted perhaps by, you know, the current situation many of us are suffering, just with how the world has changed, in these last months, and also the questions of respect and love for one another and our human family.
But also, I think beyond that, I think we understand that these maybe touch us.
The events that we're seeing touch us because in some way, perhaps, we've felt and have very deep experience of our own vulnerability, not only through what we're going through, but in some way, throughout our life.
So the way we entitled this is and I like to begin with that because I think this perhaps already gives us certain inroads.
Preserving a good heart in times of adversity.
And what do we mean by this?
Well, I think the times of adversity is something prop probably doesn't need a whole lot of explanation.
You know, a time of adversity is not something we we we realize, we experience.
We might realize it from the experience, but I think we've all had the experience of, at times, that we're in the presence of an adversary, something of something, some reality that threatens us, something that shakes us, something that unsettles us, something that takes away our peace.
Could be a situation, could be, I don't know, a person.
It could be, I don't know what, and perhaps that I don't know what is maybe the the hardest of it.
And we recognize there are times of it, meaning that, you know, it's we have to journey through part of our pilgrimage of life, maybe not knowing exactly, what the cause of it is, but it's there, and there are times.
And it's not to deny there are also times of nonadversity.
In fact, perhaps times of peace, times when we feel really accompanied in life.
And how to preserve a good heart, that's a very telling, title, I think.
And whoever came up with the title, I think, congratulations there, Ebony.
I think there's there's a lot of a lot of spiritual wisdom there.
You know, it was it's been said that the heart has a bigger range than our mind.
Our heart is able to encompass a bigger reality than our mind.
You know, when you look when you think about the way god made us, our intelligence, it's something incredible.
It always very limited.
I mean, you you even look at the advances of science.
And, you know, if anything about the last hundred fifty years of advance of science and technologies, on the one hand, yeah, we've never known as much as we know, but we never have had as many questions as we have now.
It's like the more our mind encounters, the more questions, the more we realize we don't know.
And, you know, what we say about science really about so much of our life.
You know?
They say that as you get older, you get a little bit of wisdom, but perhaps that wisdom is is is a realization that there's so much we really don't understand.
Some some so many things we don't comprehend.
Right?
And so we're not talking about here how to have it all straighten our minds in time of adversity.
I don't know that such a thing is always possible.
We're talking about preserving a good heart.
And what do we mean by our heart?
The catechism of the church speaks about the heart in its fourth section on prayer.
And this fourth section on prayer asks a question, what does prayer come from?
What do we mean by prayer?
Of course, you know, maybe we've had experience of saying prayer, maybe more than saying prayer, we realize prayer is an encounter.
It's the ultimate encounter.
It's the encounter with the living god.
It's the encounter with the ultimate reality of our life.
I mean, that's a pretty awesome thing.
Right?
Where does that arise from?
The catechism makes this beautiful point that, you know, at times, we can speak about maybe the conscience, but the Bible, sacred scripture, more often than not speaks about the heart as the wellspring of our encounter with God.
And what's the heart?
The heart is that most intimate core of ourselves to which only we and our creator have access.
It's the place of encounters.
It's that inner shrine.
It's that inner temple.
It's beyond the reach of our reason.
We can't cogitate there.
Our experience that happens down there, so to speak, in our heart, we try to give voice to it.
But our words in our language can never exhaust it.
I think we've all had that experience.
Right?
And at times, some of the the best communication of the deepest things at times we know is silence.
Right?
That place, that heart, from where we encounter the living god, and not only encounter the living god, it's beyond the the the, reach of our reason as we mentioned.
It's even more fundamental than our psychic drives.
There's something more fundamental to us than even depth psychology.
I don't think you've heard that term.
You know, it's not only it's not about what it's about.
At times, our behaviors are manifestations of something more deeper.
Right?
The so many the the result of so many experiences of life and relationship.
But there's something even deeper than that, which is our fundamental core, and that's what we're referring to a good heart.
So trying to keep ourselves, our innermost selves aligned, if we wanna use that term, even as our ability to piece things together is not always there.
Do you remember that famous phrase that the heart has reasons which at times reason itself cannot comprehend?
I'm paraphrasing there a bit.
But and what do we mean by a good heart?
I'm sure we've all experienced the different movements of our heart, the different emotions of the heart.
You ever experience a broken heart, deep grief?
At times, it feels like the heart really like something in there is broken.
It's a good heart.
It's a heart of goodness.
And what do we mean by good goodwill?
And what do we mean by goodwill?
Something much more fundamental than just an optimistic orientation towards life.
It's a willing good for others.
It's when we speak about goodness, goodness is something that does is not contained within itself.
It's it's a deployment of our being.
Excuse that term.
It's a deployment of our being towards the well-being of others.
Right?
It's a we could speak about it as a favorable disposition towards others, as a disposition to love, as a willingness to sacrifice for others.
Right?
Those are all manifestations of it.
But a good heart I mean, we recognize that what we're talking about here really, in some ways, in the ultimate, it's the heart of god.
Right?
How do we how do we maintain that godlike heart in times of adversity?
So for us, you know, what what what does a good heart mean?
You know, how how can we maintain ourselves open to relationship, open to goodness, open to seeing the fundamental good in others even even in times of adversity?
And how to preserve it?
Meaning, our tendencies that we might tend to lose a good heart in times of adversity.
So what does it mean to preserve a good heart in times of adversity?
And our subtitle here, how to help others through times of trial even as we ourselves undergo trial.
I mean, maybe that's the way of of saying it.
You know?
How can that good heart which seeks to help others, pick others up, build others up, be there for others, allow my shoulders to be stood upon for the good of others?
How do we do that, even as we ourselves undergo trial?
So let's try to unpack that.
As you see, there's potentially considerable depth here.
Right?
And, what I propose here is not an answer.
You know, the not that, you know, we're gonna try to get a glass ceiling to which we're gonna try to reach and not move beyond.
Not at all.
What I wanna try to do here is actually just open a conversation.
Maybe just kind of unpack a theme and if you will, maybe set a floor, a stage upon which we can walk, run, and jump towards towards an answer, if you will.
So let's move ahead.
At at any point during our presentation here, feel free to interject with questions.
I do see some chats coming up, and, Ebony, by all means, is our trusted and kind guide.
And, feel free to kinda jump in at any moment here, maybe with some questions that, that participants and others might be having.
So this is, ourselves, Ebony, who serves as the marketing communications director here at Divine Mercy University, and, I have the blessing of serving as the program director for a new program, which I'll mention towards the end that, Divine Mercy University is offering, the spiritual certificate spiritual direction certificate program.
So let's try to unpack this a little bit further.
You know, when we say maintaining a good heart in times of adversity, what happens in adversity?
What happens in trial?
What happens when we experience this?
What are we drawn to internally?
Like, if we were to go within ourselves, if we were trying to do an X-ray of our inner movements, what are what are the patterns that tend to develop when we're in whatever we experience as adversity?
And how within that can we preserve a good heart?
And with that, how can we help others?
So first of all, let's unpack our experience of trial.
I'm gonna go at this primarily from a theological perspective, but from theology to go to the human.
And I'll I'll explain what I mean by that.
So when we speak about trial, if we were to go to sacred scripture, we read in Psalm 22 this, phrase we're very familiar with and which is actually quite remarkable.
My god, my god, why have you abandoned me?
Why so far for my call for help, for my cries of anguish?
My god, I call by day, but you do not answer by night, but I have no relief.
And Job chapter seven, Job, you remember the story of Job who was being allowed God allowed him to be tried by Satan, by the adversary, and how in a matter of a day, Job's life became came apart at the seams.
And every possible adversity which Job could face, he was facing.
And in chapter seven where he begins to unpack his experience, he begins with this, is life is not life on earth a drudgery?
Certain translations render that a battle.
Certain translations render render it a service.
There's parallels to military service in the ancient world.
Might that be what Job is referring to?
It's like this, you know, life is like this evil we have to face, and you can't get around it.
Right?
And so Job here and and Job, let's make a note here.
He's not in despair.
At a certain point, he says, I know my redeemer lives, but nonetheless, is life on earth not a drudgery?
So kinda starting with this, what do we have here?
Well, we we have a couple of things.
One is an experience of deep desolation, an experience of deep trial, an experience of trial of been a very adverse situation.
And I think we can identify with this.
You know, the causes of it could be multiform.
It could be physical, physical elements, physical difficulties, illnesses.
It could be the awareness of one's mortality, one's limitedness.
It could be the decline in years.
More often than not, because the way god created us, we develop in relationship with others.
More often than not, our experience of trial is often result of relationships or broken relationships.
Right?
Or what we experience is broken relationships.
Something that it just it's it's it's it's something's missing, something some hurt.
It could be and this is not to make a culpable or moral judgment on people, but, you know, we we are limited.
Right?
And it can be that at times in our experience with one another, even as well meaning as we are, we can become a source of trial and adversity for others.
It could be, you know, some of the most fundamental relationships when we were young weren't quite there.
Right?
And we kinda carry a certain memory, an emotional memory, of those things.
It could be, you know, that we we feel disconnected from the ultimate reality that we call god.
Right?
And in a certain sense, I mean, the Psalm 22, I think, expresses it at its height, not only because this is the Psalm that's ascribed to Jesus as he was dying, crucified on the cross, and we think about adversity, I mean, is could we think about anything more adverse than that?
And, you know, particularly in contrast with someone who's never caused any adversity to anyone, Christ our lord.
And, you know, allow this to speak.
This is so very powerful.
My god, my god, why have you abandoned me?
At the end, really, what the language of adversity is is I've, I feel abandoned.
I feel neglected.
I feel forgotten.
I feel without meaning.
I feel like I'm on thrown on life, and I got nowhere to turn.
I'm completely disoriented.
Right?
And all around me, I see is it's hostile.
I see myself disintegrating here.
I see myself marching not towards life, but towards death.
And maybe not a physical death, but a type of disintegration.
Right?
That's the experience of adversity.
That's the experience of trial, isn't it?
The reason I chose the Psalms was, not to go off on too far a tangent, but at times, we have certain experiences where our sense of reverence of God might not allow certain emotions or certain feelings to come to the surface.
And the Psalms teach us it's okay for them to come to the surface.
What type of feelings?
I feel angry at God.
I feel abandoned by God.
I feel like God is not being faithful to his promise.
And I'm using a lot of God language here.
Let's make it very clear.
Everyone experiences these, even those that don't believe in God.
Why?
Everyone has a reference point to an ultimate meaning.
That's God.
Right?
I mean, we obviously believe in a personal God who's revealed in Jesus Christ.
But in some way, this is the human experience.
That there are moments when we face adversity.
Right?
And where, you know, even those that don't have any believe believe that there is no god face the fact that at times the main of their existence is is fundamentally questioned.
Right?
And how the Psalms and the beautiful way pope Benedict expresses it, it's like god it's like a parent teaching a child how to speak.
The child doesn't have expressions or words.
The parent teaches, and the child appropriates and makes his own and uses the and uses the words and the language that he learns from his or her parents to express what's on his heart.
We don't often know how to express or pray or express to God or just express certain things which are very deep.
The beauty of the Psalms and sacred scripture is that it teaches us.
And this is why I think sacred scripture, obviously, besides being the word of God, it's the word of man in a very deep way.
Right?
Because only God knows what's in the depths of the human heart, and God here uses the human language.
So in some way, part of, I think, of and maybe this is already an initial pathway.
How do we begin to experience a good heart in times of trial?
Allow yourself to feel that trial.
I mean, meaning, let's not deny it.
Let's not try to pretty it up.
Let's not try to, you know, I don't know, cheaply put a silver lining on what is a a very, menacing storm cloud.
We saw ourselves to really experience it.
Yeah.
You know, it's it's it's lifetimes is hard.
At times prayer is hard.
At times relationships.
Right?
So it seems like god gives us a permission to experience trial.
Right?
And to not allow a sense of reverence or a sense that I have to have it all together to keep us from owning up to the fact that, yeah, there there there are there are difficulties there.
We could even amplify this.
Scriptures replete with, many references to trial to adversity.
Just wanna kinda pick up a few a few on a few themes.
In Acts 14, when Paul and Barnabas are returning from their first missionary journey, they had to, they we read that they strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith saying, it is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
I always found this phrase, like, really interesting because you notice the phrase they strengthened and they exhorted.
So think about Paul and Barnabas strengthening a community or yourself strengthening somebody.
Would you use these words?
It's necessary for under to undergo many hardships.
Like like, you know, I wanna make your day.
I wanna make you happy.
And what I'm gonna tell you is, hey.
You have to undergo many hardships.
I mean, it sounds like it's to be the opposite of what you're what you're saying.
Right?
And yet, isn't this maybe just a confirmation and a giving permission and raising hope to the fact, yeah, life has its hardships.
Life has its trials.
But you know what?
They're a pathway.
And maybe there's something there that enter that addresses one of the most fundamental movements of the human heart that we're tempted to in the midst of hardships.
It doesn't have meaning, and I begin to lose my hope.
Right?
In here, Paul and Barnabas are so no.
No.
If you're experiencing hardship, if you're experiencing that there are difficulties, there are trials, don't be afraid.
You're on the right path.
We have to undergo those to enter the kingdom of God.
So, you know, it might be normalizing the experience, allowing ourselves permission to kinda be there.
Right?
It's it's there's it's not a sign that that something is fundamentally wrong or that somehow that god has cut and run on us.
Too bad we can't spend a little bit more time here, but, the exegesis on this on this acts 14 is that Paul and Barnabas just went through the town of Lystra.
And in the town of Lystra, they had two different experiences, one on the way through and and and then on the way back.
But on the way through, Paul and Barnabas, this is where the place where they were hailed as gods because they they performed the miracle.
And the whole town was acclaimed in them as Zeus and Hermes.
I mean, think about the pinnacle of elation.
They're being treated as gods.
And then in a matter of few of a few days, the whole town turns on him, and they stone Paul to in leaving him for dead.
So they go from the height of elation to the depth of being persecuted and stoned, k, in a matter of a few days.
And this is when they kinda come up with this phrase.
So it's interesting that even as they themselves are experiencing the hardship.
Romans 12, rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, and persevere in prayer.
Notice those three words, how they go together, hope, afflict, and prayer.
Somehow those three, I think, are very connected.
And to rejoice, endure, and persevere.
To rejoice.
We don't rejoice in the affliction.
In affliction, it's to endure and to persevere.
So to endure an affliction means be patient.
You know, when you're enduring, realize good times will come.
This has a meaning.
This has a purpose.
Persevere in prayer.
You know, keep at it in the good things.
Keep at it in keeping ourself in the presence of god, and rejoice in hope, your hope.
And in John 16, I've told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage.
I've over I've I've conquered the world.
I've overcome the world.
I I think with that phrase, and Jesus saying this the night before he was crucified, I think is very telling.
I've told you this so you might have peace in me.
In the world, you will have trouble in the world.
But take courage.
I've conquered the world.
So trials and adversity seem to be an ordinary part of the life of one who seeks god.
We could actually say trial and adversity seem to be an ordinary part of life, period.
Isn't that the case?
Perhaps it accentuates it of those one who seeks god.
So let let's further this, a little bit more.
So it is true there.
And yet Jesus teaches us lead us not into temptation or lead us not into trial.
Pope Benedict and his Jesus in Nazareth where he looks at the the our father has a very telling insight here.
Says when we pray this petition, we must be ready to take upon ourself the burden of trial that is meted out to us.
That's a a very interesting phrase.
It could it could even be a little bit unsettling, but that there's a certain amount of trial that each of us need to undergo.
And what's the purpose of trial?
You know, regardless of how we experience adversity, we see it in a natural world.
We've experienced it in our lives.
And certainly, under the purview of the of God's presence, every trial is meant to be a pathway for growth.
It's meant to be a pathway.
Every adversity is meant to be a pathway that stretches us and allows us to grow.
So we must be ready to take upon ourselves the burden of trial, and there's a recognition yet time we do experience it like a burden.
We do experience it as a trial.
On the other hand, the object of this petition is to ask God not to meet out more than we bear, to not let us slip from his hands.
This is very beautiful.
It's an awareness that, of course, God is not gonna let us slip out of his hands.
But our willingness to stay in his hands obviously has to be there.
And almost what we're asking him is, lord, I believe this is for me, but give me strength so that I myself don't slip out of your hands.
Saint Paul has assured us, god is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the means of escape that you may be able to endure it.
You may be able to endure it.
So Saint Paul here points to something very, very, very, very deep.
That on the one hand, god does try us.
Yeah.
On one hand, god does permit us to undergo adversity.
Now it seems like, father, you're making a bit of a jump here.
We were just talking about hard circumstances and how the adversity of god.
I mean I mean, let's kinda face it.
Either there is a god who he is, who we believe he is, that he's creator, that he's lord, that he's provident, that he's all powerful and all knowing.
And, you know, when we experience evil, the evil of adversity, How do you hold those two together?
I mean, in a certain sense, let's not be afraid to push that because I think in pushing those things is how we get the answer.
Our temptation is always to retreat from it.
That it's either you know, it's not really so bad and you could just kind of grin and grin and bear it or that somehow god, you know, try to kind of put those two together.
But the reality is if god if if if evil is permitted a certain amount of action, however we experience it, how many socially, personally, right, relationally, it's it's all an experience of evil, of a shortcoming.
It's not to say that people that are doing it are evil.
Right?
At times, they're as much suffering it as others.
Right?
But the fact the situation, right, the the the fact that something is broken, something is not right about this.
Why does god permit that?
And I I think that's a question we really need to ask.
I think and I think unless we get to that question, we really won't have that's the doorway to meaning.
That's the doorway to enduring.
That's the doorway.
And, again, there I don't know that we can get an intellectual answer.
Right?
An intellectual answer there.
It might open a doorway for our hearts to go through, and that's important.
Right?
And what's an important doorway there that, you know, maybe god is so good and so great and so prominent that he allows evil in our lives, a certain measure of it, because he does limit it, to bring us to a greater good.
Is it possible that he could turn it into a fuel for good?
Right?
And that's kinda maybe the how how our understanding gave it space, then it allows our heart to go through.
There's a section in Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy.
It's Deuteronomy eight.
When Moses is near the end of his life, the children of Israel are about to reach the promised land, and he's remembering for them.
Remember.
Remember what these forty years have been like.
And he remembers the great events, the the hardships in Egypt, four hundred years of of cruel tyranny, how they cried to God, and how he led them out, how he allowed them to experience, the fury of pharaoh, how he opened the way through the Red Sea, how he was for them a pillar of fire by night to warm them, in that cold desert, and a cloud of smoke by day to shield them from the burning sun of the desert.
How for forty years, he sustained them.
And Moses said, remember how he caused you to to feel hunger, to suffer hunger, but then he bred you fed you with manna, bread from heaven that was known neither to you nor your fathers.
Look at this desert, this place where there are fiery serpents and deadly scorpions, and he sustained you here.
The clothes on your back were not worn out and the sandals on your feet have not worn away.
And so this is to remember that that god is the one who sustains you.
And in a certain sense, is it that through the experience of trial, god is bringing us to a place where he can reveal who he is for us.
And, again, you know, this is not to propose the the final, endpoint we're trying to go to, but maybe it's just a question of, you know, when God allows certain, certain temptations.
Of course, our hope is we say, the scripture itself presents it.
I come to these because they seem to be so very telling.
Genesis 16 and Genesis 22 bring out the themes which are very present in the Old Testament in which Jesus picks up on.
Genesis 16 is a story of Hagar.
Remember the Egyptian servant of Sarah who's abused when she's with child, when when she's with Ishmael, and and how she begins to run away.
She she feels alone, desolate.
And the angel of the Lord appears to her and answers her and consoles her.
And to the Lord who spoke to her, she gave a name saying, you are the God who sees me.
You are a god who sees me.
What was it about Hagar's experience that when she felt most alone, most under trial, when she was at wit's end, she experienced god as a god who sees her.
And the god who sees and provides.
We get the same expression from Genesis 22 when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac.
Talk about trial.
Talk about, you know, take your only son.
And this was the son of the promise.
Right?
It wasn't just a boy that in which Abraham would have had his natural hopes.
This was the sign of God's friendship with Abraham.
Remember?
And God is asking him to sacrifice Isaac.
And, you know, talk is that a trial?
Could there be anything worse?
And when his son asked him, father, we have the flint.
We have the fire.
We have the wood.
Where is the sheep?
And Abraham, the lord himself will provide the sheep, and he did.
And Abraham, at the end of it all, named the place on the mountain the Lord see because the Lord saw and he provided.
There he provided the ram.
So who is it?
You know, this experience, the hope that scripture gives to us that god sees, that he'll provide.
And what does he do?
He gives sufficient to to endure, to make it to the other side, and and making it to the other side to experience, to be able to enter into deeper relationship with him.
Jesus recognizes in Luke 12 that we do worry.
We do get anxious.
And Jesus reassures us.
You know, he he doesn't say, you know, don't worry.
You know, those the enemies, the adversities, they're not really that bad.
You know?
It's just he just says, yeah.
They're I recognize there's there's anxiety.
There's adversity.
Remember this, the hairs of your head have been counted.
In other words, the father sees you, and he notices you.
And not only does he notice you, he notices everything about you.
Notice he notice everything about you.
He values even the hairs of your head.
Do not be afraid.
And in Mark 14, because Jesus teaches us not only by moral example, he is the one who puts it all into practice.
In the Garden Of Gethsemane, he says, my soul is sorrowful till death.
And Jesus and his passion is in some way the fulfillment in the negative sense of every trial of every adversity, physical, emotional, moral, in every way.
He advanced a little and fell to the ground, and he prayed.
And this is this is one of the few times when we hear Jesus pray.
Well, we we read in the scriptures many times he prays.
Here in the gospel of Mark and Gethsemane is one of the few times we hear, Abba, father, all things are possible for you.
Take this cup from me, but not what I will, but you will.
Notice how he refers to his father, daddy.
In this moment of most extreme trial, what does Jesus do?
He reaffirms, I know you see me, my god, and I know you see this cup.
I know you see everything that's happening.
If it's possible, take it from me.
And yet, your will be done.
You know, what are possible avenues?
Ponder, where is God when we suffer?
Psalm 18, which is a psalm of David when he was being persecuted by Saul in the wilderness.
David uses some very poetic language.
The cords of death encompassed me.
The torrents of destruction terrified me.
The cords of Sheol Sheol was a place of death.
In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he heard my voice.
And even Psalm 22, it's very interesting that that part that my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Yet there's a deep affirmation that you are enthroned as the holy one.
You are the glory of Israel, and you, our fathers, trusted.
They trusted, and you rescued them.
So some possible avenues are this, you know, that to be able to hold both things in our hands.
On the one hand, the experience of adversity, but also the hope the hope the theological hope, the that God sees, and God has an answer, and God is doing something with us.
That God in him, my redeemer, the one who sets things right.
Pope Saint John Paul the second gives a beautiful insight.
I mean and here he's just summarizing what has been the experience of Christian tradition.
In the cross of Christ, not only is the redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has been redeemed.
This is very powerful.
It's not only that God can make use of bad things to a good end.
He actually turns bad things good.
Well, how's that?
Human suffering has been redeemed.
And that's something, again, this is, we're not gonna get to the end of that one.
What does it mean that even the meaning of what I experience is is adversity?
Has changed its meaning.
That even as I experience being stretched and, you know, suffering, that even there, God is present.
God Christ took on to himself the totality of evil, the experience of evil.
And beautiful words by pope Francis.
Again, not because pope Francis says it, but I think, you know, it's beautifully summarized here.
Jesus is a faithful friend who accompanies and never disappoints us.
In his cross, we find support and comfort.
Jesus is the faithful friend who fills our lives even in difficult one difficult times, who accompanies us and never disappoints us.
You see the background in this slide here?
It's the fourth station of the cross.
Sorry.
The fifth station where, you know, Christian tradition meditates on Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus to carry the cross.
Right?
And we read that in scripture.
He was the father of Alexander and Rufus, which is a very interesting way of saying we don't know who Alexander and Rufus are.
Obviously, he must have been known to the Christian community, but that Simon of Cyrene was the father of these two followers of Jesus, meaning that he must have been deeply touched by accompanying our lord.
I wanna suggest that maybe the experience our experience in suffering is that it's inverted.
Now our lord never leaves us to carry the cross alone and that he is with us.
He's the one under there, and we're the one helping him out.
So let me just kinda pause it there.
And afterwards, I'm going to just suggest some pathways as to how just in in day to day experience this might be enacted and how we can be that, for others.
And father Robert, I'm sure you could tie in the question that just came in as far as how to help people facing the death of a family member due to the pandemic.
Yes.
I certainly will tie that one in.
Were there any others there, Ebony, that we can pull together?
I think you answered this one, but you answered how a loving and powerful God allows or causes trials.
So, maybe another example for that one.
Yes.
Okay.
So, you know, when we think about an all powerful and all good God, something else we need to say about him is that he's also very humble, meaning that he's able to take things as they are and make himself present.
You know, an image is that when we're in the pit of suffering and our temptation is to look up and say, god, where are you?
Can you come down and help me in this pit?
We hear the voice, here I am.
And it's not of someone who's descending into the pit.
It's a voice of somebody who's further down because our lord has born it all.
Meaning that this is the only place at this point where I can meet you.
So let's think about the meaning of accompaniment.
So I think there's something very deep there.
What does it mean to walk alongside one to assist them, to be with them, to love them, to affirm them?
And what is it that god when we feel like the world and situations are telling us, you have no meaning.
Look at you.
We're gonna crush you.
God, we hear the voice of God tell us, I'm with you.
You do have meaning.
In fact, you wanna know how much meaning you have?
I gave my life for you.
This is what we model when we're with others.
How to be with family members, how to be with people who've lost a loved one, be with them.
You be the presence of god with them.
But can we take their pain away?
Allow it to be transformed.
Carry it with them.
You know, and this is one of the pieces that's most important for spiritual directors and for anyone who accompanies others is listen.
And by listening, we're not just speaking about letting them talk as a therapeutic means.
Allow them to bring you to the depth of their experience.
Hear them.
Not only hear them, amplify their experience for them.
Allow them to allow it to express enter it with them.
When a person is suffering, one of the most difficult things is facing that suffering alone.
But when you hear their story, when you go on with them, they're able themselves to begin to give it meaning.
And in some way, isn't this where we see the greatest individuals rise?
Isn't this where some of the greatest benefactors to humanity?
Isn't this where the Mother Teresa's of the world have come from, of those who are so oriented towards others that it's actually they found Christ, if they found meaning in their own suffering, and to allow ourselves to be a company too when we're suffering, when we're in adversity.
And somebody who's not going to necessarily stay with you at the surface, somebody who's able to go with you deep, Deep where you where you experience maybe solitude, where you experience abandonment, where you experience not, you know, not being worthy to allow somebody to accompany you there.
Because if somebody accompanies you there, it tends to exercise the fears.
So with somebody who's lost a family member, let's not try to minimize their suffering.
Yeah.
It's it's a hardship.
Be with them.
Grieve with them.
Cry with them.
Listen to them.
And your presence will begin to make a difference, because in a certain sense, your presence models the presence of god who's with them.
Any any further questions at this point, Ebony?
Yes.
Listening therapy as pope Francis said to us missionaries of mercy.
But if someone does not wanna share and you only pray for them, is that good?
So, certainly, we can never force a person to share and praying for them.
Obviously, it's very, very important.
There are many ways of accompanying.
There are many ways of allowing your presence, your benevolence to be felt by another.
We can never and we should never try to force ourself into another person's experience.
But wherever they begin to share from whatever word through listening, tell me about that.
You know, I'm hearing this.
I'm hearing that.
Yeah.
You're having a hard day.
What's, you know, what what what are you going through?
And, you know, through through reflecting what you're hearing, through expanding, maybe through using metaphors, it sounds like, you you know, does it feel like you've been thrown into a pit?
By sitting with him in it, it allows him to enter into it.
At times, people don't wanna share because there is a lot of pain there.
They don't know how to share.
So at times, some of the, listening ways of listening can help deepen that.
But, certainly, if a person is is not willing, is not ready to go there, you know, just accompany them to the level to which they can.
We certainly pray for them.
You know, there is a not that this is touching on the theme directly, but I think it does have a lot to do with it.
You know, in the outcome studies that you do for in therapy, serious pathologies that might need specific interventions, perhaps even medical interventions aside, what they found that that help most people heal from trauma, from so many difficulties in life, more than any therapeutic technique is the relationship actually with a therapist.
If a person if in this case, a client experiences in the therapist a person that they can trust, person with whom they've feel safe with, healing begins to take place.
Now we're speaking about therapy there.
You know, what we're talking about, that's a human dynamic.
That's a natural law, which is god has put into human nature.
Right?
And therapy and good psychology has discovered that.
But in some way, the spiritual accompaniment, I think, is where it's most its own, where it could come to full fruition.
Why in some way, we feel protected, safe.
We flourish when we know we're under the gaze of God.
And, you know, so if somehow our gaze, our being with others, our goodness towards others can already begin to be a pathway in which they can grieve in a healthy way and in which they can continue to find meaning forward.
Now it's not gonna it's not gonna be necessarily pleasant all the time or pretty, but it is an important process to be able to be there.
And father Robert, I think you actually, proactively answered the next question that came in, but, I think it was written so well that I'm still gonna read it, as far as healing.
And I'm sure there are other ways of healing that you can mention as well, you know, aside from the the mental.
But the question or statement was, there are many examples of healing of suffering in the scripture by Jesus and the disciples.
And Saint Paul tells us that some have the gift of healing in the church.
Why do we not cease more of such healings today?
It seems to me that Jesus' instinct was to heal in the presence of suffering, not to provide a rationale for why suffering was inevitable.
So it's a very it's a very beautiful point.
You know, we read in the gospel of Luke of that leper that came to Jesus and said, Lord, if you will, you can heal me.
And Jesus reached out and healed him, right, and touched him.
Yet at the same time, there were some situations where Jesus didn't intervene.
You remember when the young man told him, Lord, tell my brother to share my his part my part of the inheritance with me.
There was a real suffering there, wasn't there?
And Jesus said, you know, who appointed me as your judge?
In a certain sense, part of his healing had to be to kinda go in and reassess and confront himself with the gospel values.
Right?
So that perhaps there are situations where Jesus is inviting one one to go to go forward.
And Saint John speaks about the healings as a sign, something that pointed to something much deeper.
Right?
That the physical healing pointed to something deeper.
You could say the emotional healing, but there's something deeper even than the emotional healing, which is the spiritual healing.
And also remember, saint Paul's dialogue with Christ that he recounts in the letter to the Corinthians.
How he was given he was given an angel of Satan to beat him.
Right?
And a thorn in the flesh.
And three times, he asked our lord, lord, take this away from me.
But Jesus said, no.
This is good for you, Paul.
Because in imperfection, grace reaches perfection.
What is it of the experience of our limitedness of that that our lord uses that as a stepping stone to grace?
Now when we speak about suffering and healing, there's obviously a lot of different types of suffering and healing.
One place where we always need to heal is where there's fundamental relationship wound wounds of relationship.
Right?
Where people feel that they can't trust others.
How do we do that?
More often than that is by being godlike.
Can god give the power to some where signs of external healing could come.
Yeah.
Of course, he can.
But if God doesn't give us that grace, right, God does nonetheless give to each one of us the ability to be for one another, assignment of Cyrene, or better yet, a Jesus of Nazareth.
Right?
Where where we are accompanying, being with others, listening, entering them, you know, entering with them, and being with them in there where they are.
All of this goes to shows as well too it's also, I think, an invitation to examine our own hearts.
Right?
Why?
We read in in Genesis and we read throughout scripture that there is an enemy.
And what this enemy does is that he tends to sow lies, fundamental lies, about the identity of God and our identity.
And we see it in the book of Genesis chapter three.
Did God really tell you?
You know?
And he and, you know, meaning that be very aware.
And one of the things that's most important, probably the deepest healings, is just be sure let's try to touch those maybe more fundamental lies.
I'm unlovable.
Nobody cares about me.
I can't trust God.
Those those are the ones that most need healing.
Because if those are healed, it's amazing what the human person can do and endure and rise above.
I know we're getting towards the end, Ebony, so I'm just going to wrap up.
As well too, I mean, if I'm, if if there are any further questions, feel free.
We can chat out my email if anyone wants to kinda connect afterwards, either through email or through a quick Zoom meeting, I'd be more more than happy to.
One of the best ways of helping others and touching in the healing processes to accompany others is a spiritual director.
You know, how do we know that we might have that calling?
You know, do you have the desire to help people keep close to God through the ups and downs of life?
You know, are you moved to accompany others in their ongoing pilgrimage to the living God?
You know, with all that that pilgrimage involves, you know, is is, Psalm 23 says, at times, verdant pastures, but at times, yeah, really, dark valleys.
Are you inspired when you discover the unshakable fidelity of closeness of closeness of God as he shares our joys and sorrows, hopes, and fears?
And would you like to equip yourself with spiritual direction, traditions, skills, and virtues, and coach experience to serve others as a spiritual director?
So what that's one of the things of, Divine Mercy University is a spiritual direction certificate program.
But I just kinda leave it there at the introduction because I know we're kind of out of time.
And you you can find more information, there on our on our on our You actually went through those pretty quickly.
I think that, we got I did.
Alright.
Well, what what alright.
I appreciate that.
Thanks.
That's all the juicy stuff right there.
Alright.
Thanks.
Thanks, Seth.
I will give you this one last question that just came in Okay.
Which may have been a segue into our programs and the spiritual direction certificate itself.
And that question was, how does therapy and spiritual direction walk hand in hand in healing the wounds in people's lives.
Yeah.
So the specific scope of each differs even though they go side by side.
In spiritual direction, the specific scope is to grow in my relationship with the living God, is to grow my intimacy and my love, my surrender, my communion of life with him.
And that is very healing.
Like, we were made for God.
Everything about us longs for God.
Therapy has as its goal a good human functioning without necessarily reference for God.
So, you know, some somebody who doesn't have an explicit faith in God can undergo.
Now it's better when they go hand in hand, but I'm kind of kind of to make the point here of where their specific goal is.
Now very often through the experience of human healing, yes, people will be open to the, wow, I've never experienced this before.
It might open up their channel way, especially then to kind of a spiritual enlightenment, if you will, a spiritual relationship with God.
But what they're focusing on is different.
Now in many sit some situations, therapists and spiritual director have to work hand in hand, particularly when you have certain wounds which exceed the bounds of what spiritual direction is meant to to deal with.
And that's one of the things we do teach in the program, and it's, beautiful that we're able to kinda develop this program together with the collaboration of, you know, a doctoral program in psychology and the masters of psychology and the masters of of mental health counseling.
So, you know, at the same time, you got to respect both domains.
They are different.
You wanna respect both domains.
It's not right for a spiritual director to be a therapist, and the therapist, doesn't shouldn't act as a spiritual director.
Now can per same person act as both?
Yeah.
You can.
But you need to have clear boundaries and the permission of what that person that you're working with in their life has invited you to do.
Okay?
So on this side, feel free to, interject at any time there again, Ebony.
This slide just describes the four the, six courses that comprise the spiritual direction certificate program.
It's a certificate level program, so it's not a degree program.
Each one of the courses is about forty to sixty contact hours by five to eight hours of work a week, eight week courses.
The first course, lays the foundation.
It's, very much spiritual theology and spiritual tradition of understanding what spiritual growth is.
We look at the difference between spiritual direction and and therapy, and the foundations of spiritual direction.
Second course looks at human development.
This is where we kind of involve the human sciences.
If grace builds on and perfects nature, what is that nature?
What is that human nature that enters into relationship with god?
What does human development look like?
What does development look across the lifespan in different cultural situations?
And we also look there as what do the human sciences have to say about the human dynamic of relationship.
And there we look at attachment theory and number of other theories.
The third course is the relating skills for spiritual direction.
And what are those relating skills, especially deep listening skills, which have both a human element, but also a theological element.
Because if we believe that God is present in each life, regardless of where every person is, and that God is is, in a certain sense, inviting every man, woman, and child to relationship with him, that means there's an echo in there in that life.
And so the deep listening skills allow us to do what we've spoken about here, but it's also a pathway then to the fourth course, which is discernment and spiritual growth.
You know?
How do you hear the voice of God?
I mean, there's a lot of movements we might have.
Right?
How do you distinguish those movements which come from God?
Listening allows us to get us there.
The fifth course is on advanced spiritual direction skills and practicum.
And the seventh course is on advanced prayer and advanced situations.
There are two residencies, four day residencies in the third course and in the fifth course, which are, times when, we come on-site even though the program is fully online, so it's very flexible.
But there are two moments in the, cycle when we bring students together of a cohort to just have an intensive, residency experience.
Students there learn the practical skills.
What is it like to listen?
What is it like?
We look at such things as boundaries, transference, countertransference, what's that experience like, and not just theory, but let's experience it.
And, you know, and also we teach the process of supervision for spiritual directors.
So, yeah, there's a kind of a map of the courses there.
And as I know as I mentioned, you could find more information on on our website.
As I mentioned, it's the integration of the contribution of human sciences with the Catholic Christian perspective and traditional spiritual development.
Our next start is on, on August 19.
The deadline for that application is July 31.
We have three starts a year, sort of three times a year when we offer all six courses.
August to October, January to March, and then May through, late May through, through July.
Students could start at any one of those times.
If they need to leave off, the next time they come on, they just kind of pick up with the next course and the next cycle with the next cohort.
So it's a very there's great, flexibility in that regard.
So that's it on my end.
I have any unless there are any further questions or any further thing we need to unpack, but I think our good our good listeners have gotten probably more than an earful of father Robert, and, I think they've had their share of trial this afternoon.
Yeah.
Big thanks from a lot of our listeners, especially Victoria O'Donnell, who's on the line and, who is our program assistant.
You you will be able to go to the website at sdc-divinemercy.org, to see all of this information, and we will also be sending, the recording via email.
So please make sure you check out that website, and, look at the course descriptions, look at the faculty.
You can see father Robert's bio.
You can look at the breakdown on the course starts.
And you can also, email the program assistant @sdcatdivinemercy.edu.
So we're absolutely excited to be able to answer any questions that you all may have, and we appreciate, you for attending today's webinar.
And thank you, father Robert, for all of the information.
Hopefully, some wounded hearts can be mended with that information that you shared or even a process, can be started as far as the acceptance piece of of God enabling the suffering.
So alright.
Well, without further ado, I see greetings from Mexico.
Alright.
Great.
Well, well, god bless you all.
Thank you for joining us.
Alright.
Take care.