Heart to Heart Healing

De Yarrison explores how the wounded Christ a safe haven for us to bring our wounded hearts and open to His healing touch.

The drive toward wholeness and healing has been encoded into our every fiber by the One who created us. He has written into each human person the instruction to mobilize for healing upon physical injury. The very moment I sustain a cut or a bruise, my brain and body systems begin working together to heal, restore, and rebuild. This same internal energy for healing is expended on wounds of emotion and of spirit. Our spiritual and emotional wounds – be they from sin, abuse, trauma, deceptions of the enemy, or other effects of life in this fallen world – are healed through a process of re-integration and re-alignment with the Truth of who we are. The Holy Spirit, abiding within each of us, is our ally and guide in this process.

When I am injured physically, my brain and nervous system work together, creating the conditions for healing to begin. This often starts with discomfort or pain. The pain lets me know where the injury is located and helps me understand the type of injury so I'll know how to properly tend to my healing. In just the same way, when my brain and nervous system are triggered because an emotional or spiritual "wound" is perceived, the task of getting my attention so healing can begin commonly starts with emotional discomfort and pain: anxiety, fear, breathlessness, hopelessness, and so on.

Perhaps you can recall an experience of feeling anxious, fearful, or hopeless, without knowing why or from where that feeling arose. Perhaps anxiety, fear, or hopelessness has become a habit of emotion. Or maybe you don't feel anything but numb. At times, we spend enormous amounts of energy trying not to feel what we feel, stuck in a repetitive cycle of managing unwanted feelings, as depicted below.

20211214 DYarrison Cycle-of-Avoiding-Feelings

Jesus offers another option. He extends an invitation to resolution and healing. We begin by listening into the discomfort or pain, rather than habitually dulling or escaping it. Our Lord gently encourages us to remain still with Him and notice any discomfort. Get curious about it. What emotions or sensations do you perceive? Sorrow? Loneliness? Empty feeling in your stomach? Headache? Fear of disappointing someone or being rejected? As you sit with Jesus you also sit with yourself. Noticing and observing yourself, without judgment or trying to change anything, is an important part of the healing process.

Hide in Jesus

My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see your face, let me hear your voice. (Song of Songs 2:14)

The commentary of many saints on the above verse from the Song of Songs reveal to us that the "cleft in the rock" is the opening in the side of Jesus, our Rock. He allowed Himself to be wounded and opened, creating a safe haven for us to bring our wounded hearts and open to His healing touch. We can snuggle into Him, press our wounded hearts right up against His wounded Heart and tell Him everything. As I contemplate, "show me your face, let me hear your voice," I imagine Him whispering to me, "Tell me all about it, my dove, my precious one. What have you become aware of as you've sat with your pain and discomfort? What emotions swell beneath the surface? What pains grieve your heart? Pour it all upon Me. I will hold all of it here in My Sacred Heart."

We do not have to – nor are we meant to – engage in the exploration of our woundedness on our own. He is our Guide and He already knows the way through. As we take shelter in His Heart, feel our feelings, express our emotions, He reveals the way forward. For our part, we continue to observe, paying attention to the sensations, feelings, and thoughts that unfold within:

Do I become aware of unforgiveness I didn't realize I was carrying?
Does a wave of sorrow or anguish rise up, building into tears as I slowly ride it all the way out?
Do I feel weighed-down or heavy-laden as I see clearly a burden I've been shouldering that it not mine to carry?
Does the urge to move come over me – to stretch, sway, run, dance?

Trust that Jesus is guiding the process. He is leading us to the precise action needed to resolve and heal the underlying causes of persistent anxiety or other expressions of emotional pain. His Holy Spirit is alive and active within each of us, always nudging us along our journey of re-integration, toward fullness of health and healing.

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As we take shelter in His Heart, feel our feelings, express our emotions, Jesus reveals the way forward. #catholicmom

Closing Prayer

Father God, thank You for creating me wonderfully, purposefully, lovingly. Thank You for the incredible Gift of Jesus, my Rock and my Healer. Jesus, teach me to recognize and cooperate with Your Holy Spirit within me. Holy Spirit, grant me the grace to regularly sit still and breathe in Your Presence, listening attentively to Your stirrings and movements within me. I desire to cooperate with the process You have planned for my healing. I surrender myself to You, with full confidence that You are taking care of everything! In all gratitude and awe, I pray in Your most Holy Name, Amen.