 Thank you everyone for coming. We are so excited to be here tonight before we do anything though However, we would love to have Father Boniface start us off in prayer so The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Heavenly Father our primary purpose is to worship you and we want to adore you and all that we do here this evening To acknowledge your majesty and the saving love that you have revealed to us and your son our Lord Jesus Christ Who has restored and redeemed us? We ask you to fill us with your Holy Spirit Transform us conform us more and more into Christ And we trust in the prayers of our mother and Saint Joseph all the holy angels To unite us through this electronic circuitry and through these great distances With each other and most especially with each other that we might be more united with you We ask for your blessing in a special way on sister Miriam as she Opens her heart to us and shares her journey and her wisdom that her words may be anointed That she might say what you want her to say and that we might hear what you want each of us personally to hear and We ask all this through the intercession of our lady They'll marry full of grace the Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us in this Now and at the hour of our death. Amen Saint Joseph The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen, thank you Father Boniface one of our beloved teachers and Spiritual fathers here at Avila and thank you to everyone in the Avila army our monthly donors who have made this webinar possible And before we hand it over to the sister Miriam Miriam and have her introduce herself I just wanted to say I'm so excited about this topic excited to have you here Healing is always if anyone knows me if you guys have been around, you know that healing is a very passionate topic of mind my background is in psychology and I love how it integrates with our faith and in spiritual direction and how it can really help us in prayer and so I'm just thrilled to have you here sister and really grateful for your time this evening and just pray that God will bless us so Claire actually do you want to chime in and give a little intro to sister? Well, I'm gonna let her do that, but I thought it was really appropriate to just kind of mention first of all Well, first of all, I do not have a background in psychology I am I kind of was thinking about it and I kind of represent everybody else here tonight that Desires to grow closer to the Lord I call myself a student of the interior life, and I think I will be for the rest of my life. I love learning about the faith. I love learning about prayer and I am a student of Father Boniface in spiritual direction because I do feel called to even more Learn how to teach others to grow closer to the Lord and prayer and as I take that journey You you know like everybody I realize how much the Lord is inviting me to be healed And I think at the Avila Foundation we really see our primary mission is helping people grow and pray or through the authentic Catholic spiritual tradition of the church and You can't do that without realizing that the same God that raised people from the dead and Healed the sick is inviting you to the same relationship with him of healing and so More and more I think We are coming to appreciate the relationship between authentic Catholic prayer and The healing work of God and how those two things are integrated And so it's just a joy to be able to bring this to our people and to Invite them to consider what God has for him for them that he has more that he always has more And that this healing process is never done alone It's always with others. And so we have a guest today who seems to have a special charism for inviting people to consider that God has healing graces for them and to Invite them to open themselves up to those graces. So That being said sister Miriam, could you I could read a bio and it would be very impressive And not going to I'm just gonna invite you to tell everybody here today a little bit about yourself Well, thank you. Well, thank you first of all Claire and Anne. Thank you so much and Father Boniface So lovely to see you again. You all are very dear to me. So I I feel honored to be here I know my background is not in psychology either. It's like mostly in sports And so I was just a college girl who went to work for ESPN and God radically interrupted my life and variety of ways And so Yeah, it's been a very long journey and it's a journey that continues to this very moment as I sit here before you I it's just so wonderful that That conversion and love and wholeness happens every day And I really I can honestly tell you without any like pythistical sentiment that I hope it never ends I I hope I never get to a point to where I tell Jesus that's enough or no, I'm good enough Lord No, that's enough. I I hope he opens every part of my heart forever for the rest of my journey because The day that I say that's enough the day that's the day my heart dies, you know, so I it's worth it It's the fullness of our life and I'm very grateful. I'm very grateful to be on this journey, especially with people like you So, yeah, it's a it's a wonderful wonderful place to be so I can tell you a bit about myself if you want I am a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity We're a community. I live in Corpus Christi, Texas So we were founded in 1958 and we serve in teams of pre-sisters in Laity We serve in areas of deepest apostolic need So I live at our headquarters here and I've been here for many years and over the years I've served in a lot of different ways of directing novices and parish You know ministry and working with children at a Catholic school and then for many years I've I speak travel and speak full-time I work a lot with the John Paul two healing center headed by Dr. Bob shoot So I've worked with them for many many years and we do a lot of healing retreats for priests and religious sisters in Laity and so I that's Yeah, that's been a deep journey of my own heart and to be able to just to travel and speak And actually to watch people encounter Christ. I that's that's the best that's the best thing that It's that's what you know, I and I often say that it's really true of people They don't ultimately really want to meet me when they talk at a conference Like they really don't what what they really want to have is an encounter with the living Lord Jesus And that's what people want from all of us like they They want to know that God's alive and well and that their lives matter and their suffering matters and That their dreams matter and that nothing is in vain that God loves them unconditionally I it's like it's stunning really just the our human hearts and just Just the call of love. It's it's it's such a beautiful life really Well, they may want to meet Jesus, but I think they also want to meet you Because you well you just incarnate him so beautifully And so we're just so joyful to have you with us today You have a book coming out for Lent with Ave Maria Press called Restore And it's a guided journal that invites People to really consider Lent a very particular time when the Lord may be Wanting to do something deep within their heart. And so we wanted to dive into that and some of the topics within the book tonight and We We do you want to give us a little overview first of all about what your purpose was in the book What your hopes are for those that would Go journey with you and the Lord in Lent in this way Sure, sure this the the book that we're going to go through is it's really a book that comes from my heart and I wrote a book called loved as I am in 2014 Which was chronically and kind of my own healing journey and also theology of the body and The catechism like definition of the human person and like the journey of the human person And I wrote that almost gosh like 10 almost 10 years ago And so over the last like say almost 10 years You know, what has the Lord been doing in my life? And and what has the Lord been speaking through the Holy Spirit through like the face of the earth Like what is the Holy Spirit speaking right now to the church? Like what is he speaking to the people of God? And people are are so hungry for for wholeness and communion And I I think that's what I want to say first and foremost that this this is he the healing journey is not about Jesus fixing us Like christ does not come to fix us. He comes to heal us And that's two very different things. He comes to bring us into wholeness and communion And there's a particular dynamic of lent that Is a particular area of healing as we practice the spiritual disciplines of per fasting and almsgiving Those actually are meant to be healing disciplines. Like when you look at at some of those disciplines They're actually listed under the sacrament of reconciliation, which is sacrament of healing And so what these disciplines do ultimately is they heal our relationship with God They heal our relationship with ourselves and they heal our relationships with our relationship with others as a As a healing salve to how we were broken in the garden And so when we think about lent and we kind of think about just, you know, you know All of us have stories about lent all of us have many feelings about lent You know, some of us love it some of us hate it some of us do the obligatory chocolate alcohol thing And I you just think so I remember many years ago I was on ash Wednesday I was living in seattle and I was accompanying to a sister to a doctor's appointment And you know, we just gone to mass so we sell ash for it and this guy It was so great this guy gets in the elevator literally has two bags of mcdonalds and a big soda He's like, oh my gosh, it's ash Wednesday. He's like, oh, I totally forgot, you know And so we have kind of these different relationships with lent and then you know a week or two or three and It's almost like New Year's resolutions like what what's really happening on a Easter Sunday What's what's supposed to happen? And so ultimately this journey of which it takes many forms in this particular vein Of when we undertake these practices with Christ and allow him to bring us into wholeness in a community in every way We we come into the pascal resurrection Remarkedly transformed and that that's really my desire is that even if it's in a very small way And that's why I call it a dangerous path. You know, you talk about danger meaning, you know, a harm or injury And this causes harm or injury to our idols to our our facades our self-defense mechanisms Like just today I was talking to a friend in the car and I was like, oh my gosh I can't believe I said that like I did not know that about myself And so I'm like so grateful that that part of me was revealed it So that's what happens on the journey of love because that's being naked and vulnerable That's being naked and unashamed and that's the journey of christ Like that's how jesus lives and he's teaching us how to live as he lives And having an integrated life because christ is is the man who's integrated holy and he's bringing us into integration So that's kind of a overview of that Wow, I I have to say when I read the book and I you know, so often We think of lend is like white knuckling it like we're just going to sacrifice and we're going to get through it And we're going to do it and I think even intellectually I didn't think I thought of lent that way when I was reading the book Just you're the way that you expressed the vulnerability That lent opens up in us and the opportunity For our deepest desires to be revealed because we stop stuffing ourselves as much with all of the things that we use to numb And you know if we're doing it right and we're really in you know asking the lord What do you want me to give up? It exposes all kinds of things and that's an opportunity For him and for us so Um and before we dive into the book. Did you have any thoughts about what sister was saying? um, I was just thinking about vulnerability too and how um just the willingness to be injured and how So often we protect ourselves um from going to that place and letting go of all of those defenses we can have you know We're in our devout prayer life and in even white knuckling as you said Claire Sometimes we can just be so unaware of what those those places are where we're not willing to go into that vulnerability that willing to be injured and so it's just I think it's really beautiful how um in the book it just kind of you Just kind of start breaking it down for us and really open up those places so you can start to discover Where those are those parts of yourself are that you don't want to go Yeah, yeah, thank you for saying that because I That's that's such that's so true and for all of us and I I think Just the way that jesus I've What I find about christ one of the things I think is so beautiful about him And it's that he's so incredibly kind He is so incredibly respectful and kind and he has no desire to like shatter us or destroy us or He's so kind And and all he all he does is he invites He just he invites into his own life and And so like that's that like and like what we're talking about like that like what you're saying right there is like it's the invitation to being seen Like it's the invitation to being hungry and the best way possible. It's the invitation to be naked. It's invitation to be like him And he's so patient So patient with us and how he Leads us on this journey that we don't we don't even have to do it alone to figure it out He's not like giving us a map and saying well good luck. See you're an aster You know, he's he's leading us into the desert and And just gently revealing what we can handle when we can handle it. It's just so wonderful Yeah And it's so interesting too because that kindness is something like either others have beaten us up You know whether interiorly or even physically or we beat ourselves up and there's so much shame Yeah that we carry And that kindness is like it's like a brand new concept sometimes because we have these false images of the father and who he is And so it's kind of allowing I think this You know during lent we can try to open that up and allow these new You know truce about who god is When we start to take away some of the things that are in the way Yeah I did an eight-day silent retreat with father Boniface earlier this or this last year and and one of He told me many wise things as you know, he's very wise But one of the things that he shared with me that I've been sharing with people ever since was that he said You know god the father's old enough that we can all be his children And it means I don't have to figure it out I don't have to grow up like I can just be little and I can make mistakes and I can fall down and I can get back up and And it's his kindness that unlocks our heart like it's the kindness of god that the tender strength of god that unlocks our hearts So yeah, I I'm jumping ahead, but when you said tender That section on tenderness sister. Oh, yeah Oh my goodness that the strength the the gentleness the strength the healing power of tenderness um Actually, okay father Boniface you were talking about my beloved bishop Olmsted And you were saying how tender he is and that resonated with me because it's absolutely true When you're in his presence or when you're in the presence of somebody that is so filled with the love of god It's like there is nobody else but you in the entire world There's so There's nothing else. They're just present to you and just the fact that they're present to you is healing They don't have to do or say anything. There's something about that that is Incredibly powerful and it's strong Like you were saying and um, and that's just when we're healed And when we're whole we can be that for other people And that's really the point, isn't it that we can love god and love others with a heart that's fully integrated That's whole and that's able to give the love of god as well as receive it Um, yes and amen and amen to that and that's the whole it's it's living christ life It's it's the very first paragraph of the catechism It says, you know god infinitely perfect and blessed in himself and a plan of sheer goodness Freely creates man to share in his own blessed life Like god has no other ulterior motive than to bring us into his own beautiful life And that's the point of like to restore means to bring back It's not like going someplace you've never been before So it's the goodness was there before the fall the goodness was there before the trauma the goodness was there You know before the pain and before the rupture of relationship. It's all there Which is why john paul the second says all of us have an echo of the garden in our hearts And so the lord's art lord is bringing us home That's that's really all he's doing and and I think you know I love that you said that claire because I think all of us have a particular relationship with tenderness Isn't it so interesting how it can be so scary to us at times it can be It can incite all kinds of things in our hearts and And yet ultimately it's the tenderness that quiets a baby as the baby cries. It's the momless tenderness. It's the soothing voice. It's the Peter sitting down with jesus at the charcoal fire and jesus being tender with him You know, it's the woman kind of adultery. It's the woman hemorrhaging. It's talitha kum. It's All the things, you know, it's yeah, yes. Yes Um, oh goodness Go ahead, ann. I was just gonna say what's coming up for me too is like how It's just a question for everyone to ponder is In your own prayer life with the lord. Are you, you know, do you feel worthy to receive that tenderness? Just to think about that take that to the lord and and just um, you know, if there's Anything there that stirs up for you regarding that. It's a really big one Well, the journey to wholeness is uh We begin it with prayer And so to you know, the church gives us that is like a pillar for every latin season Being the good mother that she is and so you begin the book Inviting everybody to consider prayer and what it actually is. So can you speak to that sister a little bit about what is prayer And how do we begin a life of prayer if we don't already have one and even if we do do we actually understand What true uh prayer is? Yeah, I think well prayer is our relationship with god. It's communion. It's it's our it's our relationship with him It's our the manifestation of our our love with him and it's lived out like pulses, you know to pray without ceasing He's not he's not just speaking of rote prayers. He's speaking about our lives being immersed in his and When we talk about prayers a means of healing it heals All of the rupture like prayer that intimacy with god heals the rupture In our relationship with him where we in the garden turned away from god Where you know the original dr. Bob shoots talks about how like the original the original sin is really the rupture of that relationship Like it's it's many things. It's it's it's the the source and the consequence of it It's like the rupture of the relationship of turning away from The one who knows us the one who is our life source the one who reveals us to ourselves The one to whom um everything exists within and so prayer in our lives That is the foundation of our entire life. It is personal prayer. It's communal prayer. It's sacramental prayer It's a sacrament of the church But that relationship first and foremost is going to be the foundation for everything else everything else in our life It's it's very difficult and i'm not saying that because i'm a nun. I'm just it's like true So I mean that's the reality of of if we're really made in the image and likeness of god and and we belong to him And he belongs to us Then what other life source is there that i'm going i'm going to seek life through something else like a saint like Cs louis says our idols are eventually break us, right? We're all seeking life. We're all seeking to live through a person So we can live through christ or we can try to live through our kids or live through our spouse or live through Our academic degrees or live through all the things we do instagram like all the things we do just because our hearts are so hungry And they're so broken, but it's christ who desires to bring us home You know st paul says you know now we see dimly's in a mirror, but then we will see face to face and I just liken him to always I just liken him to The the person in our life that keeps calling us back to himself saying look here Like when we know a child's having a meltdown the grocery store mom's like mama and mom's like all right honey Look here. Look here. Look here. Look here. Look at mama. Look at mama. You're okay. You're okay And the kid will look away and she'll just gently bring his gaze Back to her and I really that's in many ways like what jesus does with us. He's like you look here Because I'm going to reveal to you who I am and who you are And you won't be able to find that anywhere else you see it you see it mediated through other people who bear that source But nobody can give us what christ can give us and so The journey of wholeness and communion is is not like so my pain stops that that's part of it It's like the the trauma and the lies those things are are walked through with christ over and over again Is so the the resonance of them decreases as the truth and grace increases But but the the purpose of all of it is to to live and to love like christ Like how are we supposed to do that? How are we supposed to do that when our lives are so fragmented and disintegrated? Unless we come back to the one who the only one who can make us whole and like that's what pope benedict says that you know It's it that's healing expresses the entire content of redemption He says that it's that's what it is and it's only in crisis. He's just in our wholeness and it's his love that makes us whole I remember one time I was on an airplane with my Then probably one year old little guy daniel And we were descending and there was all this turbulence I mean it was the kind of turbulence where like the carts are rolling around and the pilot's getting on and everybody Sit down and you're grabbing the you know the side of your seat And my little boy did not know what was going on Like his eyes were so big and I remember just leaning over and I just looked at him and I smiled And I just kept his gaze And he smiled and like everything was chaos around us, but mama said it was okay It was okay And I always remember that because that to me that's like how that you lock gazes with the lord And you just know he's got it under control and life can just be a storm around you But as long as you stay centered On the one who loves you It's okay The problem is staying centered And I think the key is prayer right and the key is is that daily relationship and keeping that relationship alive So what would you say sister to somebody that might be not used to having like a daily practice of prayer? How do we begin that relationship with god if that's not something that we Have made part of our day You know, I I'm always a big about just the simple little thing I would say just start somewhere just start somewhere and start small like and if you can do the small thing Regularly that means you can do larger things regularly and maybe for lent It's like picking up a a magnificot and just reading the gospel for the day Like it just it just read the gospel for all of lent and you know, just see what happens It is maybe just sitting in quiet So for and even to start with 10 minutes So for 10 minutes you're gonna put your phone away and then just sit with the lord and just ask lord to speak to you Maybe like put on some quiet music or people people pray differently whether it's a favorite scripture passage you have or some spiritual reading but It's the um, I really don't think you can replace the silence. I think silence is very very important so I think there's there's moments of silence for that but It or it is praying the rosary. There's so many different forms of prayer, but That there's a part of it that for me it transcends beyond anything we say into the realm of our being where We are just with the lord and that that's the kind of Like when you spend time with the somebody that you love That sometimes you're saving sometimes you don't sometimes you guys go out and have fun Sometimes you just hang out But it's like in being like you're saying clear like being in the presence like locking gaze with the lord But those the thing about any sort of discipline in our life or any sort of practice No, those things don't just happen and it's not romantic But we're gonna have to make we're gonna have to actually set a time to make that happen And it's gonna have to happen whether you know, it's convenient or not and so we're just and if we fail We're gonna come back again But I you know sometimes it's like easy like all of us Oh, I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna eat this and I'm gonna go for a 12 mile run You know, and it's kind of like by seven o'clock. You haven't done any of it so it's like what what are the priorities of my day and Some people pray best in the morning some people pray best at noon Some people prays at night or maybe it's when your kid's napping and you're just gonna do the best you can I said go for it like at some point But that has to be something though that we and it is a discipline like that root word DIC means student And so we are always a student we're always the disciplines help make us make us students And so we're always a student of the lord. So we're always learning so All these things it's they're they're gonna have to be things we actually have we have to make them happen in a sense If they have to be a priority to us, yeah Do would you say that the healing journey happens in the midst of that prayer? And that it with the point of like really continuing and persevering in the dry periods and the Periods when we don't sense god, but just showing up That that's really key to like the deeper work of healing That the lord will do but it's really going to take us showing up day after day Oh, yes It happens in all of it. Yes, it happens In all of it and the joy and the sorrow and the dryness and the richness and the in the desolation the consolation. It's all We we keep showing up and we keep walking toward and we keep allowing lord to come and find us and to come and rescue us Yes, I that is the part of the just the healing journey of having our loves rightly ordered having our lives rightly ordered by the lord and You know, it's You know that people kind of colloquially say, you know, nobody on their death But ever said I wish I spent more time at the office You know, and so it's like that time with god is never wasted. It's just it's just never wasted and Yeah, the healing always happens because he's the healer crisis the healer. So whenever in his presence healing always happens The next section of the book when it talks about fasting Sister they talk about healing the relationship with ourselves. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you mean by that? Yeah So what we see like in like I was alluding to earlier in the garden is in the rupture of relationship with god Adam and Eve are broken in three some play some say four but three major ways So they're broken the relationship with god They're broken in their relationship with themselves So their their wills are weakened their intellects are dark and their their emotions are put out of order So there's like a chaos within And then they're also broken the relationship with others in creation And so we all know we can all say with saint paul of I don't do what I want to do and what what I want to do. I don't know what to do So like we all we all know that we're within ourselves within our members like we know The war intellectually, you know spiritually physically, you know emotionally Sexually we know all the within us. We know all those areas of our life that we are often At war with ourselves and so what fasting does is fasting helps order our loves, right? So and we can fast and I talk in the book about a lot of different things Like we can fast from a lot of different things But when we allow the lord to choose that for us And we experience the ache of that or we experience like the absence of one thing What it allows us to do is allows us to fill that place in our heart with with god with something Larger and it also helps us to see our idols like, you know, it's interesting And we've all tried it probably at times things were like, oh, that's not a big deal If I gave that up and you give it up like two days later You are dying and you're like I had no idea that was such a part of whatever whether it's food Whether whatever it is whatever it is and so That helps open our hearts to see okay lord What am I what am I looking to save myself instead of you like where am I where am I focusing my gaze? What am I you know putting my weight on that I'm looking at to to fill the hunger or when I get When I start to feel uncomfortable one one of my dear priest friend says, you know When you start to feel uncomfortable, do you open your phone or do you close your eyes? Like what are what are the things like in our hearts where we go when we start to feel uncomfortable So fasting it brings us into discomfort in a sense of there's a spiritual practice to it Because Jesus says, you know, there's certain things only cast out through prayer and fasting But like the underneath level of that is to help bring us into integration So it orders our loves and so that we can and when our loves are ordered we can enjoy what is good from beautiful We can enjoy the richness. We can enjoy the beauty. We can enjoy love and pleasure and symphony and But until our loves are order we're always going to be grasping at those things Or we're going to be either pushing them away because they seem dangerous or so fast things are wonderful Gosh, it's such a wonderful discipline right for the students to have Jesus order our loves My husband thinks i'm crazy, but I love that watching the show hoarders. Oh, isn't it like yes, I've seen that many times It's like therapy for me. I just watch in I look at these poor people, but It's it's a visual representation of sin for all of us. It's just a very visual way to see what happens when we cram Stuff into our lives that we do not need and we cling to so desperately because we think we do because what if Like what if you take this away? I don't want to find out Yes, and then when it's over. I'm like crying because the house is clean and it's spacious I think about that scripture the lord will bring us to a spacious place And like you can exhale and you can experience life and you can experience love and you can bring other There's room for other people now finally where before it was just that's a good word garbage, you know um Anyway, that's what comes to mind when you're talking about right ordering And making space and then the beauty is god multiplies that space And it's like st. Teresa bobbler says it's like your heart expands from within it's like that well within you and it just It just grows and grows and extends outward Yes Yes, and amen, and I I love that you just talked about that show hoarders because If you have a hoarding addiction, it's not about the stuff. It's about what it represents And so for us watching that show, you know people are trying to help the person and And we're like, oh my gosh, just get rid of it But that person's having someone's they have panic attacks like because like what you're saying and so It's really what you know when jesus comes to us and he's inviting us to Surrender those things to him, you know, it's it's amazing what we even what the lord are afraid to surrender at times Because like you're saying i'm afraid i'm not going to live without it Like i'm afraid of what i'm going to die like if i have to face this feeling of abandonment or rage or control or If i have to face these things i might not survive and and jesus is just gently knocking on the door of our housing Would you would you allow me to come in and can we look at these things together? Like i'm not going to and and it's really beautiful because in those shows the therapists never force the people to clean their house They never do it and oh, they say we can't do that yet, which is it has to be them doing it. Yes Yeah, oh sister will have to you'll have to come over and watch with me sometime My husband will not he's like why in the world Which you want to watch somebody No, it is it it is it is great Fascinating to me. It's just studying. Yeah, I agree. Yes, and I think what it comes down to is trust You have to trust that when you need what whatever it is that the lord will provide it instead of grasping and clinging to something Just in case Yeah, whatever that is or you're trying to fill our life with something because we're afraid of being without When if everything's rightly ordered and we give everything it's rightful place in our life We can trust that the lord will provide it at the time Maybe not and you know not maybe not before it's usually just what we need when we need it But it really comes down to trust Yeah Yeah, it does and I think even the word trust means to rely upon somebody or to depend upon them and It really gives like the kind of the intimation of i'm going to put my weight upon you Are you are you are like can I put my weight upon you and for us? That's very we're very afraid of that and Bob dr. Bob talks about how you know that you say if you look at the tree like the tree of our life and The root of our tree of like the knowledge of good need but all of us You know have a root of sin in our life and and the at the root of that is usually self-reliance where i'm gonna I'm gonna take care of myself. I'm gonna depend on myself. I'm going to save myself I'm going to do it myself And then the the shift of that is the root of the tree of the life the root of the tree of life Which says I will let god love me in the places. I feel most vulnerable and most dependent Right. I will let god love me in the places. I feel most vulnerable and most dependent And just many times sitting in our life when the holy spirit reveals something to us that he would like to receive from us Or that he would like to transform in our life or a memory in our life He would like to go into or something in our life that's continually troubling to us or a repetitive pattern of sin Whatever it's just so easy for us to like Adam and Eve try to seize the fruit for ourselves and try to You know maintain some sort of autonomy that which is not even possible But that versus like sitting with the lord saying lord i'm terrified And it's okay to be afraid like like you're saying like it's it's okay like this lenten journey is We're gonna there's gonna some things that are going to come to our heart that are going to They're going to scare us and that's okay Like jesus is not afraid and he's like can I just sit here with you? Like can I just can I be here with you in this? Can I be here and with you and why this particular fasting is so hard? Like can I be here with you in this relationship that you have with your mother that's so broken that you wish for something so different? Can I be here with you? That's christ wants to be with us and like we were saying earlier wherever wherever christ is wherever the spirit of lord Is there is freedom wherever christ is there's healing you know always And did you want to chime in there was a quote That struck both of us that I wanted to get into on page 63 the quote from the exorcist that you said you think about every day I think I will think about it every day Um, but before we dive in and did you have anything? No, I just have to admit my guilty obsession was my 800 pound life That's another one It fascinates me Yes It's yeah the study of humanity. Yeah. Yeah, that's so true. So let's get into that quote claire. I love that quote too Do you want to read it? Do you have it? I have it on my screen. Do you have it on paper? I have it on i'm a paper Sister we didn't get the actual hard copies of the book yet They were trying to send it to us, but you know how the mail is these days So we didn't get it. So just forgive me just a moment. Let me find it. Oh, and if you have it Should I share it? Yeah, you want to share it then Let me see if I can share it and read it a little so this is uh, this is um from the second week of lent and sister is talking about the ache for communion and um Look this quote from An exorcist friends of hers that is so powerful and so striking and so true Do you want to read it sister? Oh, sure. Yeah, sorry. It wasn't yeah, sure Um, these these are the words of my friend and he says after so many years of working with people and their deepest wounds Sins and sorrows I've come to realize a couple things about the nature of the battle we face on earth First our wounds are not arbitrary. They are not random Satan is like a sniper He intuits with his angelic intellect the destiny of every human person And he shoots his deadly arrows into the place that will do the most damage In order to thwart the flourishing of the person and god's plan for their life Satan succeeds when he can convince us to hate god hate ourselves and hate the wounds hate others for the wounds we bear But second in god's mysterious and divine sovereignty god allows satan this access only to make the wounded place And it's even more life-giving More beautiful more glorious than they would have ever been otherwise If we allow the restoration of these places Even satan's most vicious attacks are nothing in comparison to the immense sovereignty and love of god And the profound transformation that can take place Yeah, that quote just I I have literally thought of it pretty much every day since father told me that and It's amazing to talk about that and to see people's faces when we think about You know many times if so i'm just going to ask you just for a second in your heart for all of us here today If you could recall with jesus, what are some of your deepest wounds? Like and if you're very honest and some of them might be hard to think of and i'm just going to invite you Just with the lord if you could just think of some of your deepest wounds, whether that's They were wounds that were self-inflicted. They were wounds from mom and dad They were wounds from other people in your life They're their sicknesses. It's death. It's divorce. It's abuse. It's just being overlooked a lot Maybe, you know, you were one of many kids and he just felt like nobody ever saw you all these things And to understand that in those places many times we harbor shame and we we harbor self-hatred against ourselves many times in our deepest wounds But to understand that those wounds that were inflicted upon us, especially in childhood those wounds are not random They're not arbitrary that the enemy has an enemy has done this And satan comes to steal kill and destroy and he is trying to take us out And so I think that just understanding that These are not places where jesus hates us. These are not places that disqualify us from his love Like these are these are the very places that he The lord was so deeply delights To come into these places and the places where the enemy wants to destroy us It's the places where we experience the love of christ and it's in these places where we give The love of christ in a fragrance that nobody else can give but us through these very places It's it's it is that the christian paradox It is from the deepest death comes the greatest life And that's that's true. It's it's like think that staggering reality kind of helps us Reshift how we see ourselves and also our wounds, but also how do we you know allow the lord to come? So instead of pretending they're not there or pretending everybody else has issues and they should work on them But we're fine, which is just one of our self-defense mechanisms that to be like, okay, lord What are the places where where love has been interrupted? Where are the places where I am self-reliant? What are the places where I have really some severe self-defense mechanisms and just some you know Some protectors some, you know, really places where I'm just not going to let anybody in where I've made vows Like nobody can be trusted. I'll never be well. I will never Be seen I nobody understands me all the things that just our hearts ache But it's in those very places where jesus comes to transform us in a very unique way. So Yeah, that's a that's a deeply profound reality that I think I know for me has really transformed My areas of deepest wilderness. I'm like, oh that that wasn't random That was if there would you talk a little bit about protectors and just a titch of ifs for Yeah, I mean we use the word protectors in a therapy system called the internal family systems where it talks about These are the the parts of our hearts that try to keep us safe So many it's the places where we control or it's the places where we dominate or we criticize or we Have to have it all together or we have a kind of persona Like a persona that protects the tender vulnerable places inside, right? So if you could look at kind of like the armor like the armor that protects the the vulnerabilities inside and And those are what what are called like the exiles like the places where We hold areas of deep pain or neediness or sorrow or grief or shame like all the places that are very tender that don't Feel like safe enough and many times to allow Christ to come or anybody else to come close to so Most of us and we all have it kind of operating in different ways in our life And we can all see in ourselves probably in different relationships like oh, okay You know, but it's those places that are very tender That don't feel safe enough yet to come and just be and so we we massively You know protect them and so that's a lot of times. That's what we're doing in our life if they're through a variety of methods But yeah, they're pretty formidable when and just it's lovely that the lord doesn't he doesn't tire of visiting us there I love that concept and having no background in psychology or therapy or even healing ministry Actually through father boniface and the the program at st. Vincent for spiritual direction. I was introduced to this idea Oh, yeah And just praying with it has been incredibly powerful in this idea because it is the fracture like original sin fractures our relationship with god Fractures our relationship with other people and it splinters us inside And I had this realization that you know, the good shepherd He doesn't only go out To bring us back as individuals, but he searches out all the little parts of us That we have pushed away and that we have buried and that you know, they're little voices You know, we just try to stifle them But he wants to bring them home and I thought it was so beautiful. I was looking at you making this motion And there's the image of the trinity like right there so perfectly because that's our home Yeah, like this is the home that god is preparing for us with many room and there is room for all of our parts And it's right here where he dwells within us And just that idea of like bringing it all back integrating it Back into the place where he is I love it. I think I could just I'm so grateful to be introduced to this idea and I find that taking it to prayer has been Incredibly fruitful Yes, I agree with you it's it is helpful and And you see that I really You see that all of us have those little girl a little boy places inside, you know, and all the things that we bear and I was very convicted by the lord Some time ago from when that scripture passage is when the the children are coming to him so that he would touch them And so that he could bless them and play his hands So the parents are bringing their children to Jesus so he can place his hands on him because his touch is safe and it's healing And the disciples are rebuking them And I I love that Jesus says you don't do that Don't we don't don't do that But you let the little children come to me Because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these and then he placed his hands on them and he blessed them and We all have those little children inside and most of the time where the disciples were rebuking those places inside and we're so deeply harsh on ourselves and I'm not talking about you know being permissive with things that you don't need to be transformed not talking about that but just the Heart we are we are the we are the you know just rebuking the little parts of us and we're like get out of here You're causing so much problem in my life like get away And Jesus is just saying you you let them come to me You you let every single one of them come to me because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them And it belongs to you and don't do not prevent them And if we did nothing else this line other than just allow the little places the little aches of our hearts to come to the Lord Whoo, that would be transformative indeed Yeah I it reminds me of another passage that you quote later in the book From the gospel of john where mary's anointing The feet of jesus and judas is like what is she doing and the Lord says leave her alone? Yes, yeah, leave her alone That that's the passage that I've really hung on to and I think it's just it expresses that desire of the Lord For all those voices to be silenced that he does desire intimacy with us and healing for us and and to rebuke Even our own voices that tell us it's not for you it's for everybody else, but it's not for you It must not be for you Um Oh, it's so powerful and so beautiful. Yes glaring up before we move on anna and I were really struck by The idea of restoration and what that actually means I don't know and do you want to hop in or Yeah, and did you want to say something earlier? I was actually just going to shift what was really interesting as these parts in these places that I know i've experienced um Sometimes it's just too hard to go there by yourself And I was just thinking about how important Community is and or sometimes when you go into a healing retreat and to have the power of other people witnessing Those pain that pain um that christ uses them to help you go to that place because it may be incredibly difficult For someone to yes to actually go there Yeah, and that's kind of the next section of the book is the community piece of it Mm-hmm. Yeah No, and that's very true and I I um, I love that you said that both of you because It's I was I was on um A call or I was like kind of in a class a master class on the healing of trauma this last summer and and one of the They were therapists from all over the world and there it wasn't a christian It was just like a purely secular near a lot neurological kind of scientific study of trauma and healing of trauma And the beautiful thing is that every single one of them said, you know, what heals trauma It's communion Like that's the only thing that heals trauma is communion. It's not even a modality It's actually communion, which is what happens say even in a therapy office where You can sit with somebody and experience some deep emotion and go through some deep Areas of shame in your life and things that have happened to you and it's in a safe place And when you come back kind of set to yourself and you look at the therapist's face They they they see you and they and they love you and it regulates you and it brings communion It's the it's the it's the repair of the rupture, you know And that's That's the that's what holy connection. That's what holy attachment. Like those are secure attachments Like that's how we grow is through secure attachments of of strong warm Loving connection. That's how our hearts grow and that's how god relates to us like our connection is ultimately with him And so in the area of almsgiving That's what almsgiving does and we talk about almsgiving is originally giving money to something or giving clothes or things like that But it's much more than that It's really the gift like you're saying even the gift of presence most people You know shockingly enough don't want our unsolicited advice like they just you know, it's surprising They just want us to listen to them. They just want They want us to be with them and That rupture of our relationships with others which we see in every aspect of our life Like that's a a deep area that the lord desires to bring Wholeness and communion to and so the giving of alms the giving of ourselves the giving of Of forgiveness, which is the whole week dedicated to true what true forgiveness is the You know the admonishing the center of writing the wrongs of counseling the doubtful like all those things like those are great gifts that we Offer to to bring through the lord healing and communion. And so we're not meant to live solitary lives. Cristina is a fellowship It's not a solitary journey I I like to think about the topic of spiritual motherhood And how women in particular, I mean all of us are called to this life-giving kind of love But women in particular just have A capacity to bring life to the other spiritually emotionally And It's not limited to you know, the physical mothers but to the women in our lives who Give birth to us in so many ways Like you Like like the women, you know in your order and I know so many of them and they just Um just to be with you as life-giving Oh Thank you But I did I did like an said I loved that the way the angle that you took with the alms giving is it's really self gift It's not just you know Money tithing, you know giving away Um But it's but within all of that it's really the idea that i'm giving of myself to you And I was struck by um like the the gift of our presence It sounds Simple and easy And yet life is so busy. We are so used to multitasking And listening with one ear Or you know doing two things at one time and as a mom I am so the lord so often convicts me of my sin in that area of not being fully present to my people And so that part of your book really something I want to pray with this lint that might be my Something I really need to work on is just being available Um not necessarily having noise on Just having that space around me that they can come to me my kids, you know, especially in the evenings And just that i'm there and then i'm fully present and then i'm not trying to do two things But I turn and I look them in the eye eyes and i'm just There for them um Anyway, that was really Really powerful for me a reminder Oh gosh. Thank you for sharing that That's so beautiful and so true. Oh gosh, that's so true. Yeah It does it like you said it sounds easy, but it's it's shockingly difficult To really be present to somebody and not think in your head what you want to say Whether saying it or try to find a better argument or like try to fix their problem for them But just to be present. Oh my goodness. Yeah, yeah, or just finish that one last thing I mean how many times a day i'm like just a second Oh, I think I'll be right there. Yeah. Yeah, I'm clear. I better guess I i'm gonna stop calling you in the evenings Except for an Well in this presence this communion and like I guess we could go back to that restoration comment clear um, I was at uh boundaries group the other night and um our Our leader said, you know transformation isn't it's not it's not just changed because you can always change back But it's transformation is sealed Like it's good. Yeah, right. She told me that I was like, oh write that down Yeah, yeah, and just well claire had a really great analogy to just about how it's stronger claire go ahead Well, it was in the context of Restoration Transformation restoration and again, I love my bishop. I'm gonna I quote him all the time But he was saying in the we were talking about marriage and healing in a meeting once and he said He said I grew up on a farm And we were always like things were always breaking right so the tractors that the the tools the things Would break and then we would weld them back together And he said when it was repaired it was always much stronger than it had been in the beginning And he said that's really the biblical meaning of restoration It's it's like a recreation, but it's making it better than it was before So it doesn't mean okay. We're gonna go back to the garden And we're gonna be just like adam and eve no no no no with the coming of christ All of that was elevated to so much more and so it's that oh happy fault That and and it and that that quote from the exorcist was saying that you know saying is strategic He can see the way that god has designed you so beautifully and so perfectly in those areas That the world so desperately needs you and your gifts So he will take aim exactly there So those are the wounded places That god will come in and then you're not like damaged goods where it's like you're you're crippled now Yeah, no no no when he enters those places and restores them like the farm tools Yeah, you can be used in a way that you could not have been used even in god's original design for you I mean that to me is so staggering and so full of hope It's like no it's in those wounded places god actually intends to resurrect something Even greater than his original design um He's just so good. It's amazing Oh, that's a good word claire preach girl preach because that yeah, that's that that's a good That's a good word and that that's true That's how you know even psychologists say when you talk about like parents and like attunement and attachment You know like if you can just get it right half the time and repair the other half you're doing fine Like just it's the repair It is the repair that makes the difference like it's the repair of coming back and having the connection healed and it's made stronger and It is it's like, you know, you think of adam and even the garden Then you think about jesus crushing death and triumphing over it and we're living forever in his glory That's just like what you know, oh my gosh like the the The stunning realization of that kind of grace is the beauty of it. Yeah, my goodness And would you guys agree that? um I know for me I've definitely done this but a lot of times we've been on that cross for so long and we just beg for the resurrection We have a really hard time waiting in that tomb because going in that tomb We got to descend into those feelings and go to those places and that tomb really is that That daily prayer that we need to go and keep encountering these places and My spiritual director always says healing is like um and our wounds it's like a diamond And so you're just always shifting it so the whole spirit can shed light just looking at it a little bit differently Um, but again going back to those places. It just might be too hard To get off that cross and to wait in in that space and we just want the healing We just want the resurrection. We know that's the promise Um, so just the importance of supporting each other in that healing journey in this process in prayer and staying accountable to it That's so true People say we want to jump over holy saturday. I want to go from good friday to east or sunday And we don't want to and and all of us like you're saying and so beautifully All of us are constantly even living out the pascal mystery in different parts of our hearts like different facets of our life or In the life and some of us are in the crucifix some of us are in the death some of us are in the direction So it's like that's the continual Pascal mystery and I think like you said us coming alongside of each other and I think that's one of the beautiful things about Love is and when we sit Next to people and you know, we're not trying to push them out of their their tomb either that we're sitting there with them And we're reminding them of who they are we're reminding them of who god is We're reminding them that they're not alone that we're with us We're with them that this is not the end of their story that we're and it's that that's the kind of role Presence, you know of what the lord comes to our tombs and he raises like Lazarus, you know He comes to our tomb and and he raises us from them. He doesn't try to pretend like he wasn't dead You know, he just he raises him from that and so yeah, that's we need each other. It's we do we deeply need each other Well, I told you both before we started earlier today So we're just going to let the holy spirit lead this and look he's led us all the way through holy week Holy saturday And uh, I was telling ann we were talking I said, I love holy saturday I love the idea That when all looks dead And silent and it looks like nothing is happening which so often It's a reflection sometimes of our prayer Are what our interior like experiences The most powerful work is happening and like jesus christ has descended and is breaking thousands of years a bondage and opening up eternity But nobody knows it yet You know, and I think about him being in the tomb but alive like like Coming back to life in the tomb before He emerges like just the power of that moment Um, sometimes that's our experience. It's like the lord is there. He's right there with us and yet it's all dark and but the resurrection is at hand and and And that's the whole point and that's a reflection of our experience with the lord so And that's the journey right and that's it's hard to believe we're talking about lent actually I mean, we just like we still have christmas ornaments laying around the house So it's crazy, but it's it's gonna be upon us. It's not too early to start Praying about what the lord has for us and these seasons are These these seasons have grace Mm-hmm That will never come again. Amen that are offered and it's you know, it's an opportunity. So Um, so We're almost done. I can't believe it. That was the fastest hour of my week. I don't know about the rest of you um, and did you want to talk about some of the um Other resources we well first of all the book Ave Maria press comm can order the book. Um, I have a code for free shipping We'll include it in the email. Yeah, we'll include the links and everything. It's it's restore in all caps for free shipping um If you want to discuss the book or listen to a discussion of the book abiding together podcast dot com sign up because sister and um Michelle benzinger and heather kim are going to be spending their lent With us talking about the book. So what a great way to dive even deeper Um In this journey with them I like the lentin books that you're picking the last few years by the way. Oh, yeah It's really beautiful. It really is the Holy Spirit that chooses them and it's just interesting to see We usually every advert ever lent for sure, but we every advent We've we've done a couple different things, but yeah, and it's just the thing I can't tell you how many times in our community people like that is what I needed to read this slide I didn't know it so Yeah Well, I'll plug claire if anybody missed last year's abiding together study on st. Elizabeth of the trinity the present paradise You guys can go back and listen. Um, if you would like to enter into Lent with st. Elizabeth Yeah, that rock people's world last year car. They loved it. It was oh, she's She's my girl. Yeah. Yeah, so it was so good so good on so many levels. Thank you so much Uh, and there's a course too. Did you want to talk about and because it's related to what we were talking about today coming up? Yeah, Dr. Jeff Thompson's got a course coming up in may may second St. John of the cross from heal the psyche to divine union And it touches on some of this healing stuff that we've been going through. It's the psychology of st John of the cross and um, he's also got a We have another webinar with him on the avala army site that we did a few months ago on mental prayer and attachment theory If anyone wants to check that out And if you're part of the army, um at st. Gabriel level, you can always listen to the recording of this class as well Whenever you want on demand, but that if you want to take that class live, it's going to be may second through june 13th And then we also have Because the life of healing like we said begins with prayer So there's a study that endow is offering with Stephanie Burke and Simone riskala of endow On st. Teresa of avala the doctor of prayer and so Tune in for that sign up on spiritualdirection.com and you can get all the news about all the things and stay in the loop um I think that's enough for now sister. Did you have any resources though? You're so well read And did you have anything else you wanted to mention if people besides your book? want more Well, I think that the the book I recommend most to people is the book by dr. Bob shoots called be healed Yeah, that is the number one book I recommend across the nation and It is a book on everything we talked about this evening and he's a marriage and family therapist dr. Bob shoots He's been a therapist for over 40 years just Wonderful catholic holy man. And so that that is a great book He also recently released a book called be restored Which is about the particular areas of sexual brokenness as well And so all of us have areas of brokenness in our mask and femininity and if that's something that you really feel like Maybe this lent the Lord's asking you to just journey with him in that I would highly recommend be restored as well Like they're just out all of his books are great, but those two especially are outstanding awesome Do we want to have a little q&a? Do you do you do you have a little bit more time? Are you gonna run? All right? If anyone has any questions for sister Please feel free to put them in the chat box. We'll just do a few minutes of a q&a here If you guys can Is the chat open? I guess we just wowed everyone so much Do you attend 12 step meetings? I have I have attended many 12 step meetings in my life Yes, and I've heard a lot of wisdom in those rooms. Yeah, I've heard some interesting things as well But I've heard a lot of wisdom and I every time I've gone to a 12 step meeting I've always heard something that I needed to hear and so I've never regretted it So those are and if you could there some are better than others So if you find a really good 12 step meeting for whatever is your particular sorrow in your life or the place you want to grow the most I would I would highly recommend it Great Do you have any healing retreat scheduled? Yes, so I do a lot of work with the john paul 2 healing center So if you go to our website, it's jpii healing center dot org You will find all of our upcoming retreats. We have retreats for priests. We have reduced relay people We also take the retreat across the nation is called healing the whole person. So I don't know where we'll be in the coming months, but we'll be in several places in 2022 We have a marriage retreat happening this weekend on it's you can go in person or virtual So if you check out their website, you can jump on the live stream Bob gives one marriage retreat a year so that it's really great. So yeah, we always have a lot of wonderful things going on Go ahead and go ahead and ask about the boundaries meeting. That's something I do hear locally But if you would like it virtually Maybe we could do it through av soon. So I learned all about boundaries through an you're like my personal boundaries coach I love I think that's like every third word you say but I we need it. Yeah, especially for me. I have no boundaries Welcome to the club. I'm a recovering codependent. So there you go How would I know what Jesus is calling me to during lent? It's confusing knowing if it's my voice or his Well, I'm sure Father Boniface could give you some steps for That's another hour Um, I think you know sitting with the Lord and looking at the fruit of that So what would be the fruit of it notice like what happens in your heart when that stirs in your heart? Um, and then maybe kind of listing it down like what what the Lord might be asking of you And just kind of noticing where your heart rests with those things And if you don't have a spiritual director I would talk to a good friend because friends can often help us see the things we need to see and they They might be able to look at the list and say, hey, you know, what do you think about this? And like, oh girl, it's about time, you know, so I think that's a really good idea But you always look at the fruit of it. So what are the fruits of that particular area? Even if it's hard So even if there's choppy water up here if if sometimes, you know We can know the Lord's asking us to do something and on the surface it can be a bit of turmoil But our heart is peace. We know we're like, oh, I know this is what the Lord's asking me to do I think it's important for us. So just to notice that, you know And the Lord is always speaks in order and balance So the Lord is never going to ask us to do something chaotic or something that would endanger us also as well So to kind of notice that as well. So the Lord's very simple and he's very good And he speaks in line with himself Amen How do you find a spiritual director? Um Spiritualdirection.com we have a download 10 steps to finding a spiritual director. Yes, we do First step pray Ask the Lord Um And clear is that resource of easily available on the site somewhere? Do you know what go to spiritualdirection.com and just google 10 steps and it'll to speaking of 10 steps Um To finding a spiritual director and it's just ideas It's just a starting point But you're at the beginning is to pray and ask the Lord he wants it for you more than you want it for yourself If he's put the desire on your heart That comes with it a promise that he will fulfill that in his time and and in his way So be faithful to that and like um sister you were saying in the meantime like good spiritual friends and mentors and Small groups things like that are just irreplaceable in our spiritual life. We are made for communion. Like it is it's necessary You're not meant to go at the salon. So just persevere The Lord is raising up more spiritual directors. So like hang on Yeah, they're coming father. There was like 20 some in our last class. So Yeah, it's it's exciting to see it is a movement of the Holy Spirit and along with healing and along with all of these Amazing ministries that are that are coming to light. It's a movement of the Holy Spirit I think to it's another element of healing spiritual direction. So Don't forget seek direction dot app Yes, a new resource. We're going to be doing a webinar on that in March. So Again, stay tuned So cool You want to do one more and one more question? Yeah, it's kind of a good one. Um, What does your reset look like when you feel far from grad or in a dry season or dry days? What does your reset look like? Yeah I think Well, I mean, I think it's the continued showing up every day But sometimes we just need to take kind of a little bit of time out and maybe have a desert day And just go spend some time with the lord and just put our phone away grab some scriptures Grab a good book and just bring a journal and go go to mass go to confession Go make a good confession and just sit with lord and say lord. What's going on? You know, what's what's going on? What are you? What are you inviting me to and And you to kind of just choose to begin again, you know, like we talked about and the word is heavily overly used the word intentional is heavily overused but It's true like our life really, you know, our character and our life is made up of the thousands of little decisions that we make every single day And we know that's true in every aspect of our life in every aspect And so I think sometimes maybe maybe let is that for you like maybe it's ash Wednesday or a day in lint We're like, nope I need to just spend some time and just and literally hit the reset button and say, okay I want to what are you asking me or what's what's going on? What are the things I want to avoid in my life or what's stirring that's making my heart sing? You know And just spend some time with the lord and begin and begin anew and just try do the just do the one thing Do one thing and do it well. I mean, even if it's for like that's all you got to do Just do the one thing and do it well because we can't do the 10 so we can do the one so Yeah And one last thing because a couple of people actually wrote it right in a row Right in a row. So I want to just mention it real quick. They're just clarifying between Jesus healing versus us fixing Yeah Yeah, fixing is kind of more of an I think like this. It's like a machine or like there's something wrong with you Okay, and Jesus never looks at us and said there's something wrong with you Like what st. Julian of Norbert says that when God sees our sin he sees our pain Like he sees where our hearts have been broken So nobody wants to be fixed We're not something to be fixed for people to be loved and and loved is what love is what brings us into communion Time doesn't heal all wounds. It's it's love that heals all wounds And so Jesus isn't coming to like fix us and kind of make us and then kind of set us back into the world on our own He's coming to bring us into relationship with himself So he's not looking at us as a project or he's not looking at us of like, oh my gosh, get yourself together He sees us in our wholeness and that's why he can restore us because he can bring us back to the truth Of who we are who we already sees us to be who we already exist before him And it's his love that does that His his his sight is not one of problem solving his sight is one of wholeness and communion because he deeply loves us Wow, what a great way to What a great note to end on and I just want to invite everybody to pray for sister Miriam and your ministry of healing pray for all of those who need to hear this message and Whether it's through this book restore or through your speaking In all the ways that you touch people just that the Lord would continue to anoint you and And keep his right hand on you and and bless bless people through you. So Thank you. I received that. Thanks be to God. Thank you Father Boniface, could we ask you to Give us your blessing tonight Happily Let us pray Heavenly father, thank you for the great gift of this time For the beautiful things that you have done in the hearts Ann and Claire and sister Miriam that allow us through their conversation to touch Your love in a very personal and tangible way Help us to retain all that you spoke to our hearts That it might continue our healing journey with you and deepen our relationship with you Bless these women richly and bless all of those who have participated in this Zoom cast And may almighty God bless you the father and the son and the holy spirit Amen Thank you, father Thank you, sister Miriam and thank you everybody for coming tonight. You're all in our prayers We're so grateful for you and we look forward to spending Lent with all of you in prayer. God bless you