“I could easily have created men possessed of all that they should need both for body and soul, but I wish that one should have need of the other, and that they should be My ministers to administer the graces and the gifts that they have received from Me” (The Dialogue, Catherine of Siena).
Welcome Virginia, Michele, Katelin, Christine, Cindy, Janice, and Kenneth, Bible Study Evangelista’s newest friends of the show!
Study Audio
Action Items
As you carry your cross with Jesus:
- Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary for the cross you carry.
- Judge yourself in the confessional, so your sin will not be held against you at the last judgment.
- If you struggle with boundaries (which is a lack of charity), watch Candice’s video in which she explains that a lack of boundaries sometimes proceeds from trauma bonds.
LOVE the Word™ is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. This week’s LOVE the Word™ exercise is according to a Augustinian* personality approach.
Listen (Receive the Word.)
“You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:17-19).
Observe (Connect the passage to recent events.)
Did Jesus correct anyone while carrying His cross?
As best you can, identify where you are judging yourself through perfectionism and others in condemnation.
What do you see in yourself in the mirror of your difficult neighbor?
What situation in your life has gotten out of control due to your unwillingness, for whatever reason, to erect proper boundaries or to confront your neighbor before you lose control in anger, whether anger toward the person directly, to someone else in gossip or slander, or interiorly with thoughts of revenge, resentment, or hatred?
Where do you lack charity toward yourself or your neighbor in offering a measured, rational, unemotional reproof?
Where do you lack charity in offering yourself or your neighbor forgiveness?
In what instance recently did you stand in God’s place as judge?
How does this passage offer you hope?
Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
In your journal or on your journal page (get a free page to the right), write down your thoughts and feelings about these verses. What’s the main thing God wants you to know from this passage? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through the mystery of how Jesus carried His cross?
Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)
Abba, Father, show me what it means to take up my cross and follow Jesus.
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*LOVE the Word™ exercises vary weekly according to the four personalities, or “prayer forms,” explored in Prayer and Temperament, by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey: Ignatian, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Thomistic. These prayer forms correspond to the Myers-Briggs personality types.
Episode Resources
Here’s the private Facebook discussion page for the Healing the Father Wound series, if you want to join in the conversation with a little more privacy, as I do.
What is the Rosary?
JPII’s Encyclical Letter, Dives in Misericordia, on God as Father
References
1Co 11:31-32 But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jas 4:11-12 Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He that speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?
Luke 8:17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.
Mat 5:21-26 You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.
Luke 12:57-59 And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper.
Luke 9:23 Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.…
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
Read the Transcript
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Courtesy of Kristie Hynniman, who does our transcriptions for you.
This Week’s Video, Candice Ruttner-Duryea Lmft
Photo Credit
https://unsplash.com/photos/6XcziMmkNgQ
Thank you, Sonja, for another great bible study. I have a question concerning authority as to what is the extent of authority we as everyday Catholics have.The reason I ask is that I spent 40 years in the non-denominational evangelical world and it was taught that the individual believer has the authority to control the weather, job preferences, and whatever positive outcome that was desired. So what is the extent of authority for the everyday Catholic Christian?
We have authority over ourselves and our families, and whatever other realms we are responsible for, and that’s about it. Even then, we cannot force people to do what we want (except children). We have authority in order to use it for the good of those under us. Fathers/husbands have authority over wives and children and homes in order to sacrifice themselves for their good. Mothers also have authority over their children and homes, under husbands.
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Angels and demons understand and obey authority: When we abdicate proper authority we place those under us in spiritual peril. When we resist or rebel against proper authority we remove ourselves from the spiritual protection proper to that relationship and open ourselves to attacks.
I can’t thank you enough for your incredibly enlightening words of counsel on attachment/trauma bonds. This shed much needed light on so many relationships in my life and how I can begin to approach them differently. May God reward you for your loving service to his people. Thank you!