Traumatization of Spirituality Rohr edit

 Traumatization 

Of Spirituality

Richard Rohr

prayer, simplicity 

& poverty

The priests of the order did not take kindly to the suggestion that they needed 

reform demanded 

that St. John of 

 the cross stop his 

involvement. John.      said that he

  would not stop because he discerned in his heart that God was calling him to continue with his work. 

The priests 

who were mistreating him were people he had emulated

traumatization of spirituality

dark night of faith 


loss/experiencing access to God's sustaining presence in the midst
 of our struggles. 

Trauma is experience

of being   

powerless

 to establisha boundary between our self & that which is about to inflict, or is inflicting, serious harm or death.

the experience of 

imminent annihilation. 

people betray you. you can feel

that God has

 betrayed you.

this dark night we can learn from God how to find our way to a deeper 

experience/

 understanding God's sustaining presence, deeper than

 Institutions/

authority figures.

... although it was 

true that he could  not find refuge from 

suffering when he was in his prison cell, he also discovered

 that the suffering he had to 

endure had no refuge

from God's love

 that could take

his suffering away 

away but permeated 

suffering through

 mysterious

sustainability

Love protects us from nothing, even as it unexplainably sustains us in all
things.

Access to this
love is not
 limited by our 

finite ideas of what it is or what it should be. 

love overwhelms 

our abilities  to comprehend 

it. As it  sustains us

& draws us to itself in all   that life might send 

our way. 

have faith 

in knowing/
trusting no
matter what
 might be happening no 
 matter how painful it might be God is sustaining us in ways we 

cannot/do not need to know, 

 learning to be patiently transformed in this dark night 

we come to discover within 

ourselves, just when everything

 seems to be lost, we are being  sustained by the presence of God

 that will never lose us. 

As this painful yet transformative process continues to play itself out in our lives, we can and will discover we are finding our way to the peace of God that surpasses understanding.