Faith, Trust, Love, Healing

Faith =Trust=Love=Healing

“Faith is often understood as accepting something you can’t understand. The Greek word for faith is pistis, meaning “trust.” Whenever Jesus says to people he has healed: “Your faith has saved you,” he is saying that they have found a new life because they have surrendered in complete trust to the love of God.”—Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).

trust

Henri Nouwen speaks to us this morning about faith in God. He reminds us that often, we see faith as believing or accepting something we cannot explain or understand.  

Jesus, however, says faith is trust, trust in the unconditional love of God for us that never ends. Knowing this keeps us from looking for and demanding love from other people, other things than God. Addictions are love for something other than God. Family misunderstandings are brought about because, in essence, we do not feel loved or cared for by other family members.  

We do not feel appreciated by other friends after all we have done for them. We have given our lives to our work, family, and church, and we perceive they now no longer appreciate us. We have offered conditional love. We have forgotten what unconditional love is like because we have stopped offering unconditional love or believing in it.

Whenever Jesus tells those he has healed, “Your faith has saved you,” he is saying you have surrendered in complete trust to the love of God. The surrender, the trust in an unconditional love continually offered by our God, has healed our hearts and souls even if the physical healing never occurs.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

The Sacred Labyrinth

The Sacred Labyrinth

Guest Writer Patty Kohler

labyrinth St. Francis, Heber Springs

Praying

“It doesn’t have to be

the blue iris, it could be

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try

to make them elaborate, this isn’t

a contest, but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which

another voice may speak.”—Mary Oliver

St. Scholastica

Mary Oliver’s simple poetry resonates with my soul because of its simplicity. This verse recalls the circuits of a labyrinth, so often made of a few small stones, evoking silence. It beckons the walker through a liminal doorway into another world composed of gratitude and thanksgiving, surrounded by the sweet music of silence. In this in-between state, my monkey mind chatter falls away; each thought drops from my conscious mind, landing softly onto the earth’s receptive arms.

The labyrinth pathway is designed to provide a place to pause at its opening and begin a slow release of all that competes with our entire presence. Stepping in, we let go of what has transpired earlier in the day, what is rolling through our heads, or even what might be coming up in the next few hours. For now, we will begin the slow walk, leading only to the center.

The path may veer closer to the middle or loop to the outskirts of the labyrinth. Still, it gently leads us to the middle, allowing us to discard, at least temporarily, all those ideas, worries, and concerns that plague our minds. Left with a quiet mind and shuffling our feet, we walk the circuitous route around and around, turning at unexpected places into the waiting center.

Thus emptied, when we reach the center, we stand, sit, or even gaze around us at the path that has led us here. In this spot, we open ourselves to receive whatever Spirit has to give us. We soak it in, gratefully gather Love, Peace, and Life to us, and receive with gratitude. Here, we remain as long as we are led to soak it in, filling us up silently.

As we prepare to leave the labyrinth’s center, our steps are retraced, and we gradually rewind our way to the labyrinth’s entrance. We reflect, sometimes with awe and wonder, on what has been received. We silently return, knowing that somehow, this brief pilgrimage has changed us in some subtle way.

Again, we may walk nearer the center or the edge as we contemplate and return. The labyrinth, an ancient symbol of unity and wholeness, has fed us, and we are ready to step out and move back into our lives and the world.

Excerpt from In Circles

“Everywhere and ancient the circle

is repeated, shaping us to its original wisdom.

Give us each day or daily hunger,

to be more than we are now,

to be less solitary selves doubting our place,

to be more a circle of connection and acceptance,

spherical harmony of the heavens.

Each one a single voice, a sacred story,

but always in the larger circle of meaning and mystery.”—Gary Boelhower

World Labyrinth Day this year was May 3, 2025. It is always the first Saturday in May. It is still not too late to honor others around the world who will be walking the labyrinth with you. To find a labyrinth near you, go to https://labyrinthlocator.com/

Patty Kohler, Ed.D.

Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator

van Buren

“Now, if I hear the sound of the genuine in me, and if you hear the sound of the genuine in you, it is possible for me to go down in me and come up in you. So that when I look at myself through your eyes, having made that pilgrimage, I see in me what you see in me, and the wall that separates and divides will disappear, and we will become one because the sound of the genuine makes the same music.”   Howard Thurman

Joanna Seibert joannaseibert.com

Resurrection Stories

Resurrection Stories

“Our memory of Jesus’ resurrection fails us if we only understand his resurrection as a miracle. Jesus’ resurrection was indeed a miracle; however, Jesus’ resurrection needs to be more than a miracle. It needs to be normal … every day … how we live and breathe: with resurrection power.”—Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE, from “Brother, Give Us a Word,” a daily email sent to friends and followers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE.org).

This is at the heart of spiritual direction, encouraging spiritual friends to see daily, yearly resurrection in their lives in the daily Good Fridays that present themselves. It often takes more than three days to become aware of these resurrections. However, as we become more conscious of the resurrections, we become more open to trust and a little more patient that there will be a resurrection from each new darkness we face.

empty tomb

My experience is that I most often draw closer and spend more time with God during the darkness. On the dark Good Fridays of my life, I learn about surrender, where I “re-turn” my life and my will over to God. We learn to look for a tiny light in the darkness to lead us through it to a new, resurrected life.

A close family member or friend dies. We learn about the sacredness of life and spend more time living in the present with gratitude for each day. We learn to honor and be grateful for our relationship by extending to others the love and kindness we knew in that relationship.

Our children act out. We see our part in it and try to change our relationship with them.

Our job becomes more and more difficult. But then, we finally leave it, or maybe even are fired. But, after much time, we find a job that is our bliss.

 A medical illness slows us down. We seek a more meaningful life by living at a slower pace, a day at a time.

We are caught in our addiction and lose our job. We change our whole lifestyle and outlook to live without the addiction.

Someone has harmed us mentally, physically, or spiritually. Over time, we realize that unless we can forgive and move on, that person is still hurting us. We then slowly learn about daily forgiveness for the small hurts we feel each day.

Miracles become the ordinary. We see God at work in our lives. Resurrection.

A gift of the past pandemic was to slow down our lives and live in the present moment. Slowing down is one of the best ways to see ordinary miracles. This is resurrection.

Today, our prayers are also for those whose lives could not slow down, especially our healthcare workers and first responders.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/