Where do you see grace moving in the Church? How does this give you hope?
You know all too well what it’s like to have a fragmented mind. Even today, you have been solving problems, looking forward to dinner, viewing screens with idle curiosity, and wondering, deep down, why there is no longer a sense of settled peace in your innermost heart. Furthermore, beyond our universal cultural wounds of curiosity and mental fragilization, you have felt some of your deeper wounds that have grown from original sin — feeling rejection from one who should love you, broken trust, abandonment, feeling shame and powerlessness regarding your past sins.
You may be thinking: “Father, thank you for dredging up these wonderful, painful memories for me — so how does that give grace and hope!?” I’m glad you asked. We must be real with the state of our hearts, or we shall be doomed to forever skim the surface of superficial spirituality. “The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2563).
This year, I have witnessed many people discover a renewed vocabulary to name the movements of the heart and a deeper experience of the Gospel, opening this innermost sanctuary to definitively “choose life” in the way Jesus offers. For Jesus Christ to be our Savior means much more than being a heavenly gatekeeper. He desires to save us, here and now, from the lies of the devil that take root in our prideful self-reliance. Holiness is not developing an ideal spiritual routine or attending the most perfect liturgies (although both are good in themselves!) but having a living awareness and personal knowledge of the Son of God as He dwells in our hearts.
What is the source for this renewed understanding? Elements of this renewal exist in many parts of the Church. I have seen and experienced it personally in the work of Bob Schuchts and the John Paul II Healing Center. More than 250 people went through his Healing the Whole Person series this past spring at Sacred Heart Parish in Valley Park.
As I was privileged to minister there, I spoke with many who calmly and confidently confided: “Father, this marks a ‘before’ and ‘after’ for me. The teachings are all things I’ve heard before in the Catechism, but I’ve learned how to receive them in the heart and I now appreciate there is such abundance in our faith!” For me, when grace is undeniable, hope also becomes very real.
Father Charlie Archer is associate pastor of St. Peter Parish in Kirkwood.
