Relationships (especially in our vocations) are Providentially meant to teach us authentic love - how to give it, and how to receive it. As a matter of charity, aggressive personalities must learn to respect others' proper boundaries, and passive personalities must learn to erect proper boundaries. And all of us must learn authentic forgiveness. 

Thank you to my newest Friends of the Show, Julie M; Denise S; and Amanda W, for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content and monthly meet-ups with Sonja: We're studying the Book of Romans!


LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja’s method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.  
L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.)

﻿
O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.)
Hold a crucifix in your hand, and meditate on the differences it teaches you between forgiveness, reconciliation, and relationship, and where repentance is required.
V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
Tell Him everything in your heart right now. Take the risk, and ask Him to help you discern His message under the anger and hurt. 
Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.
E | Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful. Enkindle in them the fire of Your love, and there shall be a new creation, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. +
Connect
Take the next step in your healing journey. Join me in Sacred Healing, where I'm offering healing prayer livestreams, Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you experience deeper healing. 

What We Discussed | Show Notes
Overview:
Minutes 00:12:00 – pop quizzes; back to the Garden; the New Adam and the New Eve
Minutes 12:01-24:00 – what is authentic love?; 1 Cor 13 and Eph 5:22-33
Minutes 24:01-36:00 – all vocations are married to God; Ephesians 5:22-33 as model for authentic marriage relationships
Minutes 36:01-48:00 – what is forgiveness?; erecting proper boundaries, especially in abusive relationships
Transcript
Click here for a transcript of the show.

05_Authentic Love & Boundaries, Cherished Series

You’ve heard all your life that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But no one ever told you how. Sacred Healing 12:30 will teach you how to live authentically from the wholyistic love of God in Mark 12:30.

Religion & Spirituality

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Buddhism

Hinduism

Judaism

Islam

The point in "healing the inner child" is illustrated and affirmed by an ancient psychological/mythological idea that the way to full maturity is to find what you lost as a child and regain it. The recovery of the child revivifies the adult by teaching the adult how to play, trust, and wonder without judgment again, but with the added maturity and knowledge of being an adult who knows how to organize and protect oneself in the world. The inner child finally gets to express him/herself from a place of safety rather than fear and danger.
In this wrap-up episode, I offer a case study that might help put all the pieces together, and a reminder from St. Thérèse to stay "little," give Jesus your littleness and little sacrifices, and leave the rest to Him. 

 
 

Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Barney C; Corinne C; Laurie D; and Lee Ann K, for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! 

Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is epic! You coming?

LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja’s method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.  
L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.)

﻿ 
O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.)
Has this series taught you anything more than you knew about St. Thérèse and being "little"? Are you more comfortable with younger parts of yourself than before? Are there parts that you still have trouble "welcoming"? What do you want to say to the Holy Spirit about that?
V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.
E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.)
Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen +
Love Heals. Learn More.

Connect
Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. 
What We Discussed | Show Notes
Thérèse of Lisieux sacrifice beads at Vianney beads on Etsy.
Overview:
Minutes 00:00-12:00 – Back to Thérèse and her last year; Sister Marie and the linen room
Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Case study on the late-life illumination of a personality projection
Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Self-sufficiency and Pharisaism block healing
Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Seeing and accepting personality projections (underneath behavior issues) without allowing them to rule; how judgments in our vocations are meant to help us "see" and experience ourselves, God, and others in deeper communion
Transcript
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09 Ep#502 Back to Thérèse & the Series Takeaway

Listen, Pharisee, the reason you're lonely, the reason you don't feel "chosen," the reason God hasn't thrown you a party (Parable of the Prodigal), is because you're full of judgments that block communion within yourself and between you and the Father, so that you can't feel comfortable enough with Him to even ask for a party. And if he threw you one now, in the state of Pharisaism you're in, you'd just condemn yourself for wastefulness and not deserving it.
As soon as we turn back to our inner child, as soon as we extend some sympathy, boundaries, and forgiveness - for ourselves and others - the Pharisee steps in to judge: "How dare you let yourself or them get away with that!"
Pharisaism is the wound of the world, because while the "sinful" have obvious evidence of their need for healing love, the Pharisee has his shit together, and therefore cannot see the dark, dead judgments inside himself that prevent healing communion.  

Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Clement O; Connie V; Jackie B; Gaylene M; Holly R; Carolyn C; and Mary G, for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! 

Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is epic! You coming?

LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja’s method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.  
L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.)

﻿
O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.)
Did the Holy Spirit bring to mind a judgment that you've been projecting onto others or Him in this episode? Can you discern the contradiction underneath with Him?
V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.
E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.)
Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen +
Love Heals. Learn More.

Connect
Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. 
What We Discussed | Show Notes
Overview:
Minutes 00:00-12:00 – How the inner Pharisee steps into the Little Way process
Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Unforgiveness and Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes; Catholics and Protestants; Pharisaism as anger at self and God
Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Psychology 101 on judgments as projections; fear of God as projection of anger
Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Seeing and accepting personality flaws (underneath behavior issues) without allowing them to rule; how judgments in our vocations are meant to help us "see" and experience ourselves, God, and others in communion
Transcript
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08 Ep#501 How Pharisaism Blocks Healing Communion

All of our spiritual and emotional issues stem from an unconscious unwillingness to acknowledge the darkness in ourselves. In order to resist conscious "seeing" and acknowledging and doing something about the ugly truths in ourselves, we project them onto others, we distract ourselves, and in doing so, we disown parts of ourselves and those parts begin their tyranny. When enough of us do this, our world becomes as disordered as we are inside.
It's through conflicts and suffering that enough emotion can break through, consciously, to alert us of what we are not seeing. Eden shows us that if we see and acknowledge it - whatever the darkness is - we can take it to the Holy Spirit to help us heal and order it properly. If Adam and Eve had done this, rather than allowing themselves to be distracted by what was easier and more attractive in the moment, they would have had the knowledge of good and evil without the suffering, because the evil was with them in the Garden the whole time; they just didn't notice or acknowledge it as such.
Matthew 18, the Beatitudes, and Old Testament Jacob as a case study, help us with proper healing and ordering: working through pop quizzes, "turning back" to acknowledge and rescue the inner child, setting good boundaries for ourselves and others, and forgiveness for all. 

Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! 

Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is tonight! You coming?

LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja’s method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.  
L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.)

﻿
 
O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.)
Does looking at the Eden story from a psychological point of view help you understand why working through pop quizzes, "turning back" to the inner child, setting good boundaries, and forgiveness are so important to your growth and health? What do you want to say to the Holy Spirit about that?
V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.
E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.)
Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen +
Love Heals. Learn More.

Connect
Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. 
What We Discussed | Show Notes
Overview:
Minutes 00:00-12:00 – Review of Matthew 18 concepts, addition of the Beatitudes for understanding of the processes
Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Adam and Eve; the "shadow" or darkness inside; Jacob and deceit; Jacob's pop quizzes 
Minutes 24:01-36:00 – How the processes work for individuals vs. Christian brothers and sisters
Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Forgiveness
Transcript
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07 Ep#500 Acknowledging the Darkness

Somehow I suspect you've either recently been in a conflict where you were corrected or have seen a need or opportunity to offer correction to another. If not, perhaps it's just around the corner. How about some guidelines from Jesus about that? 

Because we are God's children, and He warns us sternly against "despising the little ones." After radical detachment, we have to "turn back" to rescue the lost sheep of our inner child, and the lost sheep in our original and church families when they are also our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Melanie D; Bruce R; Veronica W; Melinda M; Loren G; Tessa W; Lindsay B; Ann C; Carol S; Christina C; Vicki G; Anita C; Christin L; Emily P; Anne B; and Kevin G, for for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! 

Our Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is super deep! You coming?

LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja’s method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.  
L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.)

﻿
O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.)
Does a confrontation with someone loom in your life? Does having some guidance from Scripture help you navigate the issue? What do you want to say to the Holy Spirit about that?
V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.
E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.)
Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen +
Love Heals. Learn More.

Connect
Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. 
What We Discussed | Show Notes
Overview:
Minutes 00:00-12:00 – "turn back": 1) radical detachment, 2) pursue to the lost sheep, 3) correcting offenders 
Minutes 12:01-24:00 – despise = "to think against"; Jesus' promise of His presence in the process of correction
Minutes 24:01-36:00 – personal examples of "fraternal correction"
Minutes 36:01-48:00 – Church Fathers on fraternal correction
Transcript
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06 Ep#499 Rescuing the Lost Sheep: Fraternal Correction

Using Matthew 18 as a touch point for discussion of the inner child is what we call using a "spiritual sense" of Scripture. 

It's fascinating to me that Jesus emphasized His teaching in 18 and part of 19 by placing children before Him (remember that chapter and verse numbers were not in the original writings, but added for our convenience). 

Like flesh and blood parables, children bookend His teaching on boundaries, and we learn that not only are healthy boundaries necessary to faith in dealing with one another in the family of God, but they're also necessary in human and faith development, too. 

Thank you with all my heart to my newest Friends of the Show, Melanie D; Bruce R; Veronica W; Melinda M; Loren G; Tessa W; Lindsay B; Ann C; Carol S; Christina C; Vicki G; Anita C; Christin L; Emily P; Anne B; and Kevin G, for for loving and lifting me! Friends of the Show get all Premium Content! 

Our next Monthly Meetup Bible study in John is January 22 at 6:30 PM CST! You coming?

LOVE the Word® is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. Get the book based on Sonja’s method in the right margin, How to Pray Like Mary.  
L | Listen (Receive the Word via audio or video.)

﻿
 
O | Observe (Connect the passage to your life and recent events.)
Does learning something about the Stages of Faith development help to ease their inherent tension? What do you want to say to the Holy Spirit about that?
V | Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
Remembering that He loves you and that you are in His presence, talk to God about the particulars of your O – Observe step. You may want to write your reflections in your LOVE the Word® journal. Or, get a free journal page and guide in the right-hand margin.
E | Entrust (Rest in the Word.)
Dearest Jesus, my love, in the words of little Therese, "For me to become great is impossible." Help me bear with myself and my many imperfections as I seek to follow her means of getting to heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, The Little Way of the Child. Amen +
Love Heals. Learn More.

Connect
Join me (click here) in the Sacred Healing community for our Masterclass and Consultation Group coaching calls, healing prayer livestreams, monthly Bible studies, LOVE the Word® takeaways, a healing masterclass and other courses, a dynamic phone app, and a flourishing community to help you find help, support, and experience deeper healing. 
What We Discussed | Show Notes
Overview:
Minutes 00:00-12:00 – holiday review, psychological/mythological idea that the way to full maturity is to recover childhood, shadow parts
Minutes 12:01-24:00 – procedural memory in the brain, "the saints were crazy," two senses of scripture and subdivisions
Minutes 24:01-36:00 – hierarchy vs. relationships, characteristics of children
Minutes 36:01-48:00 – stages of faith, "fasting" from destructive relationships, detachment
Transcript
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05_Authentic Love & Boundaries, Cherished Series

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