It is an honor to welcome two incredible leaders onto the podcast today, Mother Superior Gloria Therese and Sr. Regina Marie of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. Several years ago, their community of Carmelite Sisters reached a crisis point. The Order had been founded during a period of religious persecution in Mexico and compounded by individual trauma they were collectively in need of deep healing. Mother Superior and Sr. Regina Marie discovered Dr. Bob’s ‘Healing the Whole Person’ and soon the entire Community had taken the program. Together, the Sisters recount this profound experience of rediscovering their stories and learning to trust that God can use our brokenness to minister to the world. Theirs is a story of hope and a picture of God’s deep desire for our wholeness.

Guiding Quote:

I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them. - Isaiah 42:16

Key Points:

• How the Sisters came into contact with Dr. Bob’s work
• None of us pass through childhood without some need for healing because it is such a vulnerable time in our lives
• Sr. Regina Marie shares about a family tragedy that occured in her teenage years and how she found healing when Jesus came into the memory
• Sister reveals how unhealed trauma affected her leadership with the Carmelite Sisters
• What artificial harmony is and how that impacts relationships in a community
• A brief history of the traumatic events which shaped the history of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart
• What the Carmelite community looks like now that they’ve been through the ‘Healing the Whole Person’ program
• A word to other religious communities who may find themselves in need of healing

Practical Application:

1. Do you find yourself living out ‘artificial harmony’? How might you take the first step to become more integrated in spaces where you tend to do this?
2. In prayer, ask Jesus where he has been in your story. Ask him to show how he has been with you through hard things, even if you didn’t feel his presence at the time.
3. Invite Jesus into any specific memories which you may find yourself revisiting. Ask him to reveal himself in the scene and to be with you there.

Resources:

• Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles (website)
• Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart on Facebook
• Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart on Twitter
• The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila (book)
• The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross (book)
• Be Healed, Dr. Bob Schuchts (book)
• Healing the Whole Person (retreat)
• The 4 Disciplines of a Healthy Organization (video)

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