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Psychological Healing
in the Catholic Mystic Tradition

Questions and Answers

. . . although I want to grow spiritually, I am afraid because I have been overwhelmed by the cross and God did not give any respite despite my call to Him and at the back of my mind there is this thought: If I grow closer to God, I will be given a heavier cross. I don’t think I can take any more crosses. The saints are made of hardier stuff than me.

 
All you have to do to become a saint is want to become a saint. Keep in mind here that saints are made through love and trust, along the way of the cross, not born into piety.

Keep in mind also that the weight of any cross is purely subjective. The more you are attached to the world—and to defending your own pride—the heavier any cross will feel; the more you are detached from the world, through genuine humility, the lighter any cross will feel.

Now, you might say that you don’t know how to love or how to trust. Well, the answer is surprisingly simple: just follow the spiritual counsels on this website and you will learn love and trust directly from the hands of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and all the saints.

It’s not easy, but it is really very simple—simple enough that even someone of great fear and little trust can become a saint. In fact, the Church is founded on and built of such persons.

  

AT ONCE Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
     Peter said to Him in reply, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
     He said, “Come.”
     Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
     But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
     Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

  

—Matthew 14:27-31

 
Postscript: It’s Very Simple

The truth is, the Christian faith is simplicity itself. It doesn’t require a philosopher to understand it. It simply requires a chaste and pure life dedicated to holy love. But, as one of my clients told me, “Yes, it’s all so simple. But until the mind has been cleansed of all the filth of its anger and hostility and resentment, it can’t see how simple everything is.”

Yes, if you are carrying resentment, you can’t carry the cross.

So do everything and anything it takes—prayer, scrutiny, and, if necessary, psychotherapy—to cleanse your mind and heart of anger, hostility, and resentment, now, while you have the chance.

 

Who wrote this web page?

 

Healing
Psychological Healing in the Catholic Mystic Tradition


by Raymond Lloyd Richmond, Ph.D.


A treasure of a resource for psychological and spiritual healing. Information gathered from my websites is now available at your fingertips in book form with a comprehensive index.
 
Psychological defenses help to protect us from emotional injury, but if you cling to the defense mechanisms that were created in your childhood and carry them on into adulthood—as most everyone does unconsciously—your quest for spiritual healing will be thwarted by overwhelming resentments and conflicts.
 
Still, God has been trying to show you that there is more to life than resentment and conflict, something so beautiful and desirable that only one thing can resist its pull: hate.
 
So now, and in every moment until you die, you will have a profound choice between your enslavement to old defenses and the beauty of God. That decision has to come from you. You will go where you desire.

More information

 

 


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Where Catholic therapy (Catholic psychotherapy) is explained according to Catholic psychology in the tradition of the Catholic mystics.