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It has been my experience practicing pastoral counseling for 25 years that The
Christian Holy Season of Lent often is a time when clients are plumbing the
depths of their inner lives as they deal with issues in their lives. Father
Thomas Keating likens the season of Lent to Divine Therapy. A Trappist monk who
finds himself deeply into the discipline of prayer Fr. Keating would say that
the Christian theme of redemption is akin to divine mental health. In an
interview in Beliefnet, the online religious website, he sees the journey of
Jesus into the desert as “experiencing basic human instincts--security needs,
power-control needs, and affection-esteem needs.” These are the three
temptations that [Christ faced in the desert]; he address each one of those
issues. So the Christian theme or redemption, is another way of talking about
basic transformation of one’s life, where Lent proclaims that as human’s we have
the capacity, assisted by the spirit within us, to change our lives. Lent
becomes a time, a reminder, perhaps, that we can address our instinctual needs,
our unconscious conflicts.
The struggle of Jesus in the wilderness is symbolic of the need to address what
is in control of our lives. What is it that drives our lives: simply power,
security and our own need for affection? To quote Fr. Keating, “Lent is the time
to expect temptation and [experience] afflictive emotions such as shame,
humiliation, anger, greed, the time to look at how those instincts, which are
developed in early childhood are frustrated--or gratified. See there's a hazard
in self-exaltation if we get what we want, or depression if we don't get what we
want. To work on those [emotions] during Lent, I think, is more effective than
fasting or rituals. “
Further, Fr. Keating maintains, “Lent is about more serious matters. The Church
was thinking about how it feels to confront the emotional damage of a lifetime
that is sitting unnoticed in your unconscious. Unless one does an extraordinary
kind of deep psychotherapy, it might take five years on the couch [to uncover
and work with such things]. But the practice of a non-conceptual meditation
[centering prayer] initiates a process that may go on for a lifetime. Every Lent
is an invitation to go deeper into that process.”
The wisdom in Fr. Keating’s remarks is that he normalizes what are common and
ordinary human emotions, internal conflicts and challenges. Further he suggests
that these concerns are deeply ingrained within us and we will struggle with
them throughout our lives. Prayer is one approach to addressing these issues.
Psychotherapy is often a road to greater wholeness when such basic human
emotions get out of control and manage our lives instead of we managing them.
But more importantly he suggests that the time of Lent is a reminder that as we
confront and live with these emotions and instincts, the parts of ourselves that
we often see as destructive or as the enemy it is possible with care and the
work of the Spirit within us to address these parts of ourselves and transform
them. Yes, for the Christian, Lent is often a somber time, leading to the
darkest time in the Christian Church year, Holy Week and Good Friday. But it is
a time we get through. Not easy, but possible. Lent suggests a time of retreat
to deal with these issues. There are many forms of retreat, from prayer, to
quiet time, even to pastoral counseling. But spending that kind of time with
yourself grounds you; it gives you space and expression to the places of pain,
hurt and conflict which have the possibility to be transformed.
Dr. Paul J. Melrose is Executive Director of the Samaritan Counseling Center of
SE Michigan. He can be reached at www.paulmelrose.com or through 248-474-4701.
The Staff of the Samaritan Counseling Center can be reached through
www.samaritancounselingmichigan.com or 248-474-4701. Samaritan Counseling Center
has courses and programs for premarital counseling.
Paul J. Melrose, D. Min, LMFT
Executive Director
Samaritan Counseling Center of SE Michigan
29887 West Eleven Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48336
(voice) 248-474-4701
(fax) 248-474-1518
www.paulmelrose.com
www.samaritancounselingmichigan.com
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