FW1 – Abba, Father – Healing the Father Wound with Sonja Corbitt

“To reflect on this mystery … is demanded by the pleas of many human hearts, their sufferings and hopes, their anxieties and expectations…Believing in the crucified Son means ‘seeing the Father,’ means believing that love is present in the world and that this love is more powerful than any kind of evil in which individuals, humanity, or the world are involved” (Dives in Misericordia, JPII).

For other episodes in this series, visit the Discerning Hearts Sonja Corbitt page

Out now! My newest book with Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers: Ignite, Read the Bible Like Never Before. Get a preview of the introduction and first chapter here. 

Here’s the private Facebook discussion page for the Healing the Father Woundseries, if you want to join in the conversation with a little more privacy, as I do.

JPII’s Encyclical Letter, Dives in Misericordia, on God as Father

Catechism references 233, 238, 2779

Scripture references

Mar 14:36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

LOVE the Word™ is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. This week’s LOVE the Word™ exercise is according to a Thomistic* personality approach.

Listen (Receive the Word.)

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”

Observe (Connect the passage to recent events.)

How do you feel about calling God “Abba”? What emotions arise at the thought of intimacy with Him? How do your relationships with your earthly mother and father distort your view of how God relates to you? Where are you afraid concerning your relationship to God the Father? Considering Jesus’s relationship to God as Abba, what does He teach you about the Father that you had not considered before?

Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)

In your journal or on your journal page (get a free page to the right), write down your fears, and what you believe the Holy Spirit is saying to you through this verse about God as your Abba:

This is what I think you are telling me about yourself…

My fears about my relationship with you are…

I need your help here…

Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)

Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.

 

Visit here for more on Sonja’s “LOVE the Word” journal

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*LOVE the Word™ exercises vary weekly according to the four personalities, or “prayer forms,” explored in Prayer and Temperament, by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey: Ignatian, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Thomistic. These prayer forms correspond to the Myers-Briggs personality types.

2 thoughts on “FW1 – Abba, Father – Healing the Father Wound with Sonja Corbitt”

  1. It is with great gratitude that I see these teachings on Healing the Father Wound on Discerning Hearts! Sonja does an amazing job bringing to light the wounds we have so deeply hidden in our hearts so the Love of the Father can swoop down and draw us into His Grace! His deepest desire is for us to know and live in His love, and these teachings help us find courage to trust in that love in all things , but here, especially, when wounded by our wounded fathers we have a hard time believing that.

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  2. For everyone interested in healing family and father wounds (And who has gotten through life without being wounded?) I can’t recommend Sonja Corbitt’s healing the father wound series enough. It brought me into direct contact with God the father’s tender and healing touch in a profound way. It has been truly life changing.

    Reply

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