2.1 Response
STAGE 2: Awareness of Self
MY EMOTIONS
FUELLING ENERGY
RESPONSE
Aim: To reflect on how we respond to or manifest the intention of our emotions.
Readings
Elisha’s anger (2 Kings 2:23-25): Elisha went up […] to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.
The anxiety of Jesus’ parents (Lk 2:46-51): After three days they (Jesus’ parents) found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety”. He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Comment
How do we respond or deal with our emotions? Elisha, the great prophet renowned as a healer, one day was pained and hurt by some boys’ malicious comments on his baldness. Sadly, he did not claim his hurt and anger; rather he lashed out in rage, and forty-two lives were mauled.
On the other hand, the parents of Jesus, after seeing him in the temple, named their “anxiety”. Besides, Mary took her feelings deep into her heart. The end-result was that her inner disturbance became “wise pondering”, able to transform her initial anxiety into openness to the mysterious ways of God.
We may respond or react to emotions in many ways. One is to objectify our emotional response by blaming someone or something for the way we feel. Another way is to deny our emotions and compensate with expedients that numb our consciousness. These ways reinforce and escalate negative feelings. The positive choice is to identify and name the emotions, feel them thoroughly, calmly watch their nature, try to befriend and process them.
Simply put, emotions can either obscure the path where we want to direct our attention and energy or clarify and brighten it up.
Personal Reflection and Sharing
I reflect on my responses to emotions throughout my life.
(1) When and how have my emotional responses been negative or sinful?
(2) When and how have my emotional responses been venues to a deeper understanding of myself?
[2-1] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER