…fortunately our past is always present not only to us but also to Jesus. We can get untracked from the negative effects of past hurts and turn those hurts into gifts for loving by bringing Jesus’ love into hurtful memories. When we invite Jesus into a hurtful memory, we are not asking him to erase or help us forget the past. Rather, we are asking Jesus to “heal our memories” just as he did for the Emmaus disciples (Lk 24:13-35). When Jesus joined the depressed disciples on the road to Emmaus, the disciples’ hearts were filled with grief and disappointment from their hurtful memory of Jesus’ death. As they shared the events of the previous three days, Jesus listened and lovingly responded to each of the ways they felt hurt. Eventually the disciples’ became so full of love that they could forgive Jesus, themselves, and all who hurt them. The disciples’ traded their depressed hearts with Jesus’ joyful, loving heart. When they left Jesus, their own hearts were “burning within them”. In healing a memory, we share our hearts with Jesus and take on his loving heart until we can see the past in a whole new way, with Jesus’ vision. By the time the disciples arrived at Emmaus, the greatest tragedy of their lives had been transformed into the greatest gift for loving as they joyfully announced to those who still grieved, “The Lord has been raised!” –Healing the Eight Stages of Life

Jesus the Greatest Therapist