Dec 23, 2022·edited Dec 23, 2022Liked by Joe Welker
Grateful for this. Please forgive that this will be a bit of a rambling/random response, but time is limited and I mostly just want to tell you that this was a very good read for me. You put into words much of what I've been thinking over my second unit of CPE. We're about to submit our mid-term evaluations, and one of the questions I've been asked to answer is, "Define yourself as a spiritual care/spiritual care giver using language and concepts that speak to you about how you understand the work of spiritual care. What is your purpose?" My supervisor has encouraged us to bring our creativity to our answers, so I was journaling my response in an unbounded way, just letting whatever came to my mind flow on the page. I tried on many verbs. ("Is my purpose is to inject [dignity]? To mirror [humanity]? To be [present, of course]....") The verb I keep circling back around is "to seek." "To seek" but not necessarily, or perhaps even probably, "to find." To seek, because it seems...helpful or humane or right or maybe just plain old good for us humans to be sought. But the finding is not up to me. What you've written here helps me articulate for myself why "to seek" feels like a good fit.
Also: I have a longstanding appreciation for a benediction often given at the end of mass: "Go and glorify the Lord with your lives." I found that benediction echoed or maybe translated in your writing here in the line, "To weave all our stories into The Story, from insane confabulations into righteous collaboration, so that all may nurture the glory of the universe."
Grateful for this. Please forgive that this will be a bit of a rambling/random response, but time is limited and I mostly just want to tell you that this was a very good read for me. You put into words much of what I've been thinking over my second unit of CPE. We're about to submit our mid-term evaluations, and one of the questions I've been asked to answer is, "Define yourself as a spiritual care/spiritual care giver using language and concepts that speak to you about how you understand the work of spiritual care. What is your purpose?" My supervisor has encouraged us to bring our creativity to our answers, so I was journaling my response in an unbounded way, just letting whatever came to my mind flow on the page. I tried on many verbs. ("Is my purpose is to inject [dignity]? To mirror [humanity]? To be [present, of course]....") The verb I keep circling back around is "to seek." "To seek" but not necessarily, or perhaps even probably, "to find." To seek, because it seems...helpful or humane or right or maybe just plain old good for us humans to be sought. But the finding is not up to me. What you've written here helps me articulate for myself why "to seek" feels like a good fit.
Also: I have a longstanding appreciation for a benediction often given at the end of mass: "Go and glorify the Lord with your lives." I found that benediction echoed or maybe translated in your writing here in the line, "To weave all our stories into The Story, from insane confabulations into righteous collaboration, so that all may nurture the glory of the universe."
So thank you.