John 17:6-19 Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
Reflection “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.” I cannot count the number of times I have heard this statement since the first time it grabbed my attention. Years ago speaking at a conference on Recovery Ministries the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr averred, “I am not sure who first said this, but it is true. “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.”"
In one of my several previous vocations I designed and oversaw treatment programs for adjudicated adolescent sex offenders. This is what I discovered. One hundred percent of the boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two who were convicted of a sexual offense had been victims of repeated sexual abuse from as early as age three. “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.” This is true.
On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared we were living in the throes of a global pandemic. By the middle of April cases were reported in all North American territories. One month later more than 161 million cases were confirmed and 3.35 million deaths were attributed to the coronavirus. Like deer caught in a car’s headlights, we were frozen in our tracks as we learned that the air we breathed and every surface we touched could be deadly. In a flash family, friends and neighbors were recast in the role of masked grim reapers. The routine work, school and pleasures of life were stripped away as we were locked down and locked out of relationships. Trauma; individual, community and global trauma. And what we know is this. “Trauma that is not transformed is transmitted.”
What are we to do when an invisible enemy lurks in the air and all of our programs for happiness have been over turned? What are we to do to transform and not transmit trauma?
This is the question that wakes me in the middle of the night and pokes my groin every time a new bit of breaking news tells me to put on a mask (or two), take them off or beware of a virulent South African variant. What are we to do when what we are told to do changes every breaking hour? What are we to do to transform and not transmit the trauma?
I believe a clue is tied to the tangle of perplexing words we hear Jesus praying for the disciples and us. “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them… Protect them so that they may be one, as we are one. “ Jesus’ desire for the disciples and us it that we find our security, safety, esteem, power and control in our intimate relationship with God. This is what being at one means; being in relationship with God rather than being at the mercy of the stormy sea changes of worldly circumstance.
Unlike the dramatic parables, epic exorcisms and fervent calls to repentance found in the three synoptic gospels, the Johanine Jesus gives us lengthy discourses and prayers, lots of words intended to articulate his relationship with God characterized by the intimacy of Father and Son. Listening to Jesus’ words we witness a relationship that fosters his well-being even in the midst of harrowing circumstance. And Jesus desires the same for us, a trustworthy relationship that enables us to endure excruciating events without losing our peace or perspective, without transmitting trauma.
Jesus prays for us to participate in the profoundly intimate and life sustaining relationship he has with the Father so that our trauma will be transformed. In other words, Jesus is praying for us to be allied and unified by putting our faith and finding our peace in our intimate relationship with God. Which of course means we turn toward God rather than the world to find security, safety, esteem, power and control. And, this does not mean we reject the world nor look for a way out of it.
Jesus continues praying, “I am not asking you to take them (the disciples and us) out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” Jesus understands the grave consequence of living a God centric life. He lived and died as a result of upsetting the status quo, acting deliberately to overturn systems that keep people marginalized, offering healing and inclusion rather than judgment and exclusion, daring to forgive rather than retaliate. Yes, Jesus comprehends the piercing consequence of transforming rather than transmitting trauma.
As followers of the Way of Jesus we are meant to rise to the God’s eye perspective and allow our trauma to be transformed which means we cannot deny, hide or run away from the trauma. With our brother Jesus we must turn our faces toward Jerusalem, step into the fray, speak truth to power, act deliberately to dignify all people, extend mercy and demand justice for the marginalized, provide comfort and care for the vulnerable and forgive the wrong doers. And if you protest, "This is dangerous business, it too hard," be assured. It was too hard for Jesus which is why he prayed and prayed and put his faith and found his peace being at one in God.
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