When Healing Becomes Worship and Worship Becomes Healing
Sunday after Sunday we come before the Lord. We enter the silence of the church. We make the Sign of the Cross. We listen as God speaks through Scripture. We stand at the foot of Calvary made present in the Holy Mass. We receive Jesus Himself in the Eucharist. Then we go home. But what if we have missed what God has been doing all along? But what if worship is also one of the primary ways God heals us? This insight has become increasingly clear to me through the work of Dr. Beth Argot, who brings together neuroscience, trauma, expressive arts, and Christian worship. Her work suggests something both profound and surprisingly ancient: trauma fragments the human person, while worship—true, embodied worship—integrates us again. Perhaps the Church has known this all along. Trauma Fragments the Person Trauma is not simply a painful memory. It is a disruption of our ability to live as an integrated human being. It separates thoughts from feelings. The body from the mind. Reason from imaginati...