The Healing Power of Gazing Upon God and Being Gazed Upon in Love

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Part 4 of 4 in our 2023 Advent Series. Bo Karen Lee discusses how Ignatian spirituality, contemplative prayer, and meditating on the loving gaze and deep compassion of Christ—a love that suffers with—can be a transformative experience to heal trauma, pain, and deal with powerful emotions.

About Bo Karen Lee

Bo Karen Lee, ThM '99, PhD '07, is associate professor of spiritual theology and Christian formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She earned her BA in religious studies from Yale University, her MDiv from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, and her ThM and PhD from Princeton Seminary. She furthered her studies in the returning scholars program at the University of Chicago, received training as a spiritual director from Oasis Ministries, and was a Mullin Fellow with the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies. Her book, Sacrifice and Delight in the Mystical Theologies of Anna Maria van Schurman and Madame Jeanne Guyon, argues that surrender of self to God can lead to the deepest joy in God. She has recently completed a volume, The Soul of Higher Education, which explores contemplative pedagogies and research strategies. A recipient of the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, she gave a series of international lectures that included the topic, “The Face of the Other: An Ethic of Delight.”

She is a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women, and the American Academy of Religion; she recently served on the Governing Board of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, and is on the editorial board of the journal, Spirtus, as well as on the steering committee of the Christian Theology and Bible Group of the Society of Biblical Literature. Before joining Princeton faculty, she taught in the Theology Department at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, where she developed courses with a vibrant service-learning component for students to work at shelters for women recovering from drug addiction and sex trafficking. She now enjoys teaching classes on prayer for the Spirituality and Mission Program at Princeton Seminary, in addition to taking students on retreats and hosting meditative walks along nature trails.

Show Notes

• Help the Yale Center for Faith & Culture meet a $10,000 matching challenge for podcast production; click here to donate today.
• Macie Bridge and Evan Rosa introduce the episode
• The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola
• Christ in solidarity with me
• Who was Ignatius of Loyola?
• The Life of Christ by Ludolf of Saxony
• Four weeks: beloved, walking with Christ in his ministry, walking with Christ in his suffering, knowing the risen Christ
• “Gazing upon God who gazes upon me in love.”
• How does God look upon me? How do others look upon me? How do I look upon myself?
• Attachment Theory in Psychology
• Still Face Experiment and Trauma
• Trauma is the opposite of human flourishing
• Learned secure attachment
• Growing in confident awareness of God’s love for me through prayer, meditation, and community.
• First image of God comes through human relationships
• Anger
• Bo’s experience of dealing with trauma during 2022’s wave of violence against Asian Americans
• Prayer, doubt, and whether God is with us
• Hearing the wailing of women
• Mary holding the collapsed Christ
• “Bo, they killed me too.”
• “I was companioned in my grief.”

Production Notes

• This podcast featured Bo Karen Lee
• Edited and Produced by Evan Rosa
• Hosted by Evan Rosa
• Production Assistance by Macie Bridge
• A Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about
• Support For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give