The Rev. Christine Kellhoffer of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scranton, Pennsylvania, has dedicated her life to helping others and calls her work “steeped in a social justice spirituality.” It is characterized as a thing.
Kerhoffer has managed the Spiritual Direction practice for 22 years and has held leadership positions within the congregation as a Spiritual Resource Counselor. She spent 10 years as communications director for the Intercommunity Center for Justice and Peace in Manhattan, New York. She describes the center as “a coalition that unites faith and justice.”
Kerhoffer’s work is deeply reflective. She describes her blog, Mining the Now, as “Living in the moment, observing how the world is unfolding around me, and sharing my experiences with others who I think will be helpful.” “My attempt to share everyday spirituality.”
She travels across the United States offering guided retreats and spiritual presentations, testifying to and finding beauty in our “broken world.” Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Living with Christ, Journey, and Living Faith.
GSR: How has your passion for writing influenced your faith and spirituality and vice versa?
kellhoffer: It starts with the Word. I think about the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” For me, the message of God’s unconditional love is embodied in the Word we call Jesus. Masu. It really highlights what I want to do with my words and spirituality.
As a writer and someone involved in spirituality ministry, I am very conscious of the fact that I have a voice and that I can use that voice to contribute to the healing of the world. I can be a voice for those on the margins who are ignored, oppressed, and silenced.
My writing is imbued with a social justice mentality. You can’t escape from it. That’s me. I pray every day for those who happen to come across or agree with my words. I’m very conscious of that, and I feel very humbled.
Has your work as a spiritual leader or guide influenced your worldview? If so, in what way?
I am honored because I get to spend time every day listening to people’s lives and how God is a part of their lives. I met hundreds of people of different races, religions, and life experiences. Sometimes they are very different from me. Sometimes they are similar. But no matter what name we call God, we share a longing for Him.
I got to hear about their prayer lives and their struggle to be the face of love in this world. I respect those relationships and they keep me humble. They inspire me to be more open, compassionate, and prayerful.
I also had the opportunity to serve on human rights delegations to Haiti, El Salvador, Peru, and Mexico. These neighbors took me in and taught me a new way of living and doing things. It was different at times than the way I grew up with and was used to it.
My IHM community, the Sisters of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also expands my worldview. We say we are the face of God’s unconditional love. It is a blessing to be part of a community that uses imagination, creativity, and fresh thinking to bring God’s dreams to this world.
How do you balance focusing on beauty and positivity with empathizing with the suffering of others? Staying realistic and not ignoring the world’s flaws? How do we remain optimistic and faithful while making choices?
Like Dostoevsky, I believe that “beauty will save the world,” but it is not simple. I’m always thinking about how to endure the pain of the world without getting overwhelmed. We live in a global community. We have technology that allows us to touch the suffering of others.
“Every day I ask myself what I can do to be an agent of healing in this world that God loves so much.”
I want to go to Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, South Sudan, but I know it’s not possible. But my prayers are not limited by geography. And when we embrace beauty, we say a prayer of gratitude: “I want everyone to have what I have now.” This privilege has inspired me to work towards a more loving and caring world.
In my community, I use a phrase I often use in my writing: “Our Beautiful yet Wounded World.” Originally, I said we were a wounded world. But someone said to me, “It’s beautiful at the same time.” That’s why we use the phrase “our beautiful yet damaged world.”
In doing so, we recognize the breathtaking beauty and scars of this world. Every day I ask myself what I can do to be an agent of healing in this world that God loves.
In your work, do you often encounter people who are questioning their beliefs? How do you reassure them?
Yes, I often meet people who are really suffering from loneliness and doubt. I tell them it’s normal to have doubts and doubts. It is also okay to share those feelings with God. Take them to God in prayer and say, “This is how I feel and I don’t know how to deal with it.”
I am often reminded of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. He said that an important part of his mission as a monk was to “accompany the unresolvable dilemmas and unanswered questions of the time.”
I call these spaces “in-between places.” We don’t like being there. It’s unpleasant. We want closure. We want a conclusion. We want to get to the finish line.
But I’ve learned to live with those unanswered questions and unsolvable dilemmas. They are uncomfortable, but sometimes they are also places of possibility and grace.
How do you encourage those whose faith has been shaken by tragedy or disillusionment?
I feel that my primary role as a spiritual guide is to be a devoted listener. It’s not about giving advice or solutions or suggesting solutions.
I think I should be a witness to people’s pain. One of my favorite quotes of his is from David Augsberger. “Being heard is so close to being loved that most people can’t tell the difference between them.”
The main desire I often hear from people is simply to be heard. Even though I cannot remove people’s suffering or change their circumstances, I can witness their suffering and empathize with them.
I think that’s what God does. God is with us in our pain and suffering. God weeps with us. God feels the pain of our hearts. God accompanies us and assures us that we will not be abandoned.
Do you have any advice for those who are striving to find their spiritual path again, or who may have lost their faith but want to rediscover their path and rekindle their bond with God? mosquito?
Yes, those are the people I often meet. Many people are eager to advance on their spiritual path. There is a wonderful prayer by a Jesuit priest. Joseph Whelan, and I’d like to read the opening line: “There’s nothing more real than finding God. I mean, there’s nothing more real than falling in love in an absolutely absolute, final way.” It will influence everything that you are in love with and that captures your imagination.”
Think about questions like “What are you in love with?” What sparks your imagination? What hurts your heart? What fills you with joy and gratitude?
Digging up those questions can help reveal what a person wants, what they are looking for, and what they want from a deeper relationship with God.
Try starting small. In some ways, a relationship with God is like a relationship with a friend. We spend time with him. We may sit with him in silence. You don’t need to talk much, but you need to listen a lot and spend time in silence.
Advent is just around the corner. How do you encourage people to find a balance between peace and celebration during the season, especially given the current dangerous situation in the world?
In Advent, we prepare for the birth of Jesus in history and remember how he continues to be born again in our time and place. We also remember that the world into which Jesus was born awaited with great longing. So we celebrate that.
At the same time, we remember that the world into which Jesus was born was marred by oppression and suffering, just as our world is today. I encourage us to remember the reality of both being born into a world that longs for the coming of God, and that we are born into a world marked by oppression and conflict.
We are also reminded of the journey of Mary and Joseph in preparation for the coming of Jesus. They were not welcome and there was no place for them. I think of the many refugees who also want a home, a safe haven, a place of peace.
So to be fully committed to the day of Advent is to be fully committed to becoming a person of peace in another, deeper way.
Do you have any advice for people who are struggling with stress and anxiety during this holy season? And how do you personally overcome negative emotions and feelings of hopelessness?
The Advent season is about peace, joyful anticipation, and preparation, but it can get lost in the cultural push. To begin each day of Advent intentionally, we ask the Holy One to accompany us, decide what we want from our relationship with God, and make this season of joyful anticipation a tragedy. and remember those who are marked by loss.
“God is with us in our pain and suffering. He weeps with us. He feels the pain of our hearts. He accompanies us, He assures us that we will not be abandoned.”
To overcome negative emotions and feelings of hopelessness, I practice naming them. Throughout the day, I name what I’m feeling without judgment. There is great power in naming it. Because it allows me to pay attention to it and see if I need a mental adjustment. So I take time to reflect and pray.
Also, when I feel negative, I meet with a spiritual director and rely on my friends in the IHM community.
Spend time in nature. I take a walk. I take care of the plants. Listen to birds chirping and music. Every day I read a poem out loud and sit with it. I dance and do moves. It helps shake out negative emotions from my body.
Above all, I tell myself that no act of love is ever lost, forgotten, or wasted. I hope that every lean toward love and mercy, every action I take for a more just and inclusive world, and every prayer I breathe, will somehow tap into the mystery of God and the healing of our beautiful and hurting world. and reiterate my belief that it contributes to wholeness. That is my prayer and strategy.
