A professor in my Ignatian Spirituality class told us about a man who prayed, asking God to take away his resentment at a relative, without success. The professor said, “Show me how you pray.” The man, looking very fervent, lifted his head to the heavens and repeated over and over, “God, take this resentment away from me!” The professor looked at the man’s hands, which were clenched tight. He said, “Your words are saying you want to let this go, but your hands are telling a different story.” The man opened his hands and prayed again, and relief came to his face. Sometimes our body knows more than our mind is willing to acknowledge.
—Excerpted from 2023: A Book of Grace-Filled Days by Tom McGrath