The contemplative stance of welcoming and detachment is often placed in the context of how we respond to our thoughts, but keep in mind that the term “thoughts” points to a wide umbrella of things that enter the field of our awareness during prayer periods. The stimuli of our immediate time and place are often quick to present themselves: the clock on the wall, the bird chirping outside, what I said to my friend last week or have to prepare for tomorrow. However, as we become practiced at not attaching to these more immediate concerns and learn to relax our grip on our mind and hearts, more deep-seeded elements of the subconscious will eventually emerge, and we must be honest about the fact that this will mean exposing difficult memories, old wounds, and other painful parts of ourselves and our stories to the light of our own awareness again. It does indeed take great courage to journey far enough with Christ to allow even the parts of ourselves we hide to be seen, and it is unfortunate that many allow this exposure of their hidden selves to derail their contemplative journey, for Jesus says that everything hidden must come to light (see Luke 8:17). We must allow the most painful parts of ourselves to surface so they can be touched by the Divine Mercy, and indeed, the fact that the hidden has been revealed signals that the Divine Physician is ready to go to work!