Seldom are we therapeutic. Rare is the solidarity community that knows how to heal its broken members, no matter what the cost. We will not realize wholeness on a personal or collective level until we are able to share our brokenness, allowing our wounds to be seen and healed by others. Like the Salvadoran community that healed the woman who was tortured, we must be willing to bear the cost and to risk failure. Make no mistake-there is great personal cost and risk for any person who enters into healing and for any community who offers accompaniment and refuge to its wounded.
Liberation has a high price.
But no one should have to walk in this wilderness alone. Most of all, healing should not lead us away from the struggles for justice in which we are engaged. On the contrary, our willingness to become vulnerable, to articulate our suffering and work for our own liberation, will open the door for us to advance into a deeper and more mutual level of solidarity with other people. May the God of Life accompany us as we walk this holy ground with each other. She is working on a book about the personal and political issues involved with healing from sexual abuse, and she corresponds with other survivors of trauma about their experiences.