A key component to the Welcoming Prayer is the direction to “Feel and sink into what you are experiencing this moment in your body” (emphasis added). Recent psychology and physiology have revealed that we carry our wounds, repressed hurts, and unconscious selves physically within our bodies, in a marvelous recognition of humans as incarnate beings. Though our culture often encourages repressing, ignoring, distracting from, or pushing through body sensations, allowing ourselves to “feel and sink into” them is a way of letting what is secret “be known and come to light” (see Luke 8:17) so that God can heal and embrace our whole selves. To welcome what is happening in our bodies is a very primal and practical gesture of trust and surrender, which are essential to any transformative faith journey. This awareness of our bodies may also allow us to name the memories or emotions driving the bodily sensation, which affords the opportunity to celebrate, heal, or forgive those memories and emotions as appropriate. Depending on the intensity of the sensations, emotions, and reactions that surface, we may need to seek the counsel of a friend or trusted advisor to help in integrating them into our lives. In any case, though, we can be assured that we are more closely approaching the ultimate goal of giving our full selves to God, and that God will always faithfully receive this gift with great love.