The last line in this gospel strikes me as a bit unusual.

If Jesus had just miraculously cured many of debilitating diseases, would he expect witnesses to proclaim the healing with evangelistic fervor? Not in this story. Jesus sternly warns them “not to make him known.”

Scholars note that here Jesus is attempting to communicate his truth on his own terms. Personally, I have come to view spiritual direction, as a directee and a director, as a sacred space to explore where God is calling each one of us to uncover our own truth, to live the life that only we can lead.

Sometimes a new truth emerges when preparing for an appointment; sometimes a graced understanding spills out at the meeting; and sometimes a new perspective gently unfolds in hindsight. But, for me, my favorite revelation of a new truth is when I am doing something a bit later and notice I am responding with a new instinct, a new sense of generosity.

Like Jesus in this reading, how are each of us being called to communicate our own truth in this world? Do we have the space and time to explore that truth?

—Charlotte Ahern is a wife and mother of three college-aged children. She is also a spiritual director and retreat leader at Jesuit schools in the Chicago-area.