How many people does your temple curtain separate you from?
Why did you end up putting up this temple curtain?
Feel free to post comments or questions below. You may want to explain your answer. Do take time to read your fellow retreatants’ posts and respond, if you wish.
38 replies on “Your Temple Curtain”
Fear grips me like a curtain when I consider going against others’ expectations. If I pursue my own desires, I’m labeled as selfish and disobedient. This fear now holds me back from pursuing what truly matters to me in life.
I think the biggest curtain I have is towards myself which feels scary and confusing. But again, with the grace of God, I hope I can open these curtains with patience and care. And maybe it will open my curtains to others.
Temple curtain on the corporate work: job/position that I’ve been dreaming/wanting all these years ended up being so toxic that I had to leave corporate life and complete a career transition because I feared for my sanity. It was very difficult to accept it didn’t work out but the grace is I found new purpose and meaning in life. Only by God’s GRACE and how a period of darkness brought so much growth for me as a person.
I make it a point to avoid people who have hurt me or made me angry to protect me from their hurting me or making me angry again. I consider them as ‘occasions of sin’; therefore, I shun them as I may fall into sin by their taunting actuations & behavior towards me. They are not deserving of my time and friendship.
When I lost my daughter during pandemic. Sadness or hurt curtain.
I have put up my temple curtains to separate myself from people close to me because of the hurtful things they did to me. I worked soo hard for the family but they ended up doubting my motives. This hurt me so much because I did it all with no recompense for all of us. I spent all my time & effort on these only to be rejected & judged. Lord help me to forgive like you did . On my own I cannot but I entrust myself you today as you hang on the Cross. May Your love consume me so I may do what You did for me . Amen
Sadness and hurt caused me to put up the curtain-but this has resulted in a kind of guarded love that has precluded me from experiencing joy with them.
i have two temples of curtain that I use as a way of shielding myself from the sadness, hurt or sometimes frustrations that I feel in life. It has come in the forms of music and prayer. I find myself resorting to these curtains whenever I see the need to just generate and create space between me and the triggers of these emotions and to connect in deep thoughts with God whenever necessary. Whenever I do so I find peace and solace and they allow me to become whole from my brokenness so that I can reconnect once more and develop feelings of deeper understanding towards people. Thank you for this Pins of loght. I greatly appreciate this wonderful retreat and soul-searching experiences.
A curtain is put up out of anger towards a long-time friend who has caused hurt too many times. Other “curtains” are because of differences in opinion/beliefs and lack of headspace to hear from or work with them. I find myself being isolated and excluded many times because of this; I have strong opinions about certain things that I can’t set aside when working with others. Sometimes, I find myself not being invited to social gatherings because they feel I won’t be a good company…
My curtain tends to appear when I experience hurt or sadness. This usually comes when I experience being invalidated. Invalidation which is an experience of hurt when I was a child. I sometimes get hold of this but at times the hurt or sadness overcomes me. And I have difficulty not letting the curtain of separation surface from within. The good thing is that, I am aware where the curtain of separation comes from. And I pray that God will always be with me, guide me, enlighten me and make me always aware when and where the curtain of separation comes from and when it manifests. Who wants to live with a curtain of separation always manifesting? We all want to nourish a grace-filled relationship with one another which has its grounding with a nourishing relationship with God all the time.
Personally, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having curtains in different areas of our life – as one commenter pointed out, it may serve to protect our mental health. What I think is important is to not have these curtains as strictly blackout, so to speak. We maintain curtains as a human reaction to certain triggers, but it doesn’t mean we separate people from our lives entirely. Our curtains can still be semi-blackout or even sheer – wherein people can still see inside us and can connect with us meaningfully despite having that “barrier”.
To separate Personal and business life . Do we need to ?
My temple curtain was put up as a defense mechanism to protect myself. Some people around me, members of my family, are just too verbally violent so I just stop talking so that I will not be judged or prevent hateful arguments. Some people in my parish are just too judgmental and self-righteous. It’s better to avoid them. Some people at work expect/demand too much, it’s better for me to stay in one corner so as not to be noticed. As a result, I am not free and many times I feel alone.
Thank you for this opportunity to examine myself and find answers. I always say that God will never let me be alone.
My curtain is not really a curtain from people but rather a reluctance or slow acceptance of the realities of ageing, whatifs of career, and sickness. Borne out of fear of what is to come.
tendency to shy away from people
I realized that my temple curtain is up due to the loss of trust I feel towards others that have caused me pain. I put it up to protect myself and shield myself from negativity and from further hurt and anger that other people have caused me. This has affected my relationship with them and I pray to be more forgiving. Admittedly, I find forgiveness to be difficult when there has been a loss of trust with others.
My temples of curtain basically separate me from the fear of rejection. It is the shield that protects me from my secrets- things that people do not know about myself. Also, at time, these curtains protect me from the possible pain and hurt that can be and may be inflicted to me by others.
The temple curtain serves as my protection from people I feel have hurt me or have negatively impacted me. It is also my protection from people I feel who always get help without (in my opinion) even trying harder. I guess self righteousness kicks in as well in this aspect. But it is still to protect me from a fear that may be founded or unfounded. Protection from fear of being taken advantage of.
Fear that the other person may cause me to be angry again when I have already forgiven or forgotten about the previous incident, or almost have.
Still working on my trust issue…
Putting up the temple curtain stemmed from ANGER to hurt, then FEAR of getting HURT and then to SADNESS
To avoid igniting the fire. It’s safe for me just to avoid those people.
At times the hardest thing to do is to truly know oneself, to know who I am and why I react or do things in a certain way. There is the fear that I may not like to see myself in the mirror. On the other hand, truly knowing myself helps me accept that I am broken and that I truly need God to help me, to heal me, and renew me.
I am sad and hurt of judging me in a certain circumstances that I didn’t do it. Lord I ask you to help me heal those hurts and sadness in my life, that I may able to reconcile to the person that I Hurt. Give me Lord the grace to be able to talk to her in a prayerful ambiance and I may be able to accept her as my sister. Thank you Lord for this chance to make myself more aware of it. That I will not put that curtain to my own sister
I feel it is fear of being judged that has made me put up a curtain. In that way, it has isolated me from people who are closest to me. I have hidden my true self from them. How I wish I could tear down this curtain to welcome them again into my life.
I realize that the fear which caused me to raise my curtain is due to my own pride; too proud to admit my own faults, my mistakes, my shortcomings.
Add – Temple curtain of Pride
I was terribly hurt, felt betrayed so I put up this temple curtain. I decided to get rid of people who continually hurt me and make me sad and angry. I want to leave peacefully, with no stress.
This retreat is making me know myself better.
It is a realization. It helps me love God more!
Thank you so much Fr. Johnny! I know that it is not easy to prepare for this retreat, more so deliver and talk for 2 hours, for three days! But, you are so good at conducting retreats. Thank you!
Sadness/fear as person is terminally ill. Difficult to come face-to-face with it. Others, fear/sadness of getting embroiled in their issues
Tired and hurt. Afraid to be disrespected and taken for granted.
Similar to this… Taken for granted and forgotten.
Temple Curtains are more protection from me. People are unkind. And it is hard to trust anyone.
It is difficult if the temple curtain is between myself and my mother. But the hurt is simply too much and I feel that I have to protect myself or just crumble. My constant prayer to the Lord is to heal me, allow me to withstand the pain and let love heal. May it happen before my mother passes away.
How does God feel when the reason for yoyr temple curtain was actually not your doing at all. In fact a surprise that it was done to you. Never have you imagined it to be done directly to you?
At first am hurt and pained. But I look up at the image of the Holy face of Jesus and Mother Mary every time this happens. And remind myself , Lord be with always. Amen
How to overcome the temple curtain?
Good task to assess myself