Healing Intentionally: A Guide to Interior Renewal

by Kelly Heilman
CCMA’s Executive Assistant to the President

In campus ministry, students often hear the word “healing.” Students are told to carve out intentional time to care for themselves between classes and commitments, bring our burdens before God, and allow grace to do its work within us. However, as busy as our academics, work, and social engagements make us, how is a college student supposed to put this into practice? Catholic campus ministry isn’t merely about adding spiritual activities to college life; it is about accompanying the whole person as students learn to encounter Christ throughout daily living.   

In campus ministry, we talk a lot about encountering Christ - but what happens after the retreat, the Bible study, or the late-night conversation? The answer can be all of these: healing is ultimately a lifelong cooperation with God’s grace. Even so, students can begin cultivating simple interior practices amid ordinary college life.

Our goal is to accompany students as whole and integrated people toward a deeper relationship with Christ. We know that structural barriers can make it difficult to access resources like healthcare and education. Still, there can also be a quieter barrier: simply knowing where to begin when students need healing. While spiritual direction and professional counseling are important steps to growth, healing is not another item to add to an already overwhelming college schedule; it is an invitation to let Christ meet us in the middle of it.  

As campus ministers and students, while we are blessed with a series of conferences, spiritual nights, and Bible studies, we often think we do not have time to attend to ourselves. Despite our culture of busyness, the practical steps below are ways students can practice internal healing without adding burdens to already full schedules. 

Recognize Our Identity in Christ 

College is a season when identity can feel particularly unstable. Campus ministry offers a different starting point: before you are a student, leader, athlete, or friend, you are God’s beloved. As human beings, we are made in His image and likeness - formed on purpose, by a God who knows us fully. “We are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Knowing that we are deeply loved for all we are, no matter our wounds, is central. We have a good God who desires us to reach our full potential, to become more like Him, and to experience the joy of living a life close to Him.

This is a truth we need as much as our students do. As campus ministers, we can just as easily fall into the trap of rooting our identity somewhere other than Him, such as in ministry success, in how effective we feel, or in what we produce. We can be confident in this instead: we can learn to trust where we are being guided, rather than listening to the loud noise of what the world - or our own expectations - tries to convince us of. It is easy to begin measuring worth by our GPAs, internships, appearances, or social lives; it is just as easy for us to measure ours by attendance numbers or how “successful” a retreat felt.

St. Carlo Acutis modeled this kind of freedom: he understood that true identity comes not from imitation, but from union with Christ, becoming who we were made to be, not a copy of someone else. Helping our students unpack this is critical work. And it starts with letting Him remind us of the same thing first.

Being Vulnerable with God

It can be surprisingly easy to talk about God at a Bible study while avoiding talking to Him about what is actually happening in our own hearts. We might be willing to lead a small group, attend a retreat, pray with a friend, or serve at Mass while still keeping our own wounds carefully hidden. Learning to be open with Him is challenging, but we can grow in trust little by little by allowing ourselves to be vulnerable because we know “we can do all things in Him who strengthens us.” Naming our wounds and anxieties strengthens the self-awareness muscle and opens the conversation to God about what we truly need. God is trustworthy; we have to ask and receive His graces. Teaching our young people to do this - to bring the real, unfiltered version of themselves before God - is some of the most important work we do. 

Accepting Pruning with Humility

College is full of transitions: a roommate situation changes, a major no longer feels right, or an internship falls through. These changes can feel like setbacks when they may be invitations to become who He created us to be. When we feel secure in our relationship with Christ, we can truly open up in a limitless way for God to work in us. Things may begin to change when this happens. Students may notice relationships come and go, career interests suddenly change, or have a new interest in service emerge. Sometimes, this may be painful at first. In John 15, Jesus tells us that the Father prunes every fruitful branch so that it may bear even more fruit. By honestly admitting where we need His help, God molds us into the best version of who He designed us to be.

Students rarely have language for this on their own; pruning can just feel like loss. Part of our role is helping them name what’s happening: that a closed door, a changed friendship, or a shifted plan might be God’s hand at work rather than a sign something has gone wrong. This humility to accept change is the bedrock of intentionality, opening the heart to hear which path God wants us to walk, bringing us greater peace and unparalleled capabilities for the Kingdom.

Naming Our Feelings and Grounding

Students can walk from class to a campus ministry meeting while simultaneously thinking about an exam, a text they haven't answered, an awkward interaction from class, or whether they are actually doing God's will with their life. As we grow in patience and closeness with God, we can practice being present. This is easier said than done for students who are professional multitaskers and struggling to find spare time.

Our job isn't to add one more thing to their plate - it's to teach them how to arrive. That might look like starting a small group with sixty seconds of silence before diving in, or simply asking, "What's actually on your mind right now?" before launching into a lesson. Practicing returning to the present moment invites students to trust that they are meant to be in their exact current moment. Through discernment and listening, we help them build a profound awareness of how they are feeling and where God wants them to act or speak. Through grace and the right steps, we can use campus ministry as a space for students to learn to encounter Christ in the middle of becoming who they are.

By accepting the invitation to grow deeper in relationship with Christ, students open themselves to an abundance they could not discover on their own. Guiding them in this relationship helps them see the model of who has come before them and how to follow God's will for their individual lives. Healing happens gradually; for campus ministry, this is part of what it means to accompany students. We are not simply forming students who know more about their faith; we are helping them become people who know God loves them and can bring their whole lives before Him.