Julieta the Servant

Welcome

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Message

Welcome to Summer at Catalyst! This year, we’re going on a quest for spiritual transformation. To help us get at that, we’re spending our summer with La Familia Madrigal from Encanto. The nine magical Madrigals correlate with a tool utilized in Spiritual Direction called the Enneagram.

On its surface, the Enneagram looks like a personality profile - like Myers-Briggs or Strengthsfinder. In the Enneagram, you identify yourself as one of the numbers 1-9, which then goes on to describe how you interact with the world. Ian Cron, a Spiritual Director who has written about the Enneagram a lot, says it like this: “Personality tests tell you who you really are. The Enneagram tells you who you’re really not.”

In other words, what the Enneagram helps you identify in yourself is something theologians and mystics call our shadow self. Personas we all create to help us cope with the world.

Throughout this series, we’re investigating the type embodied by each member of La Familia Madrigal, allowing them to illustrate for us the various personas. Then we’ll dive into Scripture to see how these personas keep us from being fully who God created us to be.

The end goal is that we come to know our creator better by better knowing God’s creation. By the end of the summer, I hope we come together as a spiritual family, closer than ever and a source of healing and hope for our community - just like La Familia Madrigal!

We’ve explored the anger triad, the 8s, 9s and 1s. Abuela, the Protector/Challenger, Mirabel the Peacemaker and Isabela the Perfectionist.

Today we’re moving into the next Triad to meet the 2s, 3s and 4s. These three are all reacting not to anger, but to shame. All three believe at their core that they’re not fundamentally lovable.

The first of the shame triad we’re meeting is the 2, also known as the Helper. In Encanto, this is Isabela, Luisa and Mirabel’s mother, Julieta. Her power, as Mirabel tells us, is food:

“That’s my mom Julieta, here’s her deal: the truth is she can heal you with a meal!”

That’s right: Julieta makes pupusas that heal cuts, illnesses and more. Her warmth and hospitality, embodied in the food she prepares, literally makes people better.

I know what you’re thinking… where’s the shame in that? Julieta seems the furthest thing from ashamed. She’s… the best!

That’s right! Julieta is a very healthy Enneagram 2. Healthy Twos are caretakers for everyone they know. But they also know how to draw clear boundaries and voice their own needs.

On the other hand, less healthy 2s can be manipulative. They give to get, and they never feel like they can express their own needs for fear of rejection. At their worst, Twos are manipulative and selfish.

Why? Because deep down, Twos don’t feel innately lovable. To remedy this, Twos become hyper-focused on those around them. Twos can seem almost psychic when it comes to perceiving the needs of others. And Twos get good at meeting those needs in exchange for gratitude.

If a Two can do something for you and you respond with gratitude - a kind word, a short note, a reciprocal gesture, then the Two can find that love and affection they could never get on their own.

That’s why Twos can become codependent. If you feel you’re getting any sort of love or approval from a partner, an unhealthy two will do anything, tolerate anything to keep it.

Twos, you’ve learned that your needs and desires are a source of shame. Somewhere along the way as a kid, you picked up the message that expressing your own wants and needs would lead to rejection and humiliation.

This is the core lie that created this shadow we call a Two. You work so hard to meet everyone else’s needs, and the last thing you’d ever do is express one of your own. That’s how you get rejected.

So Twos, I want you to hear this loud and clear: You can never be rejected, because God has already welcomed you.

Turn with us to 1 John 4.

We opened this series talking about bringing our shadow selves into the loving light of God’s gaze. Here in 1 John, we hear a vital truth for all of us, but I think it’ll hit you Twos especially hard:

1 John 4:10–11 NLT

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

Friends, what is the source of our love for each other? It’s not the shame of our shadow selves. It’s God’s prior love for us.

Twos: I need you to hear this: Before you ever did anything for anyone, God already saw you. The real you, the you behind your shadow.

And God loves you.

Song

Twos, your signature sin is Pride. That sounds weird, doesn’t it? How can someone who’s externalizing shame be motivated by pride?

Well, here’s how: though you’re about the most helpful people on the planet, Twos, you’re the last to ask for help. You’d probably rather bite off your own tongue than vocalize your own needs.

You see a world of people who need your help, but you won’t ask for help yourself, even when you really need it.

That’s a manifestation of pride. You know deep down that giving with strings attached isn’t really giving.

Twos, this is going to hurt a little. So I want you to brace yourself and trust that this painful truth is good for you.

Turn with us to Matthew 6.

This is right in the middle of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus uses the sermon to inviting us into a different reality, one that’s ruled by God’s loving, self-giving way.

Speaking of self-giving, this section is all about giving to others, which is right up the Two’s alley. So Twos, I want you to hear what Jesus says about how we go about meeting others’ needs:

Matthew 6:1–4 NLT

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

A lot of us in here are nodding our heads about this. But Twos are squirming in your seats and maybe feeling a little put upon. After all, what’s the point of giving in secret? If you do that, how can people notice what you’re doing?!

I really don’t want that to sound trite. And to Twos, it doesn’t. Because honestly, the worst thing you can do to a Two is not show gratitude.

But that’s exactly why Jesus warns you not to give such that you’re announcing your help. Help in secret.

Because when you do, you’re exposing that secret heart. The one under the pride. The one that’s afraid.

Afraid that no one actually cares about you.

Afraid that, if you speak up and share a need, no one will help you.

And that rejection? That’s what you’re afraid is really true. That no one loves you. No one really cares.

Running from that conviction is why your shadow self works so hard to be helpful. As long as you’re making people happy, then they must be happy with you too.

So Twos: I need you to hear this message: We want you here. You belong here at Catalyst. We love you and we care about you and your needs are important to us because they’re important to you.

Twos, we need your generosity and attention to the needs of other people. This is a way you reflect God’s image to us and to the world.

But that generosity needs to flow from God’s unconditional love for you, from faith that God will meet your needs.

Communion + Examen

God provides at the table.

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two

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Assignment + Blessing

For Twos: Anonymous Service!

For Others: Twos tend to be verbal processors. Practice being a good partner for them to talk out their feelings.