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Archive for the ‘Healing’ Category

For a Child’s Surgery

Posted on: January 8th, 2013 by tobendlight

This revision of “For My Child’s Surgery” appears in the new book, Mishkan R’fuah: Where Healing Resides published by the CCAR Press. I am grateful to the editors who made some important suggestions regarding the emotional content and theological implications of this prayer while remaining profoundly respectful of my work. Gender choices are identified with a “/” slash. It appears as “Before My Child’s Surgery” in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

For a Child’s Surgery
G-d of health and healing,
I surrender my daughter /son to the physician’s hand,
The surgeon’s skill,
The nurse’s care,
Placing her / his body into the cradle of others,
Just as I pray for you to hold her / his soul with Your loving hands.

Bless her / his surgeon with a steady hand,
Keen vision and a passion for healing.
Bless her / his caregivers with focus and compassion,
With wisdom and dedication.
Bless our family with comfort and kindness,
Energy and endurance, tranquility and strength.

Source of life,
Bring Your healing power to _______________ (child’s name).
Remove her / his pain,
Relieve her / his distress,
And restore her / his body, mind and spirit,
Renewing her/him to wholeness and peace.
Bless her / him with vigor, courage and hope
So that she / he may enjoy life and health,
Joy and love.
And grant her / him a full and speedy recovery.

Blessed are You, G-d of mystery,
Source health and healing.

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Postscript: “After My Child’s Surgery” also appears in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. Here’s a related prayer “For a Critically Ill Child.”

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: CCAR Press

This Ring: An Ending (Long Version)

Posted on: January 6th, 2013 by tobendlight

This is an extended version of “This Ring: An Ending,” a meditation to be said on the act of removing a wedding band. My initial goal was to create a concise prayer versatile enough to be used either after a divorce or after the death of a life partner, which I explain on the post for the short version of this prayer. Eight months after writing it, my sense is that a longer prayer – with some specific directions – would be a useful alternative. Three optional sections are identified with [brackets]: two with instructions, one with optional language. This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

This Ring: An Ending (Long Version)
When I put your ring on my finger
I wrapped it around my heart.
A dream fulfilled.
A moment ripe with potential.

In removing this ring from my finger
I release my heart
With grief and joy,
Uncertainty and faith,
In unequal measures.

[Remove ring; set it aside or hand it to someone, the reverse of the wedding process]

Ancient One,
G-d of compassion and grace,
Let this moment be a blessing
So that healing continues
To flow into my hours and days.

[Grant my children
Comfort and relief,
Solace and understanding,
In the days and weeks ahead.
Let me be a source of strength and consolation for them,
An unbroken source of love.]

Grant me the insight
To honor the past and embrace the future
With dignity and passion,
Wisdom and thanksgiving,
Kindness and charity.
Then, G-d of life,
I will return in wholeness
To a life of joy,
To song and dance,
Laughter and praise,
As a beacon of Your light,
A source of hope and peace.

[Add Sheheciyanu, Kaddish, Birkat HaGomel or another reading, perhaps a poem or song.]

Postscript: For some people removing a wedding band will be a Shehciyanu moment. For others, it’s clearly a Kaddish moment. Someone who escaped abuse – or survived an accident in which their life partner perished – might consider using Birkat Hagomel. Some will use this prayer in a solitary setting. Others will use it as part of a healing ceremony of their own design that takes place in the company of friends or family. Here’s a prayer “For Bereaved Children,” for healing the grief of our children, appropriate for parents to say whether the loss is by death or divorce.

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Jeff Belmonte’s Photostream via Wikimedia Commons

Choices

Posted on: October 11th, 2012 by tobendlight

This prayer-poem honors the difficult choices that we make as our lives move through the seasons, through joy and sorrow, hope and fear. As a result, I have selected this prayer for day 16 of the Omer, discipline in compassion.

Choices
The choice to heal is brave
To awaken is beauty
To live, courage
To love, heroic

The choice to breathe is hope
To pray is grace
To sit, quiet
To be, tranquility

The choice to listen is joy
To hear is mystery
To journey, strength
To adventure, power

The choice to see is truth
To accept is compassion
To learn, wisdom
To teach, eternity

The choice of today is now
The choice of stillness is peace

G-d of Old,
Guide me in my choices,
Carry me through my days,
Show me through the years,
Lead me back to You
Lead me back to myself.

Postscript: Here are more prayers on the theme of choices: “The Path of Righteousness,” “Another Year: An Introspection,” “Egypt Inside,” “My Battle” and “For Grace.”

Please check out my ELItalk “Falling in Love with Prayer” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: Wednesdays With Wendy

Quick Prayer for Healing

Posted on: October 3rd, 2012 by tobendlight

Once in a while I need a simple prayer to say on the spot. This one can be used when hearing about a sudden illness, thinking about someone who is injured or chronically ill or when you hear the sound of an ambulance. It’s another in my series of “Quick Prayers.” Because this is a general prayer, I have also created two adaptations: “Quick Prayer for My Healing” and “Quick Prayer for Healing (Specific).” This prayer appears in my book, “Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.”

Quick Prayer for Healing
G-d of love,
Cast the light of health and well-being
On the injured, the infirm and the insecure,
All who yearn for Your healing hand.
Bless them with healing of body
Healing of soul
And healing of spirit.
Grant all in need a full and complete recovery.
Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d, Source of Life.

Postscript: Other prayers in this series include: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. Please take a moment to explore my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

The Cut that Heals

Posted on: September 15th, 2012 by tobendlight

In the Ben Yehuda Street pedestrian mall, on a sunny, breezy, Jerusalem afternoon, I saw a young woman wearing a deep blue shoulderless top reading an Israel guide book. She had dark hair, a lovely face with high cheekbones and eyes that matched her blouse. Her arms – from wrist to mid-bicep, all around – were covered with scars. She appeared to be a cutter, wearing openly the marks of her pain. She laughed with a friend as they planned their next adventure. The pain she made manifest on her body seemed completely absent in her manner. I left with the vision of a lovely woman barely in her 20’s, who had been through some sort of hell, enjoying a beautiful day. This is what I wrote.

The Cut that Heals
What if I opened my heart
Fully, completely,
Without fear or hesitation?
Would I overflow with
Joy with beauty with love?

Yes, my child,
You would overflow
With radiance and splendor,
With wonder and thanksgiving.

What if I opened my eyes
Fully, completely,
Without fear or hesitation?
Would I overflow with
Grief with loss with desolation?

No, my child,
You would overflow
With kindness and grace,
With awe and compassion.

What if I opened my hands
Fully, completely,
Without fear or hesitation?
Would I drown in the work of repairing the world
In the depths of need and despair?

No, my child,
You would rise up
With strength and wisdom
A well of mercy,
A beacon of light at the gates of healing.

Soul of the Universe,
I put my trust in You.
Open my heart and my eyes,
Open my hands and my life,
To the fullness of glory
And the mystery of creation,
Fully, completely,
Without fear or hesitation.
Lead me on the path of service
To Your Word and Your world.

Remember this, dear ones:
Love and loss are the same gift.
Grief and joy the same cloth.
Faith and doubt the same path.
The cut that wounds
Is the cut that heals.
When you rise up, renewed,
Tears and laughter will
Meet in the core of your being.
Grace and mercy will flow through you like water.
You will be a fountain of blessings,
A source of righteousness and charity,
And you will sing humble praises
To G-d’s holy name.

Postscript: Here is “Cutting, Prayer to End Self-Mutilation” and a prayer called “Witnessing: A Meditation.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: Healing Hands, Healing Heart by Marie Finnegan on Metta Refuge

On the Recurrence of Cancer

Posted on: July 18th, 2012 by tobendlight

Three days ago I posted a prayer to be said when an individual’s cancer goes into remission. Almost immediately, a friend emailed to say that her sister-in-law’s cancer has returned. This is from a series of nine prayers that I’ve written to be said at various stages of the disease. The prayers posted in this series so far include: “For Cancer Treatment,” “Cancer Remission” and two Hospice Prayers.

On the Recurrence of Cancer
G-d of Old,
Source of my life,
I am crushed and shattered
By the recurrence of cancer.
My cells have transformed,
Once again,
Into agents of disease.

G-d of wisdom and strength,
Have I lived in the illusion of false hopes?
Have I lived, unknowingly, in the shadow of borrowed time?
Have I been betrayed by my body?
By medical science?
By my will to live?

G-d of my ancestors,
G-d of health and hope,
Hear this prayer as I attempt to comprehend this moment,
As I contend with the potential for renewed pain and distress
On a journey toward wholeness of mind, body and spirit,
Or whatever else I face in the days ahead.
Grant me the clarity to make sound choices
For my treatment and my life.
Grant my physicians knowledge and insight
And caregivers skill and perseverance.
Grant scientists and researchers tools and understanding
To develop new treatments for this cancer,
And all cancers, speedily, in our day.

Grant me dignity in the face of suffering and affliction
And bless my family with peace.
Relieve their burdens.
Ease their minds.
Grant me a path to healing and recovery.

Ancient One,
G-d of old,
You are my Rock and Redeemer.

Postscript: Other healing prayers include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically Ill Father” and “For Healing the Spirit.” Thanks to the friends and family who assisted with writing the series of cancer prayers. Most asked not to be named. You know who you are. I appreciate your wisdom.

If you use this prayer, please take a moment to post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or mention it in a tweet. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Cancer Remission

Posted on: July 15th, 2012 by tobendlight

It takes a certain kind of fearlessness to fight the cancer fight. My cousins Marty and Evie had it. So does my friend David Eisenberg, a shining example of courage. David won his battle; Mary z”l and Evie z”l did not. This prayer is for all who have emerged on the other side of the battle.

This is from a series of prayers that I’ve written to be said at various stages of the disease. I’m not posting them in sequence of the disease process. I posted “For Cancer Treatment” when my cousins were diagnosed and two Hospice Prayers when hospice care became their next steps. David’s victory is cause to publish this prayer: for him and everyone fighting this disease. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Cancer Remission
G-d of blessing,
G-d of wholeness,
My cancer treatment has been successful
And my disease is now in remission.
The battle has been long and arduous.
The fight has taken its toll.
I have faced many traumas in this struggle.
I have received many gifts.

As my body and spirit begin to grow stronger,
I turn my energy toward spiritual and emotional renewal.
Thank you for the knowledge, insight and perseverance
Of my physicians, nurses and caregivers
As they worked toward my healing and recovery.
Thank you for the steadfast support of my family and friends.
Thank you for the gift of recovery.

G-d of life,
Grant me strength.
Keep me free of this and any cancer.
Protect my soul and my spirit.
Grant scientists and researchers tools and understanding
To develop new treatments for this disease, speedily, in our days.

Blessed are You,
G-d of gifts and blessings,
G-d of health and healing,
Source of life.

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Season of Sorrow

Posted on: May 16th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a prayer to turn seasons of sorrow into seasons of hope. Many of my friends appear to have a season that they associate with sorrow, a time when endings and bad moments appear to cluster. I wrote this in late March, thinking about the third anniversary of Ami’s z”l death. I’ve come to think of April as my season of loss. But I also met her in late April, just after my birthday. Two huge gains. Why did I let my sorrows define the season? This appears in my book, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day.

Season of Sorrow
This is my season of sorrow.
A time when struggles recur and challenges arrive,
A time of endings and distress.
In this season I’ve known
Moments of pain,
Moments of sadness,
Moments of confusion.
Times of loss and
Times of grief,
Moments that stripped me of wisdom
And left me crushed and breathless,
Cold and in deepening shadow.

Holy One,
Help me recall my seasons of joy,
To recall with hope and praise
Your gifts and blessings.
Moments of laughter.
Moments of kindness.
Moments of peace.
Times of health. Times of clarity.
Moments that lifted my spirit
And comforted my heart.

In truth,
These joys and sorrows
Are gifts of holiness,
Gifts of mystery,
Gifts beyond my wisdom,
My knowledge,
My understanding.

Rock and Redeemer,
You are my comfort and my strength,
My light and my truth.

Postscript: Here are other prayers about transitions and transformations: “Leaving,” “River” “Rhythms” and “Transitions.”

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

This Ring: An Ending

Posted on: April 29th, 2012 by tobendlight

This meditation is to be said on the act of removing a wedding band. My goal: a prayer versatile enough to be used either after a divorce or after the death of a life partner. To be successful, the prayer would therefore need to acknowledge a range of emotions, allowing individuals to hear and say the prayer from the perspective of their own life experiences. The first line of the prayer honors the act of putting on the ring, thus acknowledging the hopes and dreams of the past – the binding that requires an unbinding – creating the raison d’être for this prayer. This appears in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

This Ring: An Ending
When I put this ring on my finger
I wrapped it around my heart.

In removing this ring from my finger
I release my heart
With grief and joy,
Uncertainty and faith,
In unequal measures.

Ancient One,
God of compassion and grace,
Let this moment be a blessing
So that healing continues
To flow into my hours and days.
Grant me the strength and insight
To honor the past and embrace the future
With dignity and passion,
Wisdom and thanksgiving,
Kindness and charity.
Then, God of wholeness and healing,
I will return to song and dance,
Laughter and praise,
As a beacon of Your light,
A source of joy, hope and love.

Postscript: This prayer might also be used after removing an engagement ring. Thanks to my friend Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder for the idea for this prayer. Thanks to my dear cousin Irwin Keller for his comments and suggestions on an early draft of this prayer. Here’s a prayer “For Bereaved Children,” for healing the grief of our children, appropriate for parents to say whether the loss is by death or divorce.

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

For Organ and Tissue Donation

Posted on: April 11th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is an update to a prayer called “For Organ Donation” to add tissue donation. Here’s a link to the original prayer, which I wrote in memory of my wife Ami z”l whose death at a hospital in Maine led to her last act of service on this earth. The suggestion came from Paul Newman-Jacobs, staff chaplain, St. Mary Medical Center, Hobart, Ind., where this prayer will be used as part of a Donate Life Month service. Thanks, Paul.

For Organ and Tissue Donation
G-d of health and healing,
We give thanks for the medical science
That allows us to remove organs, tissue and marrow from one person
And implant them into another,
Renewing life for the critically ill.
Bless all those who dedicate their lives to this sacred task.
Grant strength and fortitude to the scientists and researchers,
Surgeons, nurses and clinicians,
Administrators and other professionals
Whose efforts give life.
May the work of their hands never falter.
Shine Your light on those who,
Still living, give so freely of themselves.
Grant them health, prosperity and long life.
Remember those who have given of themselves in death.
May this final act of charity and love
Be a testimony to their lives.
Grant their families comfort, consolation and peace.

Blessed are You, G-d of miracles,
Who heals, blesses and sustains life.

Postscript: See also: “In Memory of an Organ Donor,” which I recite in Ami’s memory, and “On Waiting for an Organ Transplant.” My other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit” and “For a Critically Ill Child.”

Photo Source: Donate Life Organ and Tissue Donation Blog

Archive for the ‘Healing’ Category

For a Child’s Surgery

This Ring: An Ending (Long Version)

Choices

Quick Prayer for Healing

The Cut that Heals

On the Recurrence of Cancer

Cancer Remission

Season of Sorrow

This Ring: An Ending

For Organ and Tissue Donation

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