Posts Tagged ‘healing’

 

After News of a Clean Biopsy

Posted on: October 9th, 2013 by tobendlight

child-cancer-sucks-most-affordable_designThe results of my third prostate biopsy brought good news yesterday evening, a clean report. This is a quick prayer to be said after receiving the news of a clean biopsy. The tone here is different from my prayer for news of “Cancer Remission,” which recognizes the fight against the disease after a diagnosis and treatment. Of course, this prayer can be used by anyone at any stage of the disease; I wrote it, however, with a pre-diagnosis perspective.

This is the 15th prayer 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” as several of my friends and family members battled their cancers. I posted “Cancer Remission” when my friend David emerged from his knock-down, drag-out fight with the disease. My new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing, will include 14 prayers to be used at various points along the cancer journey. This one did not make it given the timing. I’m just grateful to have the reason to write it.

After News of a Clean Biopsy
G-d of blessing,
G-d of wholeness,
My biopsy is clean
And I am told, [at least for now,]
That I’m free of _______ [type of cancer suspected: breast, prostate, etc.] cancer.
Thank you for this news.
Thank you for this relief, this joy,
This moment of renewal and celebration.

G-d of life,
Keep me free of this and any cancer.
Grant health and healing to the men and women who are fighting this disease.
Grant comfort, solace and strength to the families of those who have succumbed.
Grant scientists and researchers tools and understanding
To develop new treatments for this and all cancers,
Speedily, in our day.

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

© 2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Other prayers in this series posted so far include: “For Cancer Treatment,” “Cancer Remission” and “On the Recurrence of Cancer,” as well as two related Hospice Prayers. See also: “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.

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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.

Photo Source: Caffeinated Autism Mom

Waiting for a Pre-Diagnosis Biopsy and Results

Posted on: September 15th, 2013 by tobendlight

cancer-colours-web-pageLast week I had my third prostate biopsy. The waiting begins again. I’ve heard the phrase “you’re too young for these numbers” about my PSA in every possible form, in two languages, from doctors, nurses and secretaries. The emotions of not knowing has an odd rhythm that changes from the time the doctor says something like ‘let’s check this out’ to the date of the procedure and again waiting for results. For me, this prayer reflects increasing uneasiness as time passes. It is one of 14 cancer-related prayers that will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. Others include: “For Cancer Treatment,” “Cancer Remission” and “On the Recurrence of Cancer.”

Waiting for a Pre-Diagnosis Biopsy and Results
G-d of health and healing,
Source of my life,
Has my body has turned against me?
Have my cells have become agents of disease?

G-d of my ancestors,
G-d of hope,
Grant me strength as I wait for [my biopsy][the results of my biopsy]
With dignity and resolve,
With [confusion /sorrow/anger/fear/doubt][and]
[____________________________ (insert words to describe your feelings)].
Stand with me as I await news and, if necessary,
Grant me the clarity to make sound choices
For my treatment and my life.
Grant my family comfort and relief.
In this time of uncertainty.

Ancient One,
G-d of old,
Provide my physicians knowledge and insight.
Give scientists and researchers tools and understanding
To develop new treatments for all forms of cancer,
Speedily, in our day.
Grant me courage.
Set my life on a path to wholeness and well-being.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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.”

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 Source: Roy Yeoman’s Charitable Trust

Repentance Inside

Posted on: September 10th, 2013 by tobendlight

582746main_sunrise_from_iss-4x3_428-321What does it take to internalize a deep sense of repentance, so that real change is possible? What will it take to be the man G-d envisioned when making me? This is from a series about internalizing G-d’s gifts, including “Egypt Inside” and “Forgiveness Inside.” This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Repentance Inside
This I confess:
I have taken my transgressions with me,
Carrying them year-by-year into my hours and days,
My lapses of conscience
And indiscretion with words,
My petty judgments
And my vanity,
Clinging to grief and fear, anger and shame,
Clinging to excuses and to old habits.
I’ve felt the light of heaven,
Signs and wonders in my own life,
And still will not surrender to holiness and light.

G-d of redemption,
With Your loving and guiding hand
Repentance in prayer is easy.
Repentance inside,
Leaving my faults and offenses behind,
Is a struggle.
In Your wisdom You have given me this choice:
To live today as I lived yesterday,
Or to set my life free to love You,
To love Your people,
And to love myself.

G-d of forgiveness, help me to leave my transgressions behind,
To hear Your voice,
To accept Your guidance,
And to see the miracles in each new day.

Blessed are You,
G-d of justice and mercy,
You set Your people on the road to t’shuva.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: Here are focused lists of prayers for the High Holidays: Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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 Source: Wikimedia Commons

Yom Kippur 5774

Posted on: September 8th, 2013 by tobendlight

YK Artscroll MachzorYom Kippur. A day of prayer. Of fasting. Of repentance. It can be deadly dull, hour after hour, year after year. Yet, I’ve experienced moments that have taken my breath away. These experiences went far beyond a deep connection with prayer. They shifted my relationship to G-d and my understanding of myself. They also inform my work as a poet and liturgist. I wrote about them in the Times of Israel, in an essay titled “Cry No More: Three Prayers, Two Visions and a Fire.” I invite you to read it as part of you Yom Kippur preparation.

Here’s a link to an annotated list of all of my Yom Kippur prayers. This year my “go to” prayer is “The Path of Righteousness.”

May you be inscribed for a year of health and happiness, awe and wonder, prosperity and peace.

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 Source: Getty Images/Steve Allen

Resources for 9/11

Posted on: September 7th, 2013 by tobendlight

Tribute in LightIndividuals and clergy members continue to look for meaningful prayers and meditations to use to commemorate the attacks of September 11, 2001. Here’s an annotated list of prayers suitable for public and private memorials, including “A Liturgy for 9-11,” written for the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the U.S. Please email this page to anyone who may be in need of a memorial prayer or a prayer for healing.

Memorial Prayers

For Survivors

Prayers for a Better World

The original four prayers in “A Liturgy for 9-11” were written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attack. See that post to read the story of how and why I wrote these prayers. The response to the original post was overwhelming. Here’s a link to an overview of some of the ways these prayers were used as part of 10th commemoration activities.

All of these works are © 2011-2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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 Source: Wikimedia Commons, the “Tribute in Light” memorial is composed of two banks of high wattage spotlights that point straight up from a lot next to Ground Zero. The photo was taken from Liberty State Park, N.J., on the five-year anniversary of 9/11.

Memorial Prayer for a Child

Posted on: August 29th, 2013 by tobendlight

grieving-parents-004For those who struggle with this unimaginable loss, a memorial prayer for grieving parents. May you find comfort, strength and renewal. Here’s a related “Meditation on the Burial of a Young Child” and one you can say on behalf of your surviving children called “For Bereaved Children.” This prayer appears my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Memorial Prayer for a Child
My child,
Dear _________________ [first name],
You are love in my heart
And tears in my eyes.
You are longing in my chest,
A well of memories,
Joyous and crushing,
Holy and touched by sorrow.
My yearning for you will never cease.

G-d of all Being,
Grant my/our son/daughter _______________ [full name]
A perfect rest under Your tabernacle of peace.
Guide his/her soul back to Your holy realm,
For he/she left this world
According to Your will,
Too soon for me,
Too soon for me.

Grant our family strength as we move forward,
A tribute to Your healing
In memory of our dear daughter/son.
May his/her soul be bound up in the bond of life,
An eternal blessing in our midst.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: See also: “Meditation on the Burial of a Young Child,” “For Bereaved Children,” “After Shiva” and “For the Bereaved.”

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.  If you use this prayer, please click take a moment to post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Micah Wessman Foundation

For Medical Science

Posted on: August 25th, 2013 by tobendlight

medical-scienceThis is a prayer giving thanks for the gifts of medical science. Related prayers include: “For Organ Donation” and “For Organ and Tissue Donation.” Other prayers in the series include one “For Nurses” and another “For Physicians.”

ADDENDUM, Spring, 2020: I used this as the basis of “Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists.”

For Medical Science
G-d of wisdom,
We give thanks for the fruits of medical science,
The gifts of health and healing
That have saved millions of people:
From immunization to chemotherapy,
From diagnostics to surgery.
You gave us the tools of science and research,
Intelligence and curiosity,
Challenging us to be Your partner
In bringing new medications and remedies,
Technologies and procedures,
Into the world.
The needs are great.
Diseases and conditions still plague
The lives of our families,
Our brothers and sisters,
Nations and communities,
Young and old.

G-d of love,
Bless medical scientists and researchers with
Insight and skill,
Dedication and fortitude,
So that their work yields knowledge and understanding
Leading to new treatments and cures,
Speedily, in our day.
Grant medical science the wisdom to use these gifts wisely
In service to the highest ideals of humankind.

Rock of Ages,
Bring an end to pain and suffering,
So that all may know
Your compassion and Your grace.

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

© 2013 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: My other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “On Waiting for An Organ Transplant,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit” and “For a Critically Ill Child.”

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. If you use or like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: East Stroudsberg University

Let Your Heart Stir

Posted on: August 11th, 2013 by tobendlight

Elul-Temple Bnai SholomThis three-stanza prayer/poem reflects the spiritual journey of t’shuva, repentance and return. The first stanza represents the month of Elul, when we are literally called to introspection by the sound of the shofar. The second stanza represents Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment that also heralds the joy and hope of a new heart and another chance to live a life of holiness. The third stanza represents Yom Kippur, when, after 40 days of introspection and one intense day of prayer and fasting, our spirits are renewed. Our hearts stir throughout these 40 days, but differently as the progression of themes and emotions lead us to new awareness, new behavior and new relationships with ourselves, with the world and with G-d.

Let Your Heart Stir
Breathe in the sound of the shofar.
Let the trumpet of our people
Be the voice of your heart.
For your soul knows the call.
Let your heart stir
And your eyes open, anew.

Taste the sweetness of the new year.
The delight of healing,
The joy of possibilities,
The pleasure of being.
Let your heart stir
And your eyes open, anew.

Exalt in the triumph of forgiveness.
Let the glory of repentance
Be the light of your days,
For your spirit knows the way home.
Let your heart stir
And your eyes open, anew.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are links to prayers for Elul, prayers for Rosh Hashana, prayers for Yom Kippur and prayers for Sukkot.

Tweetable! Click here to tweet this: “Breathe in the sound of the shofar. Let the trumpet of our people
Be the voice of your heart…” A prayer: https://tobendlight.com/?p=8243

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Photo Source: Temple B’nai Shalom

Prayer for the People of London

Posted on: July 7th, 2013 by tobendlight

AvoidLondon77This is a new memorial prayer for the victims of the 7 July London bombings. It’s an adaptation of prayers I wrote in response to violence in Norway and attacks in Mumbai, which were based on two of my other prayers, “At the Hand of Violence” and “In Devastation.” I also used these prayers as the basis of a piece called “For the Jews of France” which has been translated of into French as “Aux Juifs de France.”

For the People of London
Author of life,
Grant peace and consolation
To the victims of terror in London,
Where 52 innocents were murdered,
Where more than 700 were wounded,
And where the heart of a democratic nation was attacked,
In an act of calculated terror.

Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of the 7/7 bombings,
Men and women whose lives were cut off
In an act of witless aggression.
Remember the survivors of this horror.
May the years that have passed,
And the years to come,
Grant them shelter and solace,
Comfort and consolation,
Blessing and courage.
May their healing —
And the healing of this nation —
Continue with devotion and courage.

Heavenly Guide,
Hand of love and shelter,
Put an end to anger and hatred,
Bigotry and fear.
Let terrorists put down their weapons
To discover a new path.
May the victims of all violence
Find hope and renewal.
Lead us to a time when no one
Suffers or dies at the hand of another.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: I wasn’t writing prayers when the 7/7 or the 9/11 attacks took place. I wrote my first 9/11 prayers for the 10th memorial year after that attack. Perhaps, for the 10th memorial year of the 7/7 bombings, I will write full liturgy. Here’s my “Liturgy for 9-11,” including a prayer called  “To the Terrorist.”

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Photo credit: WikiMedia Commons

Memorial Prayer for First Responders

Posted on: July 1st, 2013 by tobendlight

fire_smallThis is a memorial prayer for first responders, posted today for the fire fighters who lost their lives battling the Yarnell Hill fire. It’s group prayer for those who have lost their lives responding to specific emergencies. It’s modified from “Yizkor for First Responders,” a prayer for individual first responders that I first posted as part of “A Liturgy for 9-11.” I previously posted a specific version of this prayer for 9/11 first responders. For those of you with family and friends who serve in this capacity, here’s a prayer “For First Responders” as they head off into service to others.

Memorial Prayer for First Responders
G-d of the selfless,
G-d of the strong and the brave,
Grant a perfect rest among the souls of the righteous
To those who died in service to others during the
_________________________________________________ [ add name of event such as: the 9/11 attacks, the Mount Carmel fire, the Yarnell fire, etc.].
May their dedication to protecting life serve as a shining lamp of love
And the works of their hands bring us all merit in heaven.
Bless the souls of all who have died to save others,
Civilians and professionals,
The trained and the untrained,
In every age and in every land,
Men and women who answered the call of honor, duty and service.
May their memories be sanctified with joy and love.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

© 2011 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here’s a link to “A Liturgy for 9-11” and a prayer “For First Responders” as they head off into service to others.

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Photo Source: NOAA

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

“Mesmerizing, spiritual, provocative, and thoughtful, Alden was everything you would want in a guest scholar and teacher.” – Rabbi Denise L. Eger, Congregation Kol Ami, Los Angeles, and Past President, CCAR

"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023

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