Tag Archive for "healing" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘healing’

Safety After Violent Weather (Revised)

Posted on: October 30th, 2012 by tobendlight

This expresses gratitude for those who weather a major storm safely, including a prayer for safety and healing for all who are suffering as the result of the storm. It’s difficult to capture in one prayer the unique experiences of individuals and the range of outcomes from weather events. This version removes references to any particular storm. Optional language is shown in [brackets]. See also this revised version of my prayer “For First Responders,” posted earlier today. It’s rare for me to post more than two prayers per week, let alone two on one day. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, I decided to repost these prayers immediately.

Safety After Violent Weather II
G-d of heaven and earth,
Source of All,
The storm has passed.
Earth, sea and sky are quiet.
The tempest moved on.

Thank you for the kinship of neighbors and friends
As we work together to clean up after violent weather.
Bless those who were injured with healing and recovery.
[Bless those who lost family or friends with comfort and hope.]
Provide food and clothing, warmth and comfort, to all in need.
Thank you for providing safety and shelter
To my [family][friends][neighbors][parents][children].
Thank you for the emergency and rescue workers
Who kept watch and risked their lives for our community.
As we return to our daily lives,
We pray for the victims of any disaster,
Any violence, suffering or despair.

Blessed are You, our Rock and our Shelter.

Postscript: My other weather safety prayers include: “In Devastation,” “After the Tornadoes” and “After the Storm.” I used the prayer “For First Responders (to the Earthquake in Haiti)” as the inspiration for a prayer called “Memorial Prayer for 9-11 First Responders.” This prayer was first posted August 27, 2011.

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For First Responders (Revised)

Posted on: October 30th, 2012 by tobendlight

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, ambulances and first responders lined up waiting at NYU Medical Center. This is a prayer for first responders as they head into a moment of crisis or destruction. It asks for the physical and emotional safety of these brave professionals and volunteers in the face of the dangers ahead. This new version includes an addition in [brackets] for use by families of first responders, as well as slight modifications in the rhythm.

For First Responders (Revised)
Crisis and chaos,
Confusion and loss,
A scene of sweeping destruction,
The first responders arrive
Among the breathless and dazed,
The incapacitated, the dead,
The weary, the lost, the injured,
The frenzied, driven wild with fear and grief,
And survivors forcing themselves
Beyond their limits
To fight devastation.

Holy One,
[Watch over my father/mother/husband/wife/partner/spouse/son/daughter/brother/sister
As he/she serves our community/country
With dignity and honor.]
Bless our nation’s first responders with endurance
To be of maximum service in this moment of immeasurable need.
Bless their limbs with strength,
Their eyes with courage,
Their hands with gentleness,
So that they become a source of hope and love.
Give them the tools they need in the days and hours ahead.
Protect them from physical harm,
Shield them from emotional pain,
And guard them from taking this trauma into themselves.

G-d of justice and mercy,
May the deeds of the first responders
Find favor in Heaven
And bring healing on earth.

Postscript: See also “Yizkor for First Responders” and “Memorial Prayer for 9/11 First Responders.” This prayer is a generalized version of a previous piece called “For First Responders to the Earthquake in Haiti.” Written at the request of the Columbia County Fire Department Auxiliary, Lake City, Fla., for use in their fundraiser cookbook. It was first posted on April 17, 2012.

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Photo Source: NYU Photo/Twitter via London Evening Standard

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.”

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Cry, No More

Posted on: September 26th, 2012 by tobendlight

This prayer is about having compassion for ourselves while repairing the damage we’ve done to self and others. I wrote it after my first Yom Kippur in Jerusalem, my first in Israel as an oleh chadash. I use it on Yom Kippur and during the Counting the Omer, day 10, “compassion in discipline.” It appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Cry, No More
Cry no more for the sins of the past.
Rejoice in your repentance and your return.
For this is the day that G-d made
To lift you up from your sorrow and shame,
To deliver you to the gates of righteousness.

Remember this:
Love is the crown of your life
And wisdom the rock on which you stand.
Charity is your staff
And justice your shield.
Your deeds declare your kindness
And your works declare your devotion.

Cry no more for your fears and your dread.
Rejoice in your blessings and your healing.
For this is the day that G-d made
To raise your countenance and hope,
To deliver you to the gates of holiness.

Postscript: “This is the day that G-d made” (Psalms 118:24) is used in our liturgy, including the service of praises, Hallel. Here are links to prayers for Elul, prayers for Rosh Hashana, prayers for Yom Kippur and prayers for Sukkot. Here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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.

Photo Credit: Gospel Newsroom

Awake You Slumberers!

Posted on: September 22nd, 2012 by tobendlight

“Awake, ye sleepers from your slumber, and rouse you from you from your lethargy. Scrutinize your deeds and return in repentance.” – רמב”ם

Are you awake? Are you listening? Are you fully present in this moment? Are you fully present in your life? Are you fully present in G-d’s world? When you hear the call of the Shofar on Yom Kippur, when the great Tekiah sounds, will you be ready to rise up and live a life in service to G-d’s holy word?

Here are links to five meditations about waking up to some of G-d’s gifts – truth, joy, holiness, love and Torah – posted now in anticipation of Yom Kippur. They follow the same rhythm and structure: an introduction of three short stanzas; the assertion that G-d’s gifts are present in the universe; a call to reengage with purpose (“Awake you slumberers!”); a reminder of what we may have forgotten; and a call to action.

Here is a taste of “Let Joy:”

“…joy is in the dawn and the dusk,
The silence and the great expanse,
The flow of light from G-d’s grace,
Divine wonder and awe,
Calling out to you dear sisters and brothers:
‘Awake you slumberers!
Awake you who sleepwalk through…”

Are you ready to “Let Truth,” “Let Joy,” “Let Holiness,” “Let Love” and “Let Torah” guide your life? Each of these meditations is aimed at helping us back to G-d’s gifts. And each of these links also includes audio of the meditation.

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Join Me – A Meditation for Rosh Hashanah 5773

Posted on: September 14th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a new meditation on seeking G-d’s guidance, wisdom and compassion, written for Rosh Hashana 5773 which begins at sundown Sunday. The prayer reflects the major themes of the season – prayer, righteousness and charity – and makes allusion to a central metaphor of the High Holidays, G-d as sovereign balancing justice with mercy.

Join Me
Come with me today
G-d of Old
Join me on this journey

Lead me in my thoughts
Lead me in my words
Lead me in my deeds

Guide me to strength and purpose
To vision and insight
To gentleness and love

Come with me today
G-d of our mothers
G-d of our fathers
Show me the path
To wisdom and holiness

Lead me in my heart
Lead me in my breath
Lead me in my being

Restore me to Torah and mitzvot
To righteousness and charity
To justice and mercy
A life of blessings
Abundant in grace
Overflowing with beauty
Hands of healing
Eyes of love
A soul of peace
In service to You
Enthroned in my spirit

G-d of Israel,
We return to You
With humility
Our Rock, Our Shield
Our Comfort, Our Guide
Our journey home

Postscript: Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim. Here’s a focused list of prayers for Elul, another one of prayers for Rosh Hashana, a list of prayers for Yom Kippur and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

Rhythms, Revised for Elul 5772

Posted on: August 17th, 2012 by tobendlight

This meditation is about contrasting rhythms of life, time moving in a straight line and holiness moving in circles. Although it can be said at any time of the year, it has particular relevance during the Hebrew month of Elul and on Rosh Hashana. I’ve changed a few key words to soften the language. Here’s a link to the orginial prayer, posted in July, 2010, and a list of more prayers for Elul.

Rhythms (Revised for Elul 5772)
Gracious and compassionate One,
G-d of time and seasons,
You’ve made a world of mystery and wonder,
A world of moments and millennia,
Clarity and confusion,
Illness and health,
Life and death.
Time moves forward,
Steadily into the unknown,
Steadily from the seen into the yet-to-be.
In Your wisdom, G-d of All Being,
Time also moves in cycles and seasons,
Carrying us from the holy to the mundane back to the holy,
A loving pattern of power and grace, comfort and hope.

Protector and Redeemer of Israel,
Grant me wisdom as my life moves forward through the flow of time.
Grant me strength as it turns through the circles of holiness.

Blessed are You, Holy One, who creates and sustains
The rhythms of our lives.

Postscript: Here’s a list of prayers for Elul, another one of prayers for Rosh Hashana, a list of prayers for Yom Kippur and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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Unlock Your Heart

Posted on: August 5th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is part prayer, part insight, part inspiration. It’s about the yearning for a certain kind of nobility that comes from allowing G-d’s gifts to enter our hearts, the kind of nobility that requires self-confidence, self-care and self-discipline. I use this prayer for the 14th night of the counting of the Omer, Nobility in Discipline.

Unlock Your Heart
Come,
Unlock your heart,
Open the gates
So your soul may enter.

Splendor.

Radiance.

Awe.

Let the spark of holiness
And the gift of humanity
Meet in the core of your being.

Wisdom.

Glory.

Truth.

Let the echo of the ages
And the yearning for tomorrow
Sing a duet of eternity.

Mystery.

Majesty.

Wonder.

Then, dear sisters and brothers,
Your hands will become a fountain of blessings,
And your eyes will become wells of love.
Your words will resonate with Torah,
And your deeds will glorify G-d’s Holy Name.

Postscript: Other songs and prayers of the Spiritual Traveler include: “Come Walk,” “Bird is Bird,” “River,” “Soarbird” and “I am Breathing.” Click here for more songs of the Spiritual Traveler.

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: Pieces to a Complicated Heart

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.