Tag Archive for "healing" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘healing’

We Share the Same Pain

Posted on: November 9th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is an invitation, an invitation to men to bond as equals, as brothers, as friends, sharing our deepest pain and our deepest fear. It’s posted today to honor the men of the November 2010 New Warrior Training Adventure held by Chicago Community of The ManKind Project at Camp Ronora, Mich.

Please listen along as you read. (Click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.)

We Share the Same Pain
Brother,
You do not know me…
And you know me.
I do not know you…
And I know you.
We have travelled different roads,
But they are paths across the same landscape,
Trails across the same terrain.
Joy and anger,
Pride and shame,
Fear and love.
Our fathers and their fathers
Faced the journey of the heart alone,
Without the guidance of their brothers,
Without the wisdom of the generations.

Brother, we share the same legacy and
We share the same pain.
That is all I need to know
To love you today
For who you are and for who you can become.
Hurt, but not broken.
Still able to find the deep root of majesty within,
The gift of passion and power,
Radiance and joy,
Directed toward a life of service.
You know me.
I know you.
Let us share the challenge,
The journey,
And the victory.

Postscript: Check out these prayers for men: “My Work Remains,” “For the Lost,” “We Share the Same Pain”and “My Heart Knows What It Needs,” as well as a list of other prayers for and about men.

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Remember

Posted on: September 15th, 2010 by tobendlight

This meditation resonates with poetry and prayer, summoning the voices of the prophet and the spiritual traveler, calling us back to our deepest sense of peace and well being. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Remember
When the thunder crashes,
When the winds howl,
Remember
That your heart,
Once a desert,
No longer thirsts.

When darkness falls,
Without moon or stars,
Remember
That your mind,
Once lost,
No longer wanders.

When the storm rages,
When lightning strikes at your feet,
Remember
That your spirit,
Once frightened,
No longer hides.

When the road fades,
And the journey ends,
Remember
That your soul,
Once apart,
Returns home.

Postscript: The last stanza reflects the journey of Yom Kippur: to look back at life as if it was the day of death, with both unwavering honesty and abiding compassion. “Near the End: A Meditation” has a similar theme. If you liked this piece, try “Come Walk,” another poem/prayer in the voice of the spiritual traveler. Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days, including brief descriptions and links to each.

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Photo Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library

Upon Recovery From Surgery

Posted on: September 3rd, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is for an individual recovering from surgery. It gives thanks for healing and, as an act of immediate gratitude, asks for blessings on caregivers, healing for others and blessings on those whose recovery is still questionable. This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. For those about to undergo surgery, please read “For Surgery.” Here is a post-surgery prayer for those who have “Complications after Surgery.”

Upon Recovery From Surgery
G-d of renewal and strength,
Thank you for the gifts of vitality, comfort and recovery
After the many traumas of surgery.

Grant me continued health and healing
As my body and spirit use Divine energy,
Endowed by Your loving hand,
To find wholeness.

Bless my surgeon with skill and my caregivers with love,
So that others may know the awesome wonder
Of new spirit,
New joy,
And renewed life.

Bless those whose recovery is not yet complete,
Whose future remains uncertain.
Erase their worries,
Console their children,
Strengthen their parents,
Fortify their partners
And bring peace to their families and friends.

May the One who heals with holiness and love,
Grant recovery to all in need.

Postscript: Here are more prayers for healing: “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery” and “For Healing the Spirit.”

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

Photo Source: Integra Life Sciences

For Grace

Posted on: July 28th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is meditation about living a life of grace, humility and love. How? By offering grace to others. This prayer, which is appropriate at any time of the year, has particular relevance during the first week of Counting of the Omer and during the Hebrew month of Elul. This prayer appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

For Grace
All I am,
All I have,
All I’ll become
Are present in this moment:
Warmth and breath,
Love and compassion,
Silence and celebration.
Everything, here.
All gifts, present.

What then, G-d of All Being,
What then of my choices?
What will I make of the space
Between this breath and the next?
Will I bring laughter and light,
Hope and faith,
Wonder and strength?
Will I stand in humble service
For all of my brothers and sisters?

Maker of heaven and earth,
Grant us the wisdom to choose lives of grace,
Lives of vision and understanding,
Seeing each moment as a choice
To bless our companions
With strength and wisdom,
With honor and respect.

Blessed are the gentle moments of grace.

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: Alden Solovy

Rhythms

Posted on: July 23rd, 2010 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. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below.

Rhythms
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 relentlessly forward,
Relentlessly into the unknown,
Relentlessly 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 link to prayers and stories for the Yamim Noraim, listed by topic.

Photo Source: WikiArt

The Season of Healing

Posted on: July 21st, 2010 by tobendlight

The Days of Awe are a time for introspection and self-assessment in anticipation of repentance, forgiveness, thanksgiving and rejoicing. This rhythm binds who we are now to who we will become. It frees us from everything that holds us back. It is a season of healing. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

The Season of Healing
This is the season of healing:
Of healing our hearts and minds,
Of healing the moments we share with each other
And the moments we share with ourselves.

This is the season of memory:
Of remembering our parents and grandparents,
The love of generations,
The holiness of our ancestors.

This is the season of stillness,
The season of silence and quiet:
Of deep breaths,
Of open eyes,
Of compassion and consolation.

This is the season of healing:
The season of grief turning to wonder,
Of loss turning toward hope,
The season that binds this year to the next,
The season that frees this year from the next,
The season that heralds the redemption of spirit
And our return to God’s Holy Word.

Postscript: This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. Here’s a link to other prayers for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days.

Photo Source: TzfatKabbalah.org

For the Bereaved

Posted on: July 18th, 2010 by tobendlight

.ברוך דין האמת

A prayer of mourning for all who are bereaved, it can be used for a Yartziet, Yizkor or during a period of mourning. It is also part of my liturgy for Yom HaShoah. Please see “For Bereaved Children” for a prayer for children facing loss. Both prayers appears in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Bereaved
Rock of Jacob,
Comfort of Rachel,
Broken and torn,
Shattered and crushed,
Bereaved and bereft,
We declare Your Holy Name.

We praise Your gifts and Your works.
You are Author and Artist,
Architect and Builder,
Source and Redeemer.

We the mourners of Zion and Israel
Comfort each other.
We console the lonely and embrace the lost.
We cry each other’s tears.
Together we recall Your wonder and Your majesty.

Holy One,
Ineffable Redeemer,
Guiding Hand,
Gentle Hand,
Loving Hand,
Light of Israel,
Guardian of Israel.

Postscript: Here are links to “For Bereaved Children” and “After Shiva.”

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

Photo Credit: Cultura Hebraica

For Surgery

Posted on: July 8th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is to be recited by an individual about to undergo surgery. It asks for healing, as well as blessings upon medical professionals and family members. Here’s a link to another prayer to be said “Upon Recovery From Surgery.” To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Surgery
G-d of health and healing,
I surrender myself to the physician’s hand,
The surgeon’s knife,
The nurse’s care,
Placing my body in the cradle of others,
Just as I place my soul in Your loving arms.

Bless my surgeon with a steady hand,
Keen vision
And a passion for healing.

Bless my caregivers with wisdom and skill,
With compassion, focus and dedication.

Bless my family with ease and comfort,
Regardless of the result.
Give them energy and endurance, tranquility and peace.
Remind them to care for themselves and each other,
Even as their hearts and prayers turn to me.

Bless my body with strength,
My spirit with courage,
My thoughts with hope
And my life with renewed purpose.

Source of life,
Bless us with Your guidance,
Make us Your partner in healing
And grant a full and speedy recovery.

Postscript: Other prayers for healing include: “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “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.

Life as a Symphony

Posted on: July 5th, 2010 by tobendlight

Compassion gains an element of nobility when developed as a spiritual practice. This prayer is about living a reverent and compassionate life. It’s from a set of prayers including “Life as a Garden,” “Life as a Banquet” and “Life as a Ceremony.” Each calls for the introspection to see life as a glorious gift. They appear in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Life as a Symphony
G-d of ancient secrets,
Source of life,
Creator of beauty,
Divine light of sacred truth,
My strength has its limits,
My power its purpose,
The energy of life flowing from a secret well beyond my reach
And beyond my imagination.
What I find and what finds me are a mystery and a miracle.

Heavenly hand of radiance and hope,
Author of all being,
Grant me the wisdom and understanding to live my life as a symphony,
A river of majestic music that blesses and sustains life
With holiness and love,
That I repay with kindness and charity.
Give me the passion and the patience to hear the rhythms of Your glorious creation.

You who bring beauty and song,
Guide me with Your power,
Teach me with Your kindness,
Show me the reverence for Your secret truths,
So that I live a life of joy and celebration,
With gratitude for Your creation.

Blessed are You, G-d of salvation and splendor,
Creation sings Your praise.

Postscript: I use this prayer for the 21th day of counting the Omer: “Nobility in Compassion.”

Photo Credit: UNCW Randall Library

Life as a Ceremony

Posted on: June 1st, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is about living a life of wonder, reverence and awe. To live life as a cermony takes commitment and focus, a unique spiritual endurance. The prayer comes from a series of prayers that i) begin by summoning introspection as the doorway to ii) the vision of life as a glorious gift driving toward iii) a commitment to service to others and to G-d. The series includes: “Life as a Symphony,” “Life as a Garden” and “Life as a Banquet.” All of these prayers appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The entire text follows.

Life as a Ceremony
G-d of the past,
Source of the present,
Creator of the future,
Divine light of compassion and hope,
My time is fleeting.
My days are numbered.
The course of my life unknown.
Where I am and where I’ll be a mystery.

Heavenly hand of justice and mercy,
Keeper of secret truths,
You who give purpose and meaning to all things,
Grant me the grace and vision to live my life as a ceremony,
As a river of sacred moments that command my care,
That I honor with love and respect.
Give me the wisdom to see the spark,
The splendor and the spirit around me
And to choose the path of enthusiasm, energy, gentleness and peace.

You who know all things,
Guide me with Your wisdom,
Teach me Your laws,
Show me Your ways,
So that I live a life of joy and holiness,
Treating everyone and everything with dignity and honor,
In service to Your creation.

Blessed are You, G-d of all,
Source of life and love, abundance and peace.

Postscript: I use this prayer for the 13th day of the Omer. This series also includes: “Life as a Symphony,” “Life as a Garden” and “Life as a Banquet.” All of these prayers will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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: I See Japan…From L.A.

Posts Tagged ‘healing’

We Share the Same Pain

Remember

Upon Recovery From Surgery

For Grace

Rhythms

The Season of Healing

For the Bereaved

For Surgery

Life as a Symphony

Life as a Ceremony

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