Tag Archive for "healing" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘healing’

For a Loved One’s Cancer Treatment

Posted on: July 26th, 2018 by Alden

Another prayer in a series of prayers that follow the cancer journey. These prayers appear in my book Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. Options for adapting this prayer to an individual circumstance are shown in [brackets].

For a Loved One’s Cancer Treatment
Today is the day,
God of old,
That my [wife][husband][partner][dear friend][companion],
_____________________________ [insert name],
[Begins to receive][Begins another cycle of]
Treatment for cancer,
This disease,
This intruder,
That has invaded his/her body and our lives.

God of compassion,
Grant him/her a path to healing.
See him/her through this day and the days ahead with dignity.
Strengthen our resolve to live fully and to love deeply.

Grant healing power to his/her [surgery][radiation][and][chemotherapy].
Reduce the side effects and eliminate any complications from this procedure
And grant him/her a full and complete recovery from this disease.
Grant his/her physicians insight and perseverance
And his/her caregivers knowledge and skill.
Grant scientists and researchers tools and understanding
To develop new treatments for this cancer,
Speedily, in our day.

God of Mercy,
Give me the poise and clarity
To provide steadfast support on this journey,
With love and respect,
With kindness and compassion.
Grant our family comfort and relief.
Ease our burdens and ease our minds.

Blessed are You,
God of health and healing.

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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: Doctors Beyond Medicine

Upon Starting a New Medicine or Treatment

Posted on: July 11th, 2018 by Alden

A simple prayer to be said by an individual on starting a new medication or beginning a new treatment.

Upon Starting a New Medicine or Treatment
G-d of health and healing,
In Your wisdom You have enabled us
To find remedies, cures, medicines and treatment
Hidden in creation.
May the [treatment / medicine] that I begin today
Carry Your blessings of healing,
Healing of body,
Healing of mind, and
Healing of spirit.

Blessed are You,
G-d of compassion,
Who heals with love.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”iVs1f” via=”yes” ]May the treatment that I begin today carry Your blessings of healing…[/ctt]

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Photo Source: Pexels

Insomnia

Posted on: May 31st, 2018 by Alden

A prayer to be said by those suffering from insomnia. May you find the rest you need.

Insomnia
Oh, to sleep,
To rest,
To find relief
From fitful nights and half-awake days.
To slumber.
To feel refreshed.

G-d of mercy,
I need your comfort and shelter.
Grant me respite and repose,
A night of quiet and tranquility
That leads to another,
And another,
So that I may do Your will,
In the fullness of my abilities,
With wisdom and strength.

.ברוך אתה ה’ אלהינו מלך העולם הנותן ליעף כח
Blessed are you Adonai our G-d, king of the world, who gives to strength to the weary.
Baruch atah Adonai, Ehloheinu melech ha’olam, ha’notayn layaef koach.

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Photo Source: Health Status

Give Love Wings

Posted on: February 14th, 2018 by Alden

A new prayer about the holiness of love.

Give Love Wings
Give your love wings
To soar with the music and the prayers
That dance between us,
That sing around us,
That rise shimmering
To the heavens
In radiance and glory.

Give your heart freedom
To float breathless
In the vastness of the universe,
To become one with the Soul of all Being,
To enter the majesty of light
Pulsing from the ancient yearnings of our hearts.

Give your love wings, to soar.
And when you reach G-d’s holy place,
Opens your hands in blessing.

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Postscript: My other prayers about love include: Groucy: A Love Prayer, For New Love and Quick Blessing for a Past Love.

Photo Source: Stormhoek.com

The Pulse of Holiness

Posted on: December 28th, 2017 by Alden

Yesterday, in the early morning, two ideas drifted in and out of my consciousness as I drifted in and out of sleep. Love, and holiness. After waking, this is what I wrote.

The Pulse of Holiness
The love
That echoes love
That whispers love
That breathes love
In the quiet stillness of morning
Is leading you toward light,
Toward understanding,
Toward G-d.
For love is the pulse of holiness,
The beating heart of radiance and wonder,
The rhythm of creation,
The energy of blessing,
The starburst of the divine.

The love
That echoes in your heart
Resonates eternal
With all beings,
With all souls,
With the wisdom of the ages,
And the wisdom of the earth.

Yes, love is the pulse of holiness.
Let it flow through you.
Let your countenance shine majesty
From the core of your being
To the edge of the universe,
To fill the world
With splendor.

Postscript: See also, “Evidence of Holiness.”

Photo Source: NASA

To Hear Me Sing

Posted on: December 20th, 2017 by Alden

This is a prayer of yearning, yearning for healing and for the support of others along the way.

To Hear Me Sing
Are you awake enough to hear me?
Are you alert enough to see me?
Are you present enough to stand with me?

Brother, I need your courage and your vision.
Sister, I need your strength and your wisdom.
The shadow of doubt
Has darkened my sight,
And the cold wind of despair
Has settled in my bones.
Loneliness and grief
Have wrapped themselves
Around my heart.

G-d of Old,
What secret truth
Have You hidden in this longing?
What Torah
Have You concealed in this yearning?
What moment of discovery will come
When this sorrow breaks
And I begin to sing again?

Brother, walk with me through this darkness.
Sister, walk with me toward the healing light.
Source and Shelter,
Guide us back –
Through troubling days
And sleepless nights –
To joy and wonder,
Awe and splendor,
Quiet and peace.

Postscript: See also: “We are Music.”

Photo Source: Amoré

Spiritual Vandals

Posted on: November 14th, 2017 by Alden

A song of the Spiritual Traveler, the one who has a profoundly unexpected experience with angels at the gates of mercy. As a result of that one moment, the Spiritual Traveler will never be the same again. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

Spiritual Vandals
At the gates of an ancient city
A spiritual vandal cracked into my heart.
Stunned,
Expecting the blood of my grief and shame
To sizzle on the hot stone,
Ready to shout,
‘How dare you touch that sacred place,’
I saw a river of light flowing through me.
Starlight. Moonlight. Sunlight. Your light. My light.
Light from the moment of creation.
So much radiance and glory.
Suddenly on my knees,
My forehead on the pilgrim’s path,
I wept.

Now I wait at the gates
For you.
To invite you close,
To let me see the fissure in your heart
Ready to burst,
To touch it with love,
To crack you open
So that you can see the majesty and the beauty
That flows through us all.

Listen,
Dear sisters, dear brothers:
Do not fear the vandals who guard
The gates of mercy.
For mercy is love,
And love is light,
And light seeks light,
And these angels only want to show
That it’s been inside you
All along.

Postscript: See also “Come Walk.”

Photo Source: Photo by Alden Solovy

My Life in Yours

Posted on: October 23rd, 2017 by Alden

About four years ago I wrote a love song. As I strolled alone along Jerusalem’s old railway walking path, these words simply appeared. Strange. I wasn’t dating anyone, so why would a love song simply appear? Here are two versions of “My Life in Yours,” the first is a song of yearning for love; the second, which follows, is a wedding prayer recited by one partner to the other or said together in unison. The differences in the two are small, but key.

My Life in Yours – A Love Song
When my heart whispers for you,
When my breath calls your name,
When my eyes sparkle with your grace,
I will plant my life in yours.

When my hands yearn for your healing,
When my ears tune to your voice,
When my pulse beats with your footsteps,
I will plant my life in yours.

The sky, the sea, the horizon,
The moments, the days and the years.
The light, the hope, the glory,
The hours, the seasons, the tears.

When your heart whispers for me,
When your breath calls my name,
When your pulse beats with my footsteps,
I will plant my life in yours…
I will plant this life in yours.

My Life in Yours – A Wedding Prayer
My heart whispers for you,
And my breath calls your name,
As my eyes sparkle with your grace,
I plant my life in yours.

My hands yearn for your healing,
My ears tune to your voice,
As my pulse beats with your footsteps,
I plant my life in yours.

The sky, the sea, the horizon,
The moments, the days and the years.
The light, the hope, the glory,
The hours, the seasons, the tears.

Now your heart whispers for me,
And your breath calls my name,
As your pulse beats with my footsteps,
I plant my life in yours.
I plant this life in yours.

Postscript: I recorded myself singing the tune to this piece to share here, but I’m too shy — yes, I said shy — to post it. Here are links to my prayers about love: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “For New Love,” “To Seek Your Love,” “A Heart of Love” and “A Moment of Love.” Several of these prayers appear in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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Photo Source: Alden Solovy

These Troubled Children

Posted on: October 1st, 2017 by Alden

Here’s a prayer for our children, youths and teens who express their pain through various forms of self-violence. Here are several related prayers: “My Child’s Self-Inflicted Wounds,” “My Depression,” “Cutting, A Prayer to End Self-Mutilation” and “Mental Illness.”

These Troubled Children
Who will take these troubled children
By the hand and lead them
Back to joy and comfort?

You, who cut your own flesh,
There is no blade sharper
Than your own grief.

You, who drink to disappear,
There is no poison more deadly
Than your own doubts.

You, who drug your minds,
There is no potion more deadly
Than your own despair.

Beautiful child,
You are not yet lost.
You are not yet gone forever.
Come home.

Source and Shelter,
Lead these troubled children
To the arms of hope and help.
A loving parent.
A caring friend.
A big brother. A big sister.
An AA meeting.
A suicide prevention line.
A foster family.
A pastor, a priest, a rabbi, an imam.
A counselor.
A professional with resources
And an open heart.

Healer and Guide,
Bring these troubled children
Back to wholeness and peace.
Let love fall like warm rain
Into their hearts.

Postscript: See also: “My Child’s Self-Inflicted Wounds,” “My Depression,” “Cutting, A Prayer to End Self-Mutilation” and “Mental Illness.”

Photo Source: Pinterest

Without a Sound

Posted on: September 19th, 2017 by Alden

For Rosh Hashanah, a new prayer of faith in God’s love, a deep level of trust that’s needed for me to do the hard and necessary work of t’shuva.

Without a Sound
I whispered a secret prayer to God,
Who whispered a secret answer to me,
So quietly
That it arrived
In the chambers of my soul
Without a sound.

Oh how I wish to hear Your voice.
Oh how I wish to know Your dreams for me.
Oh how I wish to let my heart run wild and free,
As light as a bird song,
As true as the call of the shofar,
As certain as an angel calling out holy, holy, holy…

I whispered a secret prayer to God,
Who whispered a secret answer to me,
To trust
That blessings arrive
In the chambers of my soul
Without a sound.

Postscript: Here are more prayers for the High Holidays. Thanks to my friend Shmuel Browns for allowing use of his photograph.

Photo Source: Israel Tours/Shmuel Browns

Posts Tagged ‘healing’

For a Loved One’s Cancer Treatment

Upon Starting a New Medicine or Treatment

Insomnia

Give Love Wings

The Pulse of Holiness

To Hear Me Sing

Spiritual Vandals

My Life in Yours

These Troubled Children

Without a Sound

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