Tag Archive for "life" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘life’

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

Vayechi 5773: Near the End, A Meditation

Posted on: December 28th, 2012 by tobendlight

“And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years. And the time drew near that Israel must die…”
– Genesis 47:28-29

Here’s a meditation on the journey home. Listen along by clicking on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Near the End: A Meditation
When my days fade,
When my eyes dim,
When darkness settles,
And the veil is lifted,
Remove my fear
My doubt,
My shame.
Remove my hesitation and longings,
So I may go gracefully into
The unknown,
The unknowable,
The secret tomorrow of my soul.

Ancient One,
Foundation and Shelter,
Companion and Guide,
Cradle of life,
Guardian of spirit,
I confess my weaknesses and mistakes,
My errors of judgment and
My lapses of conscience,
So that I may return to You in joyous surrender.

Source of my life
Holy and exalted
You have called me to service on this earth.
You will call me back to You
As You call all Your children
To return from this life,
This journey,
This place of sea and sky,
Of happiness and heartbreak.
Let me go in peace.
Let me go in peace.

Postscript: Here are other prayers about transitions and transformations: “Leaving,” “River” “Rhythms” and “Transitions.” For an annotated list of Memorial and Yizkor prayers, click here. This prayer was first posted on February 20, 2011.

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Photo Credit: WikiMedia Commons

Chayei Sarah 5773: Gather Me

Posted on: November 10th, 2012 by tobendlight

“And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.” – Genesis 23:19

“And Abraham expired and died in a good old age, old and satisfied, and he was gathered to his people.” – Genesis 25:8

Both Sarah and Abraham pass away in this week’s parasha. Here’s another meditation on preparing for death, focused on the comfort in the idea of being gathered to our people. My other meditations in preparation for death include: “Remember,” “Near the End: A Meditation” and “Things Break.”

Gather Me
Gather me unto my people,
The house of my ancestors,
The dwelling of our fathers and mothers,
The generations of our people.

This is my comfort,
O My Rock,
This is my consolation,
O my Redeemer,
That my bones will not be left behind,
That I will join the millennium,
And will reside in Your loving embrace,
In the abode of comfort and grace.

Gather me unto my people,
Unto my history,
Unto my legacy and my longing.
Let my heart and soul
Rest in peace.

Postscript: Note the reference to Genesis 50:25, in which the children of Israel vow to take Joseph’s bones out of the land of Egypt, and Exodus 13:19, which is Moses’ fulfillment of that oath. See also: “Remember,” “Near the End: A Meditation” and “Things Break.”

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Photo Credit: Chabad Jewish Center of Massachusetts.

Family Healing

Posted on: November 8th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a prayer for healing family wounds. Choices to tailor the prayer to particular situations are in [brackets]. Use this or other language to describe your family circumstances. My prayer “For Family” includes a similar message, more softly stated. This prayer appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Family Healing
G-d of Old,
Our family has been fractured,
Torn apart by _________________ [anger, violence, death, alcoholism, suicide, disease, mental illness, neglect, abuse, abandonment, finances],
Old wounds that have steeped into our bones and our blood,
Our thoughts and our words.
Release me from my anger and my guilt,
So I may see my kin with new eyes –
Their losses and fears,
Their pain and shame –
And therefore find a source of
Forgiveness and renewed love.

Well of Blessings,
Lead us to new vision and new wisdom,
The place where love rests safely in our hearts
And peace waits quietly in our hands.

G-d of Generations,
Grant healing to my family, speedily,
So that we may rejoice together in Your gifts,
With joy and thanksgiving.

Postscript: Here are prayers of family praise: “For the Patriarch,” “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Sisters,” “For Our Brothers” and “For the Family Historian.”

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Noach: The Flood

Posted on: October 14th, 2012 by tobendlight

What flood — what flood of emotion, of grief, of tragedy, of fire or water — tore through your life? Was there a lifeboat? A meditation inspired by the parasha.

The Flood
The flood that tore
Through our lives
Rushed in without remorse
Churning indiscriminate,
Random with wreckage.

We who survived
Gasped naked in the waters
Cold and alone.
We fought the raging sea.
We wrestled the torrent,
The wind,
The darkness
And our aching hearts.

When the rain ceased
And calm eased in
We drifted on the water
Numb to radiant sunrises
And luminous skies.
Until, one day,
We began to swim east
Toward holiness
And the new day.
Weary, faint,
Nearly too tired to press on,
We looked up,
Exhausted,
And saw an Ark
Floating gently on the horizon.

Photo Credit: PoundsGate

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.”

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

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

A Heart of Love

Posted on: December 11th, 2011 by tobendlight

What’s the response to spiritual heartbreak, to the deep longing that remains when G-d seems distant? This prayer/poem combines the vision of the spiritual traveler with a voice of warning. The result: a stark reminder about the risks of total surrender to G-d’s love. It ends on a brief note of hope, acknowledging that even in despair G-d is available to all of us. This is the third in this series, including “A Heart of Vision” and “A Heart that Hears.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

A Heart of Love
I cannot hold Your love in my arms.
I cannot find Your presence with my hands.
Only my heart can know Your radiance and splendor,
Your compassion and forgiveness,
Your laughter and Your light.

Listen dear sisters,
Dear brothers.
Do not be quick to pray
To embrace life from the center of your being,
To connect from the inside out.
When you hold love in the cradle of your heart
You will drink at the oasis of joy.
But when sorrow dries up your aching chest,
You will be parched and faint
Before the fountain of G-d.

Postscript: The following prayers tackle the same theme with a call to action and a softer edge: “Let Love,” “Let Joy,” “Let Truth,” and “Let Holiness.” And here’s a prayer called “For Healing the Spirit.” Please consider purchasing my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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 Source: Alden Solovy

For My Child’s Surgery

Posted on: August 16th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer is for parents to say before a child’s surgery. Gender choices are identified with a “/” slash. Here’s a related prayer “For a Critically Ill Child.” This will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For My Child’s Surgery
G-d of health and healing,
I surrender my daughter /son to the physician’s hand,
The surgeon’s knife,
The nurse’s care,
Placing her / his body in 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 wisdom and skill,
With compassion, focus and dedication.
Bless our family with ease and comfort,
Energy and endurance, tranquility and peace.

Source of life,
Bring Your healing power to my daughter / son
_______________ (child’s name in Hebrew or your native tongue).
Remove her / his pain,
Relieve her / his distress,
And cure her / his body, mind and spirit.
Bless her / him with strength, courage and hope
So that she / he may know life and health,
Joy and love.
And grant her / him a full and speedy recovery.

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

Postscript: This prayer is adapted from “For Surgery.” Other prayers for healing include: “Upon Recover 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.

R’fuat HaNefesh: Healing the Soul

Posted on: August 5th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a lovely prayer for healing the soul directed toward a specific individual. It did not, however, come off as planned. I intended to write a prayer/poem in praise of the soul. Instead, I wrote this prayer for healing the soul. It prayer appears in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. Optional language is shown in [brackets] and word choices are identified with a slash (/). To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

R’fuat HaNefesh
G-d of the spirit,
G-d of the soul, the breath and the wind,
Look with kindness and favor on __________________, (name)
My [father /mother / sister / brother / son / daughter / friend / husband / wife / partner]
Whose heart aches,
Crushed and fallow,
Whose heart yearns,
Empty and broken.
G-d of the nefesh, ruach and neshama,
Guide his / her soul
Back to wonder and mystery,
Sacred moments and glorious days,
So that he /she knows the power of Your love
And the wisdom of Your word.
May his / her soul shine,
A light and blessing
For our people Israel.

Postscript: Other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recover from Surgery,” “For a Critically Ill Mother,” “For a Critically Ill Child,” “For a Critically Ill Father” and “For Healing the Spirit.” All of them appear in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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

Photo Source: ifDawn.com

Posts Tagged ‘life’

For a Child’s Surgery

Vayechi 5773: Near the End, A Meditation

Chayei Sarah 5773: Gather Me

Family Healing

Noach: The Flood

The Cut that Heals

For Organ and Tissue Donation

A Heart of Love

For My Child’s Surgery

R’fuat HaNefesh: Healing the Soul

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