Be Held, Be Healed
Jeff and I in the "Hands of God" Ennis, Ireland 2023
I woke up last week with a song playing in my mind. I instantly recognized God radio and looked up the lyrics…
So when your on your knees and answers seem so far away, you’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held. Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place. (Just be held, Casting Crowns)
I wrote the lyrics down and that inspiration led to an almost two hour journaling session with the Holy Spirit. It started with some Words of inspiration placed on my heart, [In order to be healed you have to allow yourself to be held.] I noted that the word held is contained with the word healed, something I have never really seen before. I began to reflect on healing. Healing was the theme of our Friday session at the Eucharistic Congress. As a retired Physical Therapist I have spent much of my adult life focused on the mechanics of physical healing. When a person has an acute injury it is recommended that they follow the R.I.C.E. module: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. It is amazing how many patients would come to see me, weeks into pain and dysfunction, and they hadn’t tried any of these interventions. As I reflected on R.I.C.E. the parallel of the physical world with the spiritual world unfolded. When we suffer the pain of spiritual injury (emotional, psychological, trauma, etc) God has designed us for a similar R.I.C.E. module.
Rest: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)
Ice: "But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips" (Colossians 3:8) or as the Lord put it to me on this particular morning, [Take away the hot and bothered of woundedness.]
Compression: For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” (Isaiah 43:13)
Elevation: Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (Philipians 4:8)
If we try to go about the business of life without addressing an injury swiftly, oftentimes a cycle of pain, guarding, reduced blood flow, and inflamation set in leading to chronic injury. When patients would present to me with a six week history of pain and dysfunction and hadn’t taken any of the R.I.C.E. steps toward healing, I knew I would not be able to get by with the “easy button” interventions. This was going to take the “big guns.” My reflections on spiritual healing brought me to the image of Jesus on the cross, God’s “big gun.” Jesus took on the wounds of humanity with His own healing module. Jesus was still. He did not fight His persecution, He did not run or avoid it. Jesus allowed himself to be held in the will of His Father on that cross, elevated. He was wrapped in the burial cloths of death, compressed. He descended to hell to fight the enemy. Jesus did not fight the enemy with cold as we treat our injuries. This healing, the healing of the brokeness of humanity spanning eternity, this healing would take heat: the all consuming heat of Divine Love. I will never look upon the image of our Lord upon the cross the same. Later in my career another element of healing became more widely utilized: proper nutrition. Jesus provided this cornerstone to us two millenia ago in the Eucharist. Most Catholic churches have move the central crucifix directly over the altar and the Wisdom of that move has changed my participation in the Mass. Jesus reminds us at every Mass that He has defeated the enemy and He shows us how in His model of healing. Wanting our greatest, fastest, most complete healing Jesus then provides us with Himself: body, blood, soul, and divinity, as the Divine nutrition.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:50-51)
We are not meant nor designed to heal ourselves. It is not possible. We are created for the creators healing. What are the wounds that you carry? Where do you seek healing? Spend time with our Lord in the practice of R.I.C.E. and then seek Him in the Eucharist. Be healed. Amen.
