During a retreat in 2004, while reading a book about the cross, I had a mental image of myself making the sign of the cross over someone who was ill ... As my hand moved, the gesture created a cross-shaped shadow on the person. When my hand stopped, the shadow remained.
Later that day, I wrote this prayer, which is prayed while making the sign of the cross three times - once in each stanza. For example, in the first stanza, cross tips would coincide with 'top,' 'soles,' 'one,' 'other,' returning to the center of the cross on 'May' in the last line.
Adapt the prayer freely to your own use, and if you have the chance please let me know how you use it.
May you abide in the shadow,
Barbara
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The wording above is on the back of the prayer card in the image. I especially like this prayer for several reasons:
- It came to me, almost through me, in a way that I would call inspiration. Those experiences don't happen often, at least to me. But when they do, the tokens they leave behind seem to carry within them something of their original creative power. The details - the words, images, ideas - are only a frail attempt to express the eternal in temporal symbols. That's why you can freely adapt the prayer to your use. But the love and goodness behind them, the power that inspired them, is still there.
- It covers all the bases and leaves the outcomes open. Healing can come in a variety of forms - physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, and more. Sometimes emotional or spiritual issues manifest in physical illness, and vice versa. We don't have to inform God, who knows our needs before we do. Our understanding of the particulars is always partial anyway, seeing "through a glass, darkly" as we do. But we can acknowledge that we are one, as God is One, that we know our wholeness needs to be restored. We can invite God into all areas of our lives, trusting that where God is welcomed there is health. That's the attitude the prayer expresses, and it makes it particularly useful at times when you don't know how to pray, or when there seems to be no possibility of cure.
- It focuses on the cross. I am not a professional theologian, and I cannot explain a splinter of the meaning of the cross. But I know that St Paul writes that he will know nothing but the cross. St Peter writes, "By his wounds you have been healed." Matthew's gospel says that Jesus fulfills Isaiah's words, "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases," when he healed people. And for 2000 years the cross has been the central symbol in Christian churches throughout the world.
You may believe the cross is the place of "the great exchange" - where Jesus' death gives us life, where he took upon himself all the sin of the world so that we might be free of its power, where he laid down his life for his friends. ("Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.") Or you may believe that the cross represents the extent of Jesus' love, where he demonstrated his willingness to go to death for the sake of the truth, refusing to hide from his enemies and forgiving them from its ghastly perch. However you see it, the cross is the ultimate symbol of Christian faith, love, forgiveness, and power.
So, I offer this prayer to you and hope you will find places to use it. You can even pray it for someone who isn't present with you. Simply use a photo or other symbol of them instead.
NOTE: More prayers for healing, specifically healing dementia, can be found in the trifold brochure, "Alzheimer's and Dementia Prayers." Click here to view, save, or print the brochure.
