Lord, Jesus Christ, teach me to pray.
Prepare yourself for the reading of the scripture passage by quieting yourself and asking God to speak to you in this passage. Read the passage slowly with both the mind and the heart, at least two times.
A Reading from the Gospel according to Mark [5:25-34]
Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” he looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
In the scripture today, we see the power of touch. In many of the healing stories in the gospels we see that Jesus touches the person in order to bring about the healing. He connects with them physically in order to share his miraculous healing energy with the one who is diseased. We could also read this word as dis-eased. Not necessarily a life threatening illness, but perhaps just something out of sync, a lack of peace, anxiety or grief.
Many times when we are asked to pray for a person with an illness, we gather around them and we place our hands upon them. Why do we do this? Clearly, we feel that there is something healing in the love and care of the touch that we offer. Jesus modeled the healing power of touch for us.
Prayer of Touch
This is another prayer in which we begin by using our imagination.
Begin by imagining this day. Most of us know to some degree the people that we might interact with today. As you look through what the day holds, choose one of the people that you will see. You don’t need to know anything about this person’s situation. It may seem as though they don’t need prayer. Be aware that almost all of us are often dis-eased in some way. Most of us can use the love and support of a brother or sister.
Now, imagine laying your hand on the person’s back, arm or shoulder. As your hand rests there, imagine that you are sharing God’s healing love and light. Feel the energy that moves between you and the one for whom you are praying. Pray that the person be healed in all of the ways that Christ knows that they need to be healed.
Still in your imagination, move through your day and pray for other people that are in your life. As many as you would like. If you won’t come into contact with anyone today, pray for anyone that you would like.
End your prayer by placing all of these people in God’s loving hands.
As you move through your day, see if there are opportunities for you to touch another in a healing way. The touch doesn’t have to be prolonged, only intentional. Intend the touch to be healing.
For your journal: Can you think of times in your life that you have been touched in healing ways? What do you think about the power of touch to heal? Does one have to be a miracle worker like Jesus in order to help heal someone? Is there someone in your life who could use the consistent prayer of touch?
Loving God, May your healing love flow through me to all those that I touch today. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment