2 years ago my only son Jason was wounded in Iraq, loosing his right arm and eye. He spent a year at Walter Reed and I spent 8 months with him there, aiding in his care. You can read about our stay at WR at CaptJason.blogspot.com. I recommend that you read October 2005 first and then you can read a couple of entries a month moving forward in the journey toward healing.
I am a Roman Catholic and preside once a month in a small circle of reform minded Catholics. Our community is small and we sit in a circle and have a dialog homily. We all say the words of consecration. I am copying into the blog my introduction and reflection on the reading.
These are some of the prayers and reflections from today's liturgy of thanksgiving
Introduction:
Today is the 2nd anniversary of the very serious wounding of my only son in the war in
Today we celebrate Eucharist together. The very word Eucharist means “Thanksgiving” and so I ask you to join me in giving thanks to Godde that Jason’s life was spared when so many soldiers and civilians have died in this war. I give thanks for your support as my faith community since the beginning when Jason joined the army, during his time in
I did not know the readings for today when I asked Jay to switch with me because of the date. I think our readings are a synchronicity for me; a coming together with the intention of giving thanks. Our first and third readings focus on healing. Truly Jason’s life was saved by Godde through the miracle of modern medicine in the time of war.
The readings also focus our attention on who is healed and how they respond to the healing power present in their lives.
You my Eternal Friend, witness now that I forgive anyone
Who has hurt, upset me, or who offended me.
Help me Eternal Friend, to keep from hurting others.
Whatever sins I have committed, blot out in your abundant kindness.
Help me to become aware of the ways I may have unintentionally or unintentionally hurt others.
Give me the guidance and strength to not continue acting in a hurtful manner.
Let me forgive others, let me forgive myself, but also let me change in ways
That make it easy for me to avoid paths of hurtfulness to others.
Amen
Opening Prayer
I seek peace, let me be peace.
I seek justice, let me be just.
I seek healing; let me be a healing presence.
I seek a world of kindness, let me be kind.
I seek a world of generosity; let me be generous with all I have.
I seek a world of sharing; let me share all that I have.
I seek a world of giving; let me be giving to all around me.
I seek a world of love—let me love beyond all reason,
Beyond all normal expectation, and
Beyond all societal frameworks.
Amen
(The above two prayers are adapted from “Bedtime prayer of forgiveness”
By Rabbi Michael Lerner, email of 9/12/07)
First
Gospel: Luke 17:11-19
Blessed are you, Godde of all creation, through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. This bread is our Christian community your daughters and sons, called to be healers, to be reconcilers especially for those who are oppressed and marginalized. This bread will become for us the bread of life. All: Blessed be Godde forever.
Offering of Our Juice
Blessed are you, Godde of all creation. Through your goodness we have this juice to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. This juice is our prayers, our cries for healing and our celebration of life. This juice will become for us our spiritual drink. All: Blessed be Godde forever.
Pray sisters and brothers; that our faith community will witness to the presence of Jesus in our lives. May our work for justice and peace; our giving the bread of the our deepest self to others; our spiritual life be acceptable to You, almighty Godde.
All: May Godde accept this offering of our hands
For the praise and glory of Godde’s name,
For the good of all the People of Godde,
And our lives for Your peace and healing in the world.
Dearest Creator we are the Body of Christ. We strive to be persons of healing, compassion and celebration. We are happy to be called to live as signs of your hope. We are happy to share the bread of our lives. We are the body of Christ, the bread and drink of healing for the world.
Mysterious Godde,
With awe and humility
We observe the colossal dynamics
Of the reality evolving around us:
The indescribable and sacred events of the past
And the numinous unfolding of the future
Of which we are forever a part.
We are privileged and blessed to exist,
Blessed to possess knowledge of where we come from,
Blessed to have solid hopes
For a future of meaning
And the community of those we love.
See in our hearts our gratitude
For all your mysterious gifts of energy and healing.
Amen
(adapted from “Prayers to an Evolutionary God” by Bill Cleary)
Final Blessing
May we listen to your Word present in all
Our feelings and actions for love and healing.
May we go in peace
To love and serve Godde and our neighbor.
All: Thanks be to Godde.
All
In the name of our Creator,
Jesus our Sustainer,
And Sophia Healer of Life.
Amen
As I checked my resources for this reflection, I found the titles for these readings to be:
1. Gratitude and faith or
2. Thanksgiving or
3. The gratitude of non-believers
I know all these titles are very appropriate for this liturgy. For my story since Jason’s wounding has been one healing and of gratitude and thanksgiving. Each breath that Jason now takes is a miracle and a blessing for me.
Running through our three readings is a sense of God’s goodness and graciousness. Naaman the non-believer immediately recognizes that it is not Elisha who has cured him but God. And from now on he will worship no other God.
Just as Jason was healed through the medical practices and procedures of the professionals at Walter Reed; we know that Jason was healed and continues to heal through the work of God.
In Paul’s letter, in raising Jesus from the dead, God reconciled the world to Godself and offered each and every one of us the possibility of new life.
So too was Jason saved by the medical technology and knowledge of this time. Had Jason lost his arm at roadside in
Jason is graced with a new life, different than before but with possibilities before him as Jason works toward a MBA at Un of Fl,
With Jason’s wounding, I too was graced with new life, a new understanding of peace making in my spiritual and emotional life and relationships.
For all of my marriage I acted from the teaching that I should be obedient to my husband in the raising of Jason. Dow knew best how to raise his son.
That to be a peacemaker in our relationship Dow and I should not argue, and it was my responsibility to support Dow in his world view.
I supported Dow and my voice became silent in the raising of our son.
After Jason’s wounding, I no longer could be silent, my values must be expressed and lived. Subsequently, Dow and I separated.
I am alone now living without anxiety, depression or emotional fear for the first time in 31 years. My inner life is reflected in my outer life of actions and words and way of living in the world.
I am healing into the resurrection of who Godde calls me to be.
From the gospel we hear that what God asks of us more than anything else is a grateful recognition of God’s goodness to us.
Awareness of the reality of God and our total dependence on God for everything, including our very being, should move us to praise and thanks.
Our Eucharist together in community reminds us that the fundamental attitude of a person of faith is one of grateful acceptance.
The miracles of Jesus in the Gospels are not arbitrary acts of mercy or power; they are the intrinsic signs of the presence of God and reign in the world.
A loving God in a sinful, suffering, and alienated world cannot be other than healing, liberating, saving, on all levels of reality.
God’s will for our world is: God’s peace (shalom) the state of harmony for which God created the world. Thus God’s rule inevitably implies rightness in the world. The healing reaches outward to even the physical level, the in breaking of the reign of God.
We gather in thanksgiving for the ministry and life of Jesus.
We gather to give thanks for the healing of Jason and myself.
The healing of all of our spirits creates a communion
which has already begun to change the world;
The healing of our spirits brings us
to reach out to human suffering wherever it occurs.
The healing of our spirits makes us capable of dedicating ourselves
to the furthering of healing and forgiveness
Which we acknowledge as the Reign of God on earth.
The end of the Liturgy of Thanksgiving for Jason's life and prayers for his continued healing.After the service I asked a friend to go with me to the Polish-American Museum located on Milwaukee Ave here in Chicago. I want to continue to celebrate my Polish heritage as this was one area that Dow continued to put down. Jason will not acknowledge his Polish 50%. Dow's "teasing" as he called it was so hurtful to me and one of the reasons I became silent in my marriage. Teasing can be life destroying and so Dow's was.
The musuem has a contest for students around a theme. They gave 4 awards in each catergory-under 2nd grade, to six grade, six to eigth grade, high school. Very creative art. Two boys played piano pieces, a girl played the cello, two sets of girls recited poems in Polish. Two different dance groups of children performed. Then we were served a wonderful "lunch" really a luscious dinner of pierogi-cheese filled, cucumbers in sour cream, apple blintzes, veal cutlets, meatballs in cream gravy, grated cooked beets. The only thing they didn't have was water on table. The head of the membership department came over and introduced herself. Charlotte, my friend won first prize-a beautiful wood cut, with Polish words "Guest house-God's house." I thought Charlotte might give it to me but she didn't.
After I left Charlotte off about 4:30 I began to think about my estrangement from Jason and became very anxious. I decided to walk by Lake Michigan. I parked by the bird sanctuary being developed by the city at Montrose Harbor. It was a beautiful evening. On the path I met two of the persons who had attended my liturgy this morning! A young couple from the Catholic Worker House in Rock Island who are living and teaching their two young children the truth of simple living and peace making. I was happy to see them and we stood in a mini-prairie and watched the gold finches swoop down for the seeds. We chatted for a few minutes and I hiked on. Looking back I saw the most beautiful golden sunset through the city's western skyscrapers. I was in awe of the beauty of creation. Being by the Lake calmed my soul.
Tomorrow I meet with the lawyer to hammer out a settlement proposal within the guidelines set by the judge. It is in Dow's favor, I am sure he will agree. I won't give a date for the divorce as it is now a full year since we began the process. I can't believe it. I keep going back to Liz McAllister's admonition to me, "Do not count the cost." I must live my values, it is enough for me.
Blessing for each of you who read this journal. I hope to be able to write more often as I move forward with my life.
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