Passages & Prayers: Fixing It

Take some time to read through the passage, Luke 4:38-39, then return to this reflection. 

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

When I have been in the hospital visiting family, friends, or parishioners, I often wish I could do as Jesus did in Luke 4:38-39 and simply rebuke the injury or illness from the person. I want to make things better, remove their suffering, relieve the anxiety of family and friends.

It is so much more difficult to be a presence. To listen compassionately and responding in an affirming way to the fears, anxieties, and experiences of the patient is so much more difficult. To listen to the mother or spouse of the patient with her or his fears, anxieties, and experiences is so much more difficult. To invite the patient, family, and friends to prayer or offer prayers for them is so much more difficult.

Visiting the sick is much more difficult as it requires me putting aside my own wishes, desires, fears, and anxieties so as to be a presence to the people in that room. It is about listening to what is said and what is not said. It is validating the humanity - the emotions, thoughts, and experiences - of that person whose circumstances may make them feel much more like a science experiment than a person.

This becomes even more difficult if you are spending time with someone suffering from mental illness. If you have never experienced mental illness it is so tempting to try to fix the person through our own words or actions. Yet, the way to mental health for an individual is just like for those suffering physical ailments - through the assistance of medical professionals. As friends, family, and acquaintances, we are there to provide support, validation, and our prayers. 

A college friend would always say, "You can't save the world, someone else already did." When spending time with those who are ill, mentally or physically, it is good to remember this. Christ is the one who has them in his hand. He works through the professionals to provide healing. We lift the individual in prayer, are present to him or her, and can be as supportive as possible.