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Christ’s instructions for healing: Words and Actions

By Sylvia Mountain

On Sunday, February 15, I was unable to attend Sunday worship so I asked Karen if she would email me a copy of her sermon. I had recently watched a documentary on the Knowledge Network entitled Precious Lives. It dealt with a severely, medically compromised, Palestinian toddler who received treatment in an Israeli hospital, by an Israeli doctor, and the hardships and risks the child’s family experienced to get that treatment. Karen’s sermon, complete with pictures, helped me realize the massiveness and impact of this wall that separates Palestine and Israel. It made the predicament of the toddler even more vivid and precarious.

Then the verbal exchange between Donald Trump and Pope Francis hit the news. In response to Donald Trump’s stated intention to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, Pope Francis apparently said, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not a Christian”. He then added, “I’d just say that this man is not Christian if he said it this way”. Trump responded by saying “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian and as president, I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened”.  The article finished with a quote from Jerry Falwell Jr., a supporter of Trump’s, “Jesus never intended to give instructions to political leaders on how to run a country”.

What a sorry world we live in. Karen offered some hope in her sermon, Christ’s presence is being witnessed in Israel, but I felt my own response is so inadequate. Then I opened a book I had set aside ages ago, with the prayer of St. Francis as a bookmark. This prayer gives us the instructions we need to break down walls in our small corner of the world, with the hope these actions will ripple outward.

O Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there in hatred; let me put love.

Where there is resentment let me put forgiveness. Where there is discord let me put unity.

Where there is error let me put truth. Where there is despair let me bring happiness.

Where there is sadness let me bring joy. Where there is darkness let me bring light.

Master grant that I may desire rather: To console than to be consoled.

To understand rather than to be understood. To love rather than to be loved.

Because it is in the giving that we receive;

In forgiving that we obtain forgiveness;

In the dying that we rise to eternal life. *

                                                St. Francis of Assisi

*I’m not sure about this last line; it is still a mystery to me.