These are powerful prayers/poems that can help us open our hearts and minds in times of suffering, and invite peace and healing to guide us through difficult times. Prayers help to quiet and focus the agitated mind. By silencing inner noise, prayers bring us into the presence of moment. They are a warming invitation to practice the virtues of acceptance and compassion, of love and action.
There are moments when wellness escapes us,
moments when pain and suffering
are not dim possibilities
but all too agonizing realities.
At such moments we must open ourselves to healing.
Much we can do for ourselves;
and what we can do
we must do-
healing,
no less than illness,
is participatory.
But even when we do all we can do
there is
often ,
still much left to be done.
And so we turn as well to our healers
seeking their skill to aid in our struggle for wellness.
But even when they do all they can do
there is
often,
still much left to be done.
And so we turn to Life,
to the vast Power of Being that animates the universe
as the ocean animates the wave,
seeking to let go of that which blocks our healing.
Art by www.yoyoart.com
May those
whose lives are gripped in the palm of suffering
open
even now
to the Wonder of Life.
May they let go of the hurt
and Meet the True Self beyond pain,
the Uncarved Block
that is our joyous Unity with Holiness.
May they discover through pain and torment
the strength to live with grace and humor.
May they discover through doubt and anguish
the strength to live with dignity and holiness.
May they discover through suffering and fear
the strength to move toward healing.
~ Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro
Art by Holly Sierra
Oh, you of wounded Spirits,
I offer you a place of rest;
Walk among my mountains,
and climb to Eagle’s nest.
Come swim amid my oceans
or feel my deserts’s fire.
Sit beside running waters
to reclaim your Heart’s desire.
Seek my silent forests,
or walk my open plains,
travel the deepest jungle,
till you hear my Love’s refrain.
I am always waiting
to allow each Child to heal,
to cradle the wounded Spirits,
and teach them how to feel.
I am the Earth Mother,
who Loves without regret,
Tending all my children
who through tears
have paid all debts.
~ Jamie Sams
“When sorrow comes, let us accept it simply, as a part of life.
Art by Duy Huynh Studio
Let the heart be open to pain; let it be stretched by it.
All the evidence we have says that this is the
better way. An open heart never grows bitter. Or if it
does, it cannot remain so. In the desolate hour, there is
an outcry; a clenching of the hands upon emptiness; a
burning pain of bereavement; a weary ache of loss. But
anguish, like ecstasy, is not forever. There comes a gentleness,
a returning quietness, a restoring stillness. This,
too, is a door to life. Here, also is the deepening of
meaning – and it can lead to dedication;
a going forward to the triumph of the soul, the conquering of
the wilderness. And in the process will come a
deepening inward knowledge that in the final reckoning,
all is well.”
~A. Powell Davies
