The Gray Monk

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January 14, 2005

Healing and remembrance

Once a month at the Abbey there is a Healing Eucharist on a Tuesday evening. It is almost always held in the Chapel of St John the Baptist and St Catherine (I am never quite sure how they came to share a Chapel!), and it is always a very special experience. Many who come do so for their own infirmities and peace of mind, others come on behalf of friends or relatives, and some come just to be a part of the process. It involves praying for those for whom we seek healing (and this is also recognised as a "healing of the mind", an acceptance of the illness or disability and the strength to deal with it or live with it as much as any physical miracle) within the context of the Eucharist.

The service follows a formal pattern, with the welcome, introductory prayers, and readings including the Gospel. Sometimes a short homily may be delivered, and then the congregation is invited to pray. Following a period of prayer and preparation, the Priest President will lay hands on all present and pray over them, then annoint them with the Oil of Healing, marking them on the forehead and on the palm of each hand with a cross. Once this has been done for everyone who wishes it, the service continues with the consecration of bread and wine, its distribution, and the final prayers and blessing. It is simple in form, it is very personal in sharing and in fellowship, and it is very much in the spirit of the early believers.

On Tuesday night this week, our Priest President, Fr Richard, spoke very movingly on the meaning of the action of "remembrance", putting it into the context of healing and of the eucharist. The word is, in the English context, actually not quite what is intended in the Hebrew or even Greek sense, implying some sort of mental review. As Fr Richard, whose own wife is dying of a very nasty cancer, put it to us, in the Jewish context the word "remembrance", used twice in the Eucharistic prayer itself, is more akin to recalling and reliving the act which is remembered. Thus, within the context of the Eucharist, the words of institution, "Do this in remembrance of me" impels the partaker to relive the final meal and subsequent suffering of Our Lord. A truly sobering thought, and one which moves the act of communion to a different plain.

Thus, last Tuesday, we were encouraged to bring before God the remembrance of those who died in the tsunami, those who have survived and need healing, those who mourn, and those who, through illness and impending death need or have asked for our prayers. I know I was not alone in feeling, as I left the Abbey, that our prayers had been heard and do make a difference.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Posted by The Gray Monk at January 14, 2005 09:32 AM

Comments

Posted by: MommaBear at January 14, 2005 05:13 PM