Healing Through Presence

Jesus made it clear that those who follow him will be able to continue his works: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn 14: 12). Indeed, some of the saints were known for being great healers, including St. Walburga, whose feast we celebrate today. Yet in today’s gospel reading, Jesus’ disciples were unable to drive a destructive spirit from a young boy, and when they asked Jesus why, he said, “This kind can only come out through prayer and fasting.”

Most of us can’t imagine ourselves performing miraculous cures or driving demons out of a person. Upon contemplation, though, we can recall times when our presence soothed the troubled spirit of a friend or a family member recovered fully from a difficult surgery after we prayed intently for them. The key to these occasions of healing appears to be presence.

Recently I was touched by a scene from the movie Inside Out, in which our emotions are personified. When one character was grieving, the character Joy tried to make him feel better by distracting him and trying to fix his problem. The character Sadness, on the other hand, sat down next to him and said, “I’m sorry you lost something you loved. It’s gone. Forever.” She then let him reminisce about the good times he had with the thing he had lost, touched him gently on the shoulder, and let him cry. He was then able to pick himself up and move on with life.

The skill of being present that prayer teaches and the emptying of self that provides room for compassion does seem miraculous, but only because so few people practice it. If we all engaged in deep prayer and self emptying, the miraculous would seem commonplace because we would offer each other the healing gift of presence through Christ, who lives in us.