Luminous
A Catholic Woman and Her Thoughts on Life, the Universe, and Everything
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Give and Take of Spirituality in Medicine - Dr. Scott Bateman, MD
Dr. Scott Bateman, MD – Chief of Pediatrics Critical Care, UMass Medical Center
The Give and Take of Spirituality in Medicine:
Tales from the Pediatric ICU
April 30th 2008 - 4th Annual Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy Conference - Medicine, Bioethics and Spirituality - Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA

(1 Peter 3:15 – 16) - But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you. But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience: that whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

Always be ready to give an explanation for your hope.

Spirituality – he first found it in nature – the beauty of the mountains, he would look at nature, look at the world, with awe and wonder. He had an innate inner sense of compassion that lead him into medicine.

As a young doctor he entered into a “surreal state of mind” when first asked by a young patient, no more than 11 or 12 years old, “what will it feel like when I die?” His lack of faith, lack of training in religion and in school, hadn’t prepared him for anything like this. He had no idea what to say. He felt completely at sea. In giving her a “medical explanation” he felt he let her down. When he told her that she’d gradually “fall asleep” and “dream forever”, she cried, and then she took a breath, and said, “but I like my dreams!” He felt he’d received grace from his patient. He knew he had to do better. “Medicine’s best intentions had failed.”

Unconditional Love – as taught by the family of a brain-injured child, and the joy in that child’s life and death.

Rebirth – as taught by a child on a ventilator – weaned off – and looked up and said “Hi Mom!” – what a sense of rebirth, so near to death, and then finally rejoining life, and her family again. What joy!

Faith – a family at the beside of a terribly sick infant – holding hands, holding on, praying together. Never letting go, even in the face of their fear and grief.

Every situation is so different. Many questions have no answers – and without a basis in FAITH, it becomes harder and harder to not only cope with the suffering one sees every day, but help others cope with their own suffering, that they must live every day. All one can do is stuff it down, cry, suffer silently. And then pain builds internally.

One day he was asked “Where is God in your life, doctor?” And he was dumbfounded. He realized, finally, that there was “something”, and the lack of an answer to that specific question lead to a specific search.

He was drawn from the vague spirituality of “nature” into Catholic spirituality by suffering. Catholicism had answers for what to do with suffering. Something would be done with that suffering – offer it up – join it with Christ – the image of the Pieta was the epitome of this concept. Grace, love, sorrow – all at once. The Pieta was every one of his patients. He was holding them up, suffering, at the foot of the Cross.

Suffering leads to Hope

Salvifici Doloris of Pope John Paul II - http://tinyurl.com/3acxq

“Declaring the power of salvific suffering, the Apostle Paul says: "In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church"”
  • …what we express by the word "suffering" seems to be particularly essential to the nature of man. It is as deep as man himself, precisely because it manifests in its own way that depth which is proper to man, and in its own way surpasses it. Suffering seems to belong to man's transcendence: it is one of those points in which man is in a certain sense "destined" to go beyond himself, and he is called to this in a mysterious way.

  • ….Man suffers in different ways, ways not always considered by medicine, not even in its most advanced specializations. Suffering is something which is still wider than sickness, more complex and at the same time still more deeply rooted in humanity itself.
    ….Insofar as the words "suffering" and "pain", can, up to a certain degree, be used as synonyms, physical suffering is present when "the body is hurting" in some way, whereas moral suffering is "pain of the soul". In fact, it is a question of pain of a spiritual nature, and not only of the "psychological" dimension of pain which accompanies both moral and physical suffering The vastness and the many forms of moral suffering are certainly no less in number than the forms of physical suffering.

  • .... it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace....

  • When this body is gravely ill, totally incapacitated, and the person is almost incapable of living and acting, all the more do interior maturity and spiritual greatness become evident, constituting a touching lesson to those who are healthy and normal.
    This interior maturity and spiritual greatness in suffering are certainly the result of a particular conversion and cooperation with the grace of the Crucified Redeemer. It is he himself who acts at the heart of human sufferings through his Spirit of truth, through the consoling Spirit. It is he who transforms, in a certain sense, the very substance of the spiritual life, indicating for the person who suffers a place close to himself. It is he—as the interior Master and Guide—who reveals to the suffering brother and sister this wonderful interchange, situated at the very heart of the mystery of the Redemption. Suffering is, in itself, an experience of evil. But Christ has made suffering the firmest basis of the definitive good, namely the good of eternal salvation. By his suffering on the Cross, Christ reached the very roots of evil, of sin and death. He conquered the author of evil, Satan, and his permanent rebellion against the Creator. To the suffering brother or sister Christ discloses and gradually reveals the horizons of the Kingdom of God: the horizons of a world converted to the Creator, of a world free from sin, a world being built on the saving power of love. And slowly but effectively, Christ leads into this world, into this Kingdom of the Father, suffering man, in a certain sense through the very heart of his suffering. For suffering cannot be transformed and changed by a grace from outside, but from within. And Christ through his own salvific suffering is very much present in every human suffering, and can act from within that suffering by the powers of his Spirit of truth, his consoling Spirit.....

  • .... people react to suffering in different ways. But in general it can be said that almost always the individual enters suffering with a typically human protest and with the question "why". He asks the meaning of his suffering and seeks an answer to this question on the human level. Certainly he often puts this question to God, and to Christ. Furthermore, he cannot help noticing that the one to whom he puts the question is himself suffering and wishes to answer him from the Cross, from the heart of his own suffering. Nevertheless, it often takes time, even a long time, for this answer to begin to be interiorly perceived. For Christ does not answer directly and he does not answer in the abstract this human questioning about the meaning of suffering. Man hears Christ's saving answer as he himself gradually becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ.

  • .... Christ does not explain in the abstract the reasons for suffering, but before all else he says: "Follow me!". Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world, a salvation achieved through my suffering! Through my Cross. Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him. He does not discover this meaning at his own human level, but at the level of the suffering of Christ. At the same time, however, from this level of Christ the salvific meaning of suffering descends to man's level and becomes, in a sense, the individual's personal response. It is then that man finds in his suffering interior peace and even spiritual joy.

  • Saint Paul speaks of such joy in the Letter to the Colossians: "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake"(88). A source of joy is found in the overcoming of the sense of the uselessness of suffering, a feeling that is sometimes very strongly rooted in human suffering. This feeling not only consumes the person interiorly, but seems to make him a burden to others. The person feels condemned to receive help and assistance from others, and at the same time seems useless to himself. The discovery of the salvific meaning of suffering in union with Christ transforms this depressing feeling. Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person "completes what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is ceaselessly born of the Cross of the Redeemer, it is precisely suffering permeated by the spirit of Christ's sacrifice that is the irreplaceable mediator and author of the good things which are indispensable for the world's salvation. It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, more than anything else, makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption. In that "cosmic" struggle between the spiritual powers of good and evil, spoken of in the Letter to the Ephesians(89), human sufferings, united to the redemptive suffering of Christ, constitute a special support for the powers of good, and open the way to the victory of these salvific powers.
    And so the Church sees in all Christ's suffering brothers and sisters as it were a multiple subject of his supernatural power. How often is it precisely to them that the pastors of the Church appeal, and precisely from them that they seek help and support! The Gospel of suffering is being written unceasingly, and it speaks unceasingly with the words of this strange paradox: the springs of divine power gush forth precisely in the midst of human weakness. Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own sufferings a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's Redemption, and can share this treasure with others. The more a person is threatened by sin, the heavier the structures of sin which today's world brings with it, the greater is the eloquence which human suffering possesses in itself. And the more the Church feels the need to have recourse to the value of human sufferings for the salvation of the world.


Drawn in by the Sacred Heart

Walked into a church – and just happened, randomly, to see a stained glass window of Jesus, depicted as the Sacred Heart. Didn’t really understand. Hit powerfully. Had a “mystical experience” and didn’t understand what was happening. Fear and joy. "A sense of peace entered my vocabulary for the first time."


Value – Not the giver’s ability to give, but the receiver’s ability to receive – what do we DO with the gifts we receive?

Time to Give Back

Taking so much from patients – emotionally, spiritually, etc. Gifts are given for a reason. Took a good hard look at the many blessings he’d been given, and decided he needed to give back. Medical care in Jamaica. Worcester Guild of CMA, faith-based approach in his work as a doctor.

Speaking to parents of very sick/dying children – their priorities of their needs – what was most helpful to them

  1. Prayer
  2. Faith
  3. Access to clergy
  4. Belief in the transcendent quality of the parent/child relationship


We need to:

  • Be present in their suffering
  • Share faith with dignity
  • Honor those we can help
  • Offer ourselves freely - our gift to those we hope to heal


Faith makes us not only better people, but better healers


Worcester Guild of the Catholic Medical Association


Working together, Dr. John Howland, Dr. Paul Carpentier and Father Peter R. Beaulieu, director of Mission Integration and Pastoral Care at St. Vincent Hospital, they met with Bishop McManus in the summer of 2007 to discuss forming a guild in Worcester of the Catholic Medical Association, which first began in Boston in 1912. The Worcester Diocese has never had its own guild before. By January 2008, the new guild was officially formed. http://www.worcestercma.org


The guild’s focuses are education, mutual support and outreach, he said. Members need to learn how Church teachings relate to health care and encourage each other to bring what they learn at Sunday Mass to work on Monday. They can witness in the community by speaking out about medical ethics. He cautioned against too quickly telling others how to live ethically, however, and said, “The first priority is knowing Christ and walking with Christ in our own lives.”

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Written at 4:53 AM by Luminaria2112.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Spirituality and Sacraments of Mercy in Pastoral Care
I attended a two-day conference in Worcester at Holy Cross College. I'd like to share my notes with you, each in separate postings.

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4th Annual Heathcare Professionals
for Divine Mercy Conference
Medicine, Bioethics and Spirituality
April 29th & 30th 2008 – Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA
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Fr Kazimirerz Chwalek, MIC, BA, STB, STL (Cand.); Marian, Director of Evangelization and Development; Spirituality and Sacraments of Mercy in Pastoral Care

What does Mercy Mean?

Mercy is rooted in Scripture. It is an attitude, a concept. We see it described in the images, parables and events of Scripture.

In the Old Testament: The Hebrew words most often used to describe the Mercy of God are “Hesed” & “Rahamim”

Hesed = A profound attitude of “goodness” – two individuals do not just wish each other “well” when this word is used, they are utterly faithful and committed to each other by virtue of an interior commitment and faithfulness to themselves. They become deeply caring – it is a covenantal relationship. Hesed is also used to connote grace or love on the basis of fidelity. When hesed is used with the Lord – it is in reference to the covenant of the Lord with Israel – God’s gift to Israel. When Israel broke the Covenant the hesed ceased to be a “legal” obligation – God showed his grace and love by granting the people Mercy that He wasn’t “required” to show them by “obligation” – only by virtue of His love for them. Hope is then based on Love, not Law. Hope is then based on Fidelity, not Justice. God is utterly all of these attributes – but His Mercy is an endless ocean.

Rahamim = Love, as of a mother – a love completely gratuitous – goodness, tenderness, total readiness to forgive at all times. God as ready to forgive – Always – “Even those may forget, yet I will never forget you.” Is 49:15

Love – faithful, invincible – as a mother – salvation from danger.
Mercy – tender – faithful – which in contact with the evil that the loved one often commits = mercy
Predisposition to be generous, gracious, bestow blessings, gentle, forgiving, constant

Culture impacts the person:

Addictions, pain, depression, despair. Divine Mercy offers hope. We think that what we are doing is small – but prayer and offering our every effort to God can be huge.

New Testament:

Prayers – Zachariah praises God’s mercy, Mary’s Magnificat. The Parable of the Prodigal Son – this is the epitome of the meaning of the Divine Mercy. The child has broken the covenant of love in every way – lost every grace – indulged in every sin – and yet, the Father is faithful in love, in mercy. Hesesed – faithful to their loving relationship. Rahamim – charged with deep and abiding affection. This story reaches down to every human misery, moral depravity, and sin. The person who is the object of this kind of mercy feels “found” again, and “restored to value”. He has not received Justice, but unending Mercy. The brother demanded justice – he was angry – he wanted everything to be “fair”. But Mercy knows only Love. Love knows only Mercy.

Other stories – the Lost Sheep; the Woman Caught in Adultery, the Good Thief

Mercy – in the New Testament – restores value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing in the world, and in man. Mercy constitutes the fundamental content of the Messianic message of Christ and the constitutive power of His mission. Forgiveness and Eternal life are offered to all, and the Eucharist as Living Presence is His gift – the Bread of Heaven.

Imitation of Christ

The heart of Christian spirituality is living out our faith every day, in imitation of Christ. We can be instruments of healing or of hurting. If we show our pain, our suffering, our anger – what happens? Jesus took all that onto Himself – in the Garden, during the Scourging, during His humiliation by the guards, during His carrying of the Cross, He took all they heaped upon Him without a word. And when they nailed Him to the Cross, He forgave them – asked the Father to have Mercy on His abusers. Embrace, absorb, place before our Crucified Lord all the junk people throw our way – fear, anger, stress, depression – all the junk – lay it down at the foot of the Cross.

Be Merciful – as your Heavenly Father is Merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. If we pass our suffering along to the Lord, it cannot poison us, or cause us to “explode”. It calms us, sooths us, grants us grace and peace. Look also to Mary, Mother of Mercy – she who had total trust and obedience.

Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called “mystical” because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the Sacraments – “the Holy Mysteries” and in Him, in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, God calls us all to this intimate union with him even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift given to all.

We are always forgiven when we ask to be freed. God stands ready and waiting for us. We have only to ask.

Trust is a key element in the Divine Mercy.

“I have opened My heart as a living fountain of Mercy. Let them approach this sea of Mercy with great trust.” Diary 1520

“Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is-trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts." Diary 1578

Today the Lord said to me, “My daughter, My pleasure and delight, nothing will stop Me from granting you graces. Your misery does not hinder My mercy. My daughter, write that the greater the misery of a soul, the greater it’s right to My mercy; [urge] all souls to trust in the unfathomable abyss of My mercy, because I want to save them all. On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls-no one have I excluded!” Diary 1182

Openness to the living presence of God leads to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, which leads to Joy.

How do we obtain this – corporal acts of Mercy – “that which we do to the least of our brothers….”

Proclaim and receive God’s Mercy through:

•Liturgy & Prayer
•Sacraments – especially Penance, Eucharist, and Anointing of the Sick (the Sacraments of Mercy)

So many suffer because of coldness and indifference – so much more than physical pain. Bitterness in their lives. Your presence – OUR presence – may be the only light of Mercy they receive. Your chaplet may be the ONLY one ever prayed for them.

Jesus said, “I am Love and Mercy itself”

“My Mercy is greater than the sins of the entire world”

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Written at 3:32 AM by Luminaria2112.
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Saturday, January 05, 2008
Rosarium

Rosarium
The Prayers of the Rosary, In Latin & in English

IN nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


IN the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Domine, labia mea aperies, Et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam. Deus in adiutorium meum intende, Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.


Thou, O Lord, wilt open my lips, And my tongue shall announce Thy praise. O God come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to help me.


CREDO in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae. Et in Iesum Christum, Filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum, qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine, passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis, inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, vitam aeternam. Amen.


I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth। I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord। He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.


PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.


OUR FATHER, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.



AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.


HAIL MARY, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen.



GLORIA Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.


GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.


*Oratio Fatima*
O MI IESU, dimitte nobis debita nostra, libera nos ab igne inferni, conduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent misericordia tua.


*Fatima Prayer*
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy

SALVE, Regina, mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus DEUS, cuius Unigenitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectionem suam nobis salutis aeternae praemia comparavit, concede, quaesumus: ut haec mysteria sacratissimo beatae Mariae Virginis Rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.


HAIL Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve। To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us. And after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.


Let us pray Almighty, everlasting God, who by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin-Mother Mary to become a worthy dwelling for Thy Son; grant that we who rejoice in her commemoration may, by her loving intercession, be delivered from present evils and from the everlasting death. Amen.

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Written at 6:45 AM by Luminaria2112.
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