Wednesday in Holy Week: betrayed by our own cells

In our Bible reading today we hear of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, one of his close group, 'one of his own'. You can read the story from John's Gospel by clicking here.

When our cells mutate to become cancerous it can feel like a huge betrayal. A betrayal of something that should by its very nature work with us and for us.

Why would or should one of our own cells turn from working with and for us to be so virulently against us and try to take us over?

There is something very frightening about cells that turn cancerous. These are cells that cannot even be seen by the naked eye and yet they can topple our bodies from health to despair. All can seem well on the outside and yet deep within destruction can be at work.

Going for a biopsy to test for cancer brings us into a place where we realise that there are many things we cannot control in life. The picture above shows a slide of cancerous cells on the left as seen through a microscope.

Dear Lord,
every cell in my body needs to work together in harmony to keep me well.
Help me to appreciate every cell of my body.
When cells let me down and I feel betrayed
help me to lean on your love where you care for every part of my wellbeing. Amen

This reflection is to accompany the spiritual space and Lenten Reflection at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital.

If you are in the chapel when you click on this page please feel free to add your prayer to the prayer card on the altar.

If you would like us to pray for you at our Taizé Service of Prayer around the Cross on Good Friday at 7:30pm please send an email to daniel.nuzum@hse.ie or tweet to @goodfridaycuh and use hash tag #goodfridaycuh or send a SMS to +353 87 3939142
If you live in the locality of CUH you can listen in and join us for worship through hospital radio on CUH102FM

Tuesday in Holy Week: Save me from this suffering

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed that the cup of suffering might be taken from him. A very human response to an overwhelming pain that he was enduring. And yet deep down he knew that there was no way around what was a path of suffering but only a way through.

The diagnosis of illness can bring us to a 'Garden of Gethsemane' experience where we want to bargain with God to find an easier way. Yet, we know deep down, like jesus did, that there is usually no way around but only a way through. A way through that we somehow find the strength to accomplish despite the odds and our human fears.  While we may hold our hands up to our face to block the view ahead we know that it also opens our eyes to see that there is no other way but to journey on.

Dear Lord,

like you I want this cup of suffering to pass from me

yet I know that I must journey through.

be my companion, my strength and my guide

and walk beside me all the way. Amen.

This reflection is to accompany the spiritual space and Lenten Reflection at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital.

If you are in the chapel when you click on this page please feel free to add your prayer to the prayer card on the altar.

If you would like us to pray for you at our Service of Prayer around the Cross on Good Friday at 7:30pm please send an email to daniel.nuzum@hse.ie or a tweet to @goodfridaycuh and use #goodfridaycuh or a SMS to +353 87 3939142
If you live in the locality of CUH you can listen in and join us for worship through hospital radio on CUH102FM

Monday in Holy Week: fragrant love & anointing. Thank God for our feet

Our feet are often the most neglected parts of our bodies (especially for men!) and yet they carry our complete load and are our connection with the earth beneath us. Each of our feet has 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. They are complex parts of our body that we are unaware of most of the time unless they become strained or damaged. As we wear shoes most of the time we have lost their sense of connectedness with the earth beneath us. We have lost the sense of how our feet connect us with the ground we tread on and in many ways we have dampened the ability of our feet to be sensory organs.

On this Monday in Holy week as we journey with Jesus towards the cross we hear again the gospel story of Mary anointing Jesus feet with perfume.  (Click here if you would like to view the reading) A beautiful act that in many ways points towards his death and burial. The feet that walked into jerusalem yesterday to the victory shouts of Hosanna and welcome are now set on a very different path where 'hosanna' will quickly become 'crucify'.


Dear Lord,
as you journey towards the cross this week
journey with me in my illness and pain.
As Mary anointed your feet with ointment and love
so please anoint me with your healing love and presence.
Amen

This reflection is to accompany the spiritual space and Lenten Reflection at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital.

If you are in the chapel when you click on this page please feel free to add your prayer to the prayer card on the altar.

If you would like us to pray for you at our Taize Service of Prayer around the Cross on Good Friday at 7.30pm  please send an email to daniel.nuzum@hse.ie or tweet name to @goodfridaycuh using hashtag #goodfridaycuh or send a SMS to +353 87 3939142

If you live in the locality of CUH you can listen in and join us for worship through hospital radio on CUH102FM

Palm Sunday: facing illness head on to find God

Today, Palm Sunday we here again the story of the journey of Jesus into Jerusalem. All seems well, in fact all seems jubilant and festive as Jesus is acclaimed by the crowds who shout 'Hosanna'. There is a carnival scene and yet with hindsight its hard not to think that Jesus is marching with a false sense of security. Things will change rapidly when the emotions of the crowd will turn on Jesus. 'Hosanna' will be replaced by 'Crucify'.

Illness can be a bit like that. Life is going along nicely and then completely out of the blue something can go seriously wrong and our lives can be changed forever. It might be a heart attack, a stroke, an accident, a sudden attack of a dormant illness. It can feel that the world is against us and we want to cover our faces to stop us from looking at whatever it is that is in front of us. Yet, we know that in order to move forward we need to look at whatever it is  and to look at it head on and face it. Only then can we start to move forward.

Almighty God,
On this Palm Sunday as Jesus faces an uncertain future
give me the courage to face whatever is ahead
with confidence and trust in your presence
where nothing can shake your love and care for me. Amen


This reflection is to accompany the spiritual space and Lenten Reflection at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital.

If you are in the chapel when you click on this page please feel free to add your prayer to the prayer card on the altar.

If you would like us to pray for you at our weekly eucharist on Sunday mornings at 09:15 please send an email to daniel.nuzum@hse.ie 
If you live in the locality of CUH you can listen in and join us for worship through hospital radio on CUH102FM

Sensual, tender, extravagant and scandalous love

Imagine the scene, Jesus is at a dinner party and Mary opens a jar of expensive balm and warms it in her hands and then rubs it into Jesus feet. The touch of her hands made more gliding as the balm melts and is absorbed by both her hands and Jesus feet. An effortless-life motion as the balm is rubbed in. Meanwhile the perfume from the balm starts to fill the room. People didn't usually take such liberties. Even in our day it would be considered an intimate act. This is not something that can be disguised or hidden.

This causes discomfort and Judas the 'money man' tucks into Mary about the waste of money.  Imagine what could be done with the money? Yes, the money could be spent on the poor; but would it?

Here in this act Mary wastes her treasured perfume on Jesus in an action that would never be forgotten and that was poignant beyond measure as he journeyed towards death.

It is a wasteful extravagance and for me it speaks so powerfully to how we care for those who are ill. It speaks so powerfully about how we lavish the best care, skill, science, research and -above all- love on those who may never be able to pay it back. Palliative care is perhaps the best example of this.

In your illness, suffering and pain may you know the overflowing and extravagant love that God wants to lavish on you for no other reason than simply because he loves you.

Tender God,
thank you for lavishing your love
generously, wastefully and  lovingly on me.
May I sense the perfume of your presence
in the midst of illness.
Amen

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This reflection is to accompany the spiritual space and Lenten Reflection at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital.

If you are in the chapel when you click on this page please feel free to add your prayer to the prayer card on the altar.

If you would like us to pray for you at our weekly eucharist on Sunday mornings at 09:15 please send an email to daniel.nuzum@hse.ie .

If you live in the locality of CUH you can listen in and join us for worship through hospital radio every Sunday morning at 09:15 on CUH102FM

Love that no illness can take away: Finding God and Life in illness.

This week as we continue our Lenten reflections on finding God and life in the wilderness of illness we hear in our Gospel reading from St Luke today about the story of the 'Prodigal Son' and the overflowing, generous love that is demonstrated in the actions of a father towards a wayward son.

During illness we can feel unloveable as our bodies let us down; yet even when our body, mind or spirit is ill we still reflect the image of God who continues to create and recreate within us. 

A powerfully emotional story about unconditional love and a window onto the love that God lavishes on each of us. If you wish to read the parable please click here.

As God embraces you and holds you tightly have the courage to embrace whatever frightens you today, befriend it and allow God to create and recreate even in illness, even in you.

Dear Lord,

you lavish your overflowing and unconditional love beyond measure.

As I journey through illness

touch me, hold me, embrace me and love me.

Amen

This reflection is to accompany the spiritual space and Lenten Reflection at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital.

If you are in the chapel when you click on this page please feel free to add your prayer to the prayer card on the altar.

If you would like us to pray for you at our weekly eucharist on Sunday mornings at 09:15 please send an email to daniel.nuzum@hse.ie .
If you live in the locality of CUH you can listen in and join us for worship through hospital radio on CUH102FM

Pearls of Life: Spirituality for today

I was privileged to lead a series of workshops today on spirituality for young people in our Diocese who are to be confirmed by the Bishop this year. This annual gathering is always engaging and inspiring and I always learn more than I share from the young people who come. A wonderful team of leaders from our Diocesan Youth Department join the Bishop and his team to make the event a meaningful experience for young folk on their confirmation journey.

I used the Prayer Beads that were created by Bishop Martin Lönnebo from the Church of Sweden as a resource for thinking about life and faith. These prayer beads are close to my own heart and I have used them in many different contexts with people as a means to pray and reflect. These have ranged from young parents holding vigil with a seriously ill baby, a teenager battling chemotherapy, an older man with a brain tumour who lost the ability to speak to an elderly woman following a stroke. At the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital the stock of beads is depleted within days of becoming available.

In each case I try to write or record an individual guide for each situation so that they can be truly connected and relevant and ultimately the user creates their own prayer that makes sense of their own situation. Somehow, the prayer beads capture the imagination of the user and are flexible enough to be adapted to the situation of the user.

Today however I used the Prayer Beads to allow the young people to think of their lives in totality -to explore how faith is connected with every part of life and how every part of life is connected to and part of the person that God loves utterly. These beads through touch, texture, colour and invested meaning are a wonderful way to open our minds to a connected, integrated and incarnational spirituality and faith that goes a long way to helping to make sense of the experience of God in our day. Hopefully in a small way they will be a useful and meaningful tool for our young people as each person was gifted a set of beads from the Bishop.