Healing

Copyright © Harcourt Religion Publishers 1

Healing

1. Making a judgment on whether a healing is genuine or phony

• Exchange of money—Healing comes from God. When someone heals and a lot of money is exchanged, we need to be wary.

• Medical evidence—Is the cure verified by testing?

• Does the cure last? Is the cure genuine or just a temporary mind-over-matter situation?

8:1


2. Definitions

Healing8:1

Suffering

Disease

Health

Wholeness

Healing

“. . . the distress accompanying events that threaten one’s intactness, one’s togetherness . . . whatever threatens one’s coherence as a self”

the effort to make whole or to enhance the harmonious, balanced functioning of the whole person

many parts working together in a harmonious way

the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit

a malfunctioning of the biological or psychological dimensions of a person


Gustave DoréJesus healing the

man with an unclean spirit

(Luke 4:31–37)

8:2


8:2 Gustave DoréThe blind and mute demonic

(Matthew 12:22)


8:2 Gustave DoréJesus raising

up the daughter of Jairus

(Luke 8:40–42, 49–56)


8:2 Gustave DoréJesus healing

the sick (Matthew 15:30–31)


8:2 Gustave DoréJesus healing

a boy with a demon (Matthew 17:14–18)


8:2 Gustave DoréThe resurrection

of Lazarus (John 11:1–44)


The Stages of Grieving8:3

1. DenialThere are a variety of ways of denying a loss: putting on a happy face, plunging back into work, refusing to talk about the deceased, and so on.

2. AngerAnger may be directed at the doctors, other caregivers, God, and often the deceased.

3. BargainingGrieving people try to strike deals with God: if they do a certain thing, God will . . . whatever they are bargaining for.

4. DepressionDepression may be manifested by sleeping too much or too little, living in darkness; being lethargic and without motivation, eating too much or too little, overindulging in alcohol and cigarettes.

5. AcceptanceMost people eventually come to terms with the loss and begin to emerge back into life again.


CHAPTER 8 Vocabulary Review8:4

being saved from evil, whether physical or spiritual; in Christian terms, being saved from sin and evil through the power of the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus

an event, such as an unexpected cure or a rapid healing, that is attributed to God’s power and that arouses admiration and wonder

natural sacrament (page 173)

salvation (page 174)

miracle (page 174)

a natural sign of God, such as human caring being a sign of the way God cares for us


CHAPTER 8 Vocabulary Review

the former name for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, emphasizing the last anointing before death

8:4

the Sacrament of Healing for those who are seriously ill or in danger of death due to sickness or old age, consisting of anointing with oil and prayers for physical and spiritual healing and the forgiveness of sins

Extreme Unction (page 177)

Anointing of the Sick (page 179)

Last Rites (page 180)the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist (viaticum), and the Anointing of the Sick, when administered for someone who is dying



a traditional name for Communion that is given to a dying person, in the sense of “food for the journey” from this life to the next

oils used in the sacraments; chrism, the oil of catechumens, and the oil of the sick

viaticum (page 180)

holy oils (page 181)

grieving process (page 186)the normal process of psychologically adjusting to personal loss, involving denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance



a gathering of people prior to an important event, such as the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday or the vigil for the deceased prior to a funeral

the practice of “staying awake with the body” between the time of death and the time of burial

vigil (page 186)

wake (page 186)

eulogy (page 186)from the Greek, meaning “good word,” hence, words of remembrance and praise for someone who has recently died



the complete incineration of a body, turning it into ashes

someone who denies the existence of God

cremation (page 188)

atheist (page 188)

Healing

Documents

Transcript of Healing