27 May 2022

‘Come healing of the body,
Come healing of the mind’


Patrick Comerford

I have been waiting for some time now to hear back about my referral from the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to the National Centre for Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Sheffield, following my stroke over two months ago (18 March 2022) and my discharge from hospital in Oxford (1 April 2022). I hear from Oxford this week that my case was being discussed by the multidisciplinary team in Sheffield this morning (27 May 2022).

Anyone who has waited like this knows the anxiety it may cause, and I have been back in touch this week with the hospitals in both Oxford and Sheffield, with a number of phone calls.

A recent report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that for every 100 people admitted to hospital in the UK with an ischaemic stroke in 2019, on average 12.0 died within 30 days – ranking the UK worst out of nine comparable countries; the average was 9.5. The same report shows that for every 100 people admitted to hospital with an haemorrhagic stroke in 2019 in the UK, on average 41.7 died within 30 days – ranking the UK worst out of nine comparable countries; the average was seven.

In my reflections and prayers this Friday evening, I am reflecting on one of the central Jewish prayers for those who are ill or recovering from illness or accidents, the Mi Sheberach.

The name of this prayer comes from its first two Hebrew words. With a holistic view of humanity, it prays for physical cure as well as spiritual healing, asking for blessing, compassion, restoration, and strength, within the community of others facing illness as well as all for Jews and for all human beings.

Traditionally, the Mi Sheberach is said in synagogues when the Torah is read. If the patients themselves are not present, close relatives or friends may be called up to the Torah for an honour, and whoever is leading the service offers this prayer, filling in the name of the one who is ill and her or his parents.

Increasingly, the Mi Sheberach has moved into other settings. Chaplains, doctors, nurses and social workers are now joining patients and those close to them in saying the Mi Sheberach at different times, such as before and after surgery, during treatments, on admission or discharge, on the anniversary of diagnosis, and more.

The words of this traditional prayer are reflected in Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘Come Healing,’ which I heard him sing ten years ago at his concert in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin (11 September 2012).

After my stroke, I am more than conscious of some of the lines in this song:

O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb


Mi Sheberach (English translation):

May the One who blessed our ancestors —
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah —
bless and heal the one who is ill, …
son/daughter of …

May the Holy Blessed One
overflow with compassion upon him/her,
to restore him/her,
to heal him/her,
to strengthen him/her,
to enliven him/her.

The One will send him/her, speedily,
a complete healing —
healing of the soul and healing of the body —
along with all the ill,
among the people of Israel and all humankind,
soon,
speedily,
without delay,
and let us all say: Amen!

Come Healing (Leonard Cohen)

O, gather up the brokenness
Bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow

The splinters that you carried
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
Of cruelty or the grace

O, solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

O, see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart

O, troubledness concealing
An undivided love
The heart beneath is teaching
To the broken heart above

And let the heavens falter
Let the earth proclaim
Come healing of the altar
Come healing of the name

O, longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Shabbat Shalom



Praying with the Psalms in Easter:
27 May 2022 (Psalm 93)

‘Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting’ (Psalm 93: 4) … the Throne in the Throne Robe in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Yesterday was Ascension Day, but the season of Easter continues until the Day of Pentecost. Before this day begins, I am taking some time this morning to continue my reflections in this season of Easter, including my morning reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 93:

Psalm 93 is known in Latin as Dominus regnavit. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, this psalm is counted as Psalm 92.

Psalm 93 is the first of a series of psalms (Psalms 93-99) that are called royal psalms as they praise God as King.

In the Masoretic text and in English versions it has no title or author, but the Septuagint and Vulgate entitle it ‘On the day before the Sabbath, when the earth was founded: A Psalm of thanksgiving to (or for) David.’

The two main themes in Psalm 93 are God’s kingship and a connection with Friday, the sixth day of the week (counting from Sunday).

The Zohar notes that in Hebrew, this psalm contains 45 words, which is the gematria or numerical value of the word adam (אדם, ‘man’). Adam was created on the sixth day of Creation and went on to proclaim God as King.

Psalm 93 was also designated as the Song of the Day for Friday, to be sung by the Levites in the Temple in Jerusalem. This tradition continues today in the psalm’s inclusion in the regular Friday morning prayer service in Judaism.

According to Rabbi Yaakov Emden, the connection with the sixth day is reinforced by the psalm’s description of God ‘in his full grandeur and power as he was when he completed the six days of Creation.’ The reference to donning grandeur further alludes to the way Jews dress up in their nicest garments on Friday to greet the approaching Shabbat.

Psalm 93 also hints to the future Messianic Age, when the entire world will acknowledge God as King.

Psalm 93 is the Song of the Day for Friday, recited at the morning prayer service. Some Jewish communities also recite this psalm as the ma’amad (special daily prayer) for Friday. Speaking, as it does, of the completion of creation (‘the world is firmly established’ or ‘he has established the world,’ verse 1), this psalm is appropriate for the sixth day.

Additionally, Psalm 93 is the eighth and final psalm said during the Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday night, acting as a summation of the preceding seven psalms. It is also recited in its entirety during Pesukei dezimra on Shabbat, Yom Tov, and Hoshana Rabbah.

‘The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring’ (Psalm 93: 3) … tourists on duck walks in Saint Mark’s Square during floods in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 93 (NRSVA):

1 The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
2 your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.

3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
more majestic than the waves of the sea,
majestic on high is the Lord!

5 Your decrees are very sure;
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, for evermore.

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Mission in Australia.’ It was introduced on Sunday by Peter Burke, Manager at Mission and Anglican Community Engagement AnglicareSA.

The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (27 May 2022) invites us to pray:

May we give ourselves the time to truly discern God’s mission for us, allowing ourselves to be moved by the Holy Spirit and to follow God’s calling.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org