Patrick Comerford
We are in the countdown to Christmas in the Church, with just 11 days to go to Christmas. Sunday was the Second Sunday of Advent (10 December 2023), and we are half-way through what is a very short Advent this year.
Today (14 December), the Church Calendar celebrates the life of Saint John of the Cross (1591), poet, teacher of the faith and Carmelite mystic.
Throughout Advent this year, my reflections each day include a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. These Advent reflections are following this pattern:
1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 12, ‘Come Healing’:
I find it interesting that Saint John of the Cross, who is remembered in the Church Calendar today, and so many other Spanish mystics, came from Jewish family backgrounds. There are echoes of his ideas of the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ in so many of the poems and songs of Leonard Cohen, including these lines in Leonard Cohen’s ‘Come Healing’:
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
It feels like a long time now since I had a stroke almost 21 months ago (18 March 2022), followed by treatment in Milton Keynes University Hospital, the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield.
In my reflections and prayers this morning, I am listening again to Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘Come Healing,’ and reading one of the central Jewish prayers for those who are ill or recovering from illness or accidents, the Mi Sheberach, a prayer that is reflected in the words of this song.
The name of the 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 11 years ago at his concert in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin (11 September 2012).
After last year’s 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!
Leonard Cohen: Come Healing:
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
Matthew 11: 11-15 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 11 ‘Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 Let anyone with ears listen!’
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 14 December 2023):
The theme this week in the new edition of ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Faith of Advent.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (14 December 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
Lord Jesus Christ, when we are uncertain about what we should do, show us your ways. When we don’t know which way to turn, teach us Your paths. Help us to be attentive to your voice as you guide us through life.
The Collect:
O God, the judge of all,
who gave your servant John of the Cross
a warmth of nature, a strength of purpose
and a mystical faith
that sustained him even in the darkness:
shed your light on all who love you
and grant them union of body and soul
in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with John of the Cross to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Leonard Cohen, ‘Come Healing’ … live in Dublin
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
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