The Healing Journey

November 17, 2024

“Pick somebody to pray for who is in pain … and don’t stop praying for them.” 
— Author unknown

Rob just couldn’t get over the death of his wife. It had been a couple of years, and the second year seemed worse than the first. From the moment he got up until the moment he put his head on the pillow, he thought of her. And the memories didn’t fade, they seemed to grow more vivid. How was that even possible?

He talked to her when he was alone. It had taken a long time for him to reconcile himself to the reality that she was gone, and even longer for him to rid himself of the blame he put on her as if she could have prevented her death.

And then, something strange happened. Actually, not strange, but very ordinary. He met a woman who had lost her husband to Alzheimer’s, and he realized she had been suffering loss a lot longer than he had, suffering loss even before the man passed away.

He wanted to do something for her. Buy her a gift card to DoorDash, or perhaps a bag of groceries from Whole Foods. As he spent an afternoon deliberating over what he should do, he realized he should pray for her.

He seldom prayed for other people, and outside of going to Mass and saying grace before meals, this was an entirely new experience. Nevertheless, he made sure that every night before he dozed off to sleep, he would ask God to help her get through her grief.

The next time he saw her at the senior center, she looked the same, and his first thought was “Well, so much for the power of prayer.” But then, he sat down and asked her how she was.

For the most part, she was the same, but then, quite unexpectedly, she began to tell him about a wonderful afternoon she had with her granddaughter who came to visit her. That night when he was in bed, he didn’t know whether he should keep praying for her … until a thought came into his mind that his feeble prayers had somehow been responsible for that delightful day she had with her granddaughter. Could his prayers have possibly been answered? Maybe his prayers would help lead her out of darkness … and him too. So he kept praying.

©Joseph Pisani

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