“Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Last night, I found a new show on PBS called “Sacred Journeys,” a six part series about pilgrimages people take around the world. This particular story was about wounded warriors, our veterans, going to Lourdes, France to be “cured.” Over 5 million people go to Lourdes each year for healing, a sacred place since 1858 when a young fourteen year old girl Bernadette Sourbiroux had 18 visions of the Blessed Virgin, referred to as apparitions.
Many soldiers journeyed to this sacred place without limbs, blind, suffering from Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the deep wounds of war. Through the many interviews, they made the distinction between being cured and healed. At the end of the hour, their hopes of a cure were transformed into the gift of healing, accepting, peace.
We often focus on the cure, the instant fix, the reset, when what we really need in life and in our relationships is to be healed. That is to accept our circumstances, no matter what they may be, with a peace and grace beyond understanding. For when we search for healing instead of the cure, we find the lasting cure is healing and it transforms and transcends the crosses that we all bear.
And when we find healing within, we can begin to fill the void of that often hollow and distant platitude of “peace on earth”. For when we foster peace within our hearts, souls and our homes, we will bring the world one step closer to peace, justice and love. And we need not go to Lourdes to find it.
May this season bring you healing and in turn real peace on earth.
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