An Article from Sister Betty
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Sister Doctor Betty Nina (MD Physician)
(Medical Sisters of St Josephs, Kerala India)
Experiencing God's Presence
We read that Moses spoke face to face with God.(Exodus 3:1-4) Moses saw the bush was on fire but that it was not burning up. When the Lord saw that Moses was coming closer, he called to him from the middle of the bush and said "Moses! Moses!" He answered "Yes here I am".
(Exodus: 33.11) God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend and Moses "Face shone because of the close encounter with the Holy God".
In the bible (Isaiah: 6.6) The Prophet Isaiah felt a deep realization in His presence, exclaiming "Woe is me I am lost".
(Revelations: 1.17) we read that the disciple John fell down as though dead at the sight of the glorified Jesus.
When God meets a person in such a manner, the person will never be the same again. He or she will be completely transformed. Just like radiation rays pierce every tissue of the body.
God's loving rays penetrate the human body, touching every cell, every organ, deeper still, every nook and corner of the mind and the very depths of the soul.
This visible and powerful presence of God that a person encounters in one's daily life is the blessed (Revelation: 21.3) Sacrament we read God's throne is with mankind and He will always live with them.
On the day of the festival of Corpus Christi I was before the Blessed Sacrament praying.
Suddenly I could feel the presence of the Lord as a bright light, in and around the tabernacle and the whole sanctuary, and gradually it enveloped me.
The powerful rays were piercing deep within. I felt motionless - Everything was blank except his presence. When I came to my normal senses I felt a deep illumination within me and over my face.
I experienced a passionate love for Jesus and a new vigour and joy. Actually I was too tired and gloomy when I first came to the Chapel.
This is the healing presence of the Lord.We need not go anywhere to get healing from the Lord, either to pilgrimage places or to spiritual centre's of great reputation.
He is present in your Parish Church, in the closed tabernacle. The healing power is there to heal you physically, mentally and spiritually.
Spend an hour with Him daily. Don't miss the chance.
Spirituality of Holistic Healing
Sister Betty Nina M.D (Physician)
Medical Sisters of St Joseph Kerala Southern India
After fifteen years of my healing ministry as a medical doctor, I came to the realisation that Healing is not merely the physical healing, it is the integration of body, mind and soul, which makes a person fully human and fully divine. Within twenty years of my medical practice, as I was sitting in the clinic I had encounter with a good number of patients suffering from chronic diseases like Bronchial Asthma, Rheumatoid arthritis, Hypertension etc.
They were totally dependent on the doctor and the medicine. I had written the same prescription for the same patient for more than ten years without having a complete cure. I was pondering over my failure in my service as a religious nun and as a medical doctor, for not been able to give a permanent cure for the patients. I perceived my profession very empty without giving fullness of life to the sick.
When I opened the Bible, I got chapter thirty-seven of Ezekiel where I could see the picture of a valley with dry bones and the miraculous way of these bones uniting together and I could see flesh on them and skin had covered them. Finally breath came to them. I was convinced more, that Jesus is the only physician who can give life.
(John 10:10) says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” Jesus healed the paralysed man by saying “your sins are forgiven”.
This changed all my attitudes towards health and healing. Unless the soul is liberated from sin, and the mind is healed from negative thoughts, negative emotions and attitudes, physical healing will never happen and the sole mediator of the healing is Jesus. With a new spirit I entered into the field of holistic healing and I cherish it in my heart as an art of healing, soul, mind and body.
I could see wonders happening in my ministry. This is the inspiration underneath, for starting an holistic healing centre in Kerala, South India, where ten of our religious sisters along with lay doctors and nurses working as a team with an aim of total healing of the sick and suffering. This aim corresponds with the motto of our congregation, ‘LOVE HEALS THROUGH THE BODY TO THE SOUL’.
Today all over the world, there is a growing belief that the holistic approach of healing is far more excellent than a particular system of medicine. The word 'Holistic' is derived from the Greek ‘Holos’ meaning 'whole'. Holistic health is a direction towards integration of body, mind and soul including consciousness by exploring one's inner space which is the indwelling and temple of the Holy Trinity. This integration of a whole person is the sine qua non of perfect health, which includes curative and preventive health care system. Most of the health professionals all over the world are having a wrong view, they seem to think that the patient is like a piece of machinery, for repairing the damaged parts, that are the diseases and symptoms. The person as a whole is completely out of the picture. The reluctance of the doctors to hear patiently what the sick and desperate patient has to say. The exclusive dependence on diagnostic devices to find the cause of illness and the emphasis on the medical and surgical intervention to the almost complete exclusion of the steps to reach the troubled and distressed mind and soul shows itself the flaw of the approach of healing.
Holistic healing is a challenge to renew the vision and mode of treatment of modern allopathic medicine.
There are three progressive steps for the holistic healing.
· First step is a warm welcome and a compassionate attitude to each and every person who is in pain, followed by a complete medical check-up.
· Second step is a personal and family counselling with awareness classes to liberate the person who is ill from all the negative emotions and mental attitudes.
· Third step, which is very important, is the spiritual dimension of healing.
Our centre has much advanced in this level and at present there is a holistic retreat centre along with allopathic and ayurvedic treatment centre.
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The Lord Jesus is the chief physician of this centre. The inner healing of the mind and soul is the core process of a total healing. This takes place through healing touch of Jesus in the inner core of a person. Negative emotions, like fear, resentment, lack of forgiveness, guilt, anxiety, rejection and loneliness can become the root cause of psycho somatic diseases like, allergies, Irritable Bowel disorder, Rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, muscular and neurological disorders etc.
This is an example of one of the healings, which had taken place in our centre. A young man aged thirty-five was brought to the centre with paralysis of both lower limbs for one month. He could not sit up or walk. He had treatment in one of the famous neurological centre in Kerala. But, his physical condition remained status quo. As I was counselling the patient, Jesus was showing me a picture of a knife and I doubted whether he was involved in a crime of murder.
As I was asking him the details, his first response was that he could never forgive his own brother in-law. They had a shared business and as the business was flourishing they were very happy and were enjoying a good friendship.
All of a sudden there came a decline in the business and it started running into debts. The brother in-law instead of supporting this man he cheated him by putting all the charges against him. He was totally upset and developed a strong hatred towards the brother in-law. Finally, he decided to stab him during the early hours of the morning. Whilst he slept, he kept a sharpened knife under his pillow, as dawn broke he was about to get up and take the knife, to stab his brother in-law.
But, he found himself paralysed and was taken to the hospital. At this point, I told him that this buried resentment and the strong impulse of hatred and revenge is the cause of this paralysis. I asked him to pray for the grace of forgiveness. In the beginning, he was not at all cooperative. But, after a few days, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and with tears many tears, he said that he could forgive his brother in-law from the heart.
At that moment itself he started moving his toes and within a day he started walking without support. The miracle of holistic healing had happened!
There are many instances which I can convey where the touch of the Divine has taken place.
To conclude: Holistic healing is the answer for cure and liberation from the physical illness, addiction and other mental and spiritual bondages of the people in the modem era. It is a new way of thinking and new mode of action in the healing ministry. Christian healing ministry can rise up to a new challenge in the field of health and education by raising the banner of holistic health atop the portals of all Christian hospitals and teaching institutions.
Through self-awareness and integration, transformation of persons and families is within the reach of Holistic Health. Holistic healing is a way of life many people have not yet travelled.
During this journey one gets transformation to a positive approach of life amidst the sufferings, contradictions and conflicts of this material world.
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Sister Doctor Betty Nina (Medical Sisters of St Joseph)
SPRITUAL DIRECTOR OF 'LOVE HEALS BODY MIND AND SPIRIT'' MINISTRY
