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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-14-12

Day 134
23. DOES JESUS HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN HEALING?

1 God’s gifts can rarely be received directly. Even the most advanced of God’s teachers will give way to temptation in this world. Would it be fair if their pupils were denied healing because of this? The Bible says, “Ask in the name of Jesus Christ.” Is this merely an appeal to magic? A name does not heal, nor does an invocation call forth any special power. What does it mean to call on Jesus Christ? What does calling on his name confer? Why is the appeal to him part of healing?

This is very reassuring on more than one level. I am in Houston right now taking my turn being Brinda’s caretaker. I am also helping my brother, John, Brinda’s husband, because he is having a mystery stomach ailment that is very painful. He has to go for a colonoscopy tomorrow and I prepared his treatment last night before bed so it would be ready for him today and I will be driving him for his procedure.

I also helped prepare and give Brinda her medicine this morning. It is a very complicated procedure that took over an hour to complete. There are many, many medicines that require great care in preparing. There are shots to give and lots of other nursing type things that must be done. No one has ever confused me with a nurse before and it was all strange and a little disconcerting for me.

I knew that I was going to be faced with a lot of apparent proof that people are sick, weak and vulnerable. I knew that I was going to have to deal with magical treatments. For this reason I talked to Holy Spirit even before I got here. I asked Him to help me remember the truth. I asked Him to help me as I watch my mind for mistaken beliefs. I also asked him to help me be, not just a caretaker for Brinda’s body, but a healer for her mind.

How lovely this morning to read that it’s understood that my faith is not complete and that it will waver, but that’s ok. My patient is not going to suffer because I temporarily falter. Thank You, God, for that. I am also given the extra help I need. I can call on my “big brother” for help. I can use the name of Jesus Christ when I ask for healing. He is my source of inspiration as he was a master healer, but more than that, he completed the Atonement and so is Healer for the world. He and I share the same mind and so I can call on him for strength and assistance.

Brinda and I began the day with a reading from the Course and praying together. We looked at Lesson 190 which reminds us that we are responsible for our pain and that it is in the remembrance of our true nature that we are able to change our mind and choose joy instead. She and I talked about the difference between responsibility and blame. We are responsible for everything in our life, but there is no blame, no guilt. Nothing we do is a sin, only a mistake, and mistakes are easily corrected with the Holy Spirit’s help.

Another thought that came to me is that I, too, take responsibility for Brinda’s illness. There is in my mind a belief in guilt and sickness that contributes to the hold of guilt on the mind that we all share. I am excited to spend the day in full willingness to heal that belief in our mind. Lesson 190 says that we have the power to dominate all things we see by merely recognizing what we are. I am willing to look past appearances and seek only the truth. I call on the Power of God, that is also my power, to do this. 

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