Enlighten Articles

April 2012

Let it Rain - Let it Rain God's Healing Power brings about total healing.

Sue Michel's amazing story of God's healing power in her life is one in which you will experience the conviction of the Easter Resurrection.

On July 20, 2011, I went to work not feeling so good. My stomach hurt A LOT. By noon I was running a fever, and buckled over in pain. I went to see my doctor later that afternoon. He sent me straight to the Hospital as a direct admit. A few hours later, I was in surgery having my appendix removed. During the surgery, the surgeon found a hernia. He tried to repair it but was not able to during the procedure. After the surgery, he explained that I would have to come back in a month or two to repair the hernia. So, my simple 45 min appendectomy turned in to a 2 hour surgery with news that I would have to come back and have the hernia repaired.

All of this was actually no big deal, I planned on going back in Sept. For the 2nd surgery.

Fast forward to August 28th.  That day, I was having problems with my vision in my left eye.  By the next morning,  my vision in my left eye was  blocked by a curtain in the top left and also  the bottom left.  I was a bit scared but felt fine.   I called Cincinnati eye institute and they had me come in immediately.  The ophthalmologist discovered that my left eye retina had detached and that my right eye retina had small tears in it.  They sent me home with strict instructions to sit  up and do nothing.  I even had to sleep sitting up that night. The next day, I had surgery to on both of my eyes. A laser procedure was done to repair the tears in my right eye.  A procedure called a buck ell surgery was done on my left eye to reattach my retina.

The healing for this surgery, WAS a big deal.  I could not see out of my left eye very well at all.  My eye hurt and I experienced a lot of pain doing simple things like changing my focus.  I had shooting pains which were very uncomfortable.  The worst part was that I could not see much at all with my left eye, everything was blurry, I had double vision and could not judge depth.  I was kind of down and sad about my left eye vision but was grateful and considered myself  blessed to have good vision in my right eye.

Time went by and the eye healed slowly but the vision was not much better.

Then on a Wednesday night in early November, Bro. Joe saw that my eye was bothering me.  He asked if he could pray over it.  I said yes so he and another Lighthouse Community member prayed for healing for me.  While they were praying, Bro Joe put his hand up by my eye ....while he did this, I had this weird tingling feeling in my eye.  After they prayed over me, the Lighthouse member and I had a conversation.  She shared with me that she had prayed for her sister who had an injured eye and her eyesight was totally healed.  This made me hopeful.  On my drive home that night, for some reason, I pulled over on my  street and prayed in my car.  I prayed in tongues for about 10 minutes.  After I got home,  I had this “nudge” to go outside IN THE RAIN.  I was feeling very “spirit lead” so I decided to go ahead and go outside.  I lifted my head and just let the rain drop on my face.  It felt very peaceful and cleansing and I felt especially close to Jesus at that moment.

A couple of days later, I had an appointment at the ophthalmologist.  The tech did a general evaluation of  my eye.  The last part of the evaluation, she put charts up and I had to read them.  I didn’t do so good and was a bit discouraged. BUT THEN, she left the room to report my evaluation results and numbers to the retinologist. The last chart was still up on the wall.   When she left, I could only see the top line of the chart.  I stared at that chart and blinked my eyes and slowly  I saw the next four lines on the chart become clear.  I couldn’t believe it.  I excitedly told the tech.  I asked if I saw more lines because I blinked or something.  She said she didn’t think so, but wasn’t sure.

I was encouraged by that visit.

They next day, I had an appointment with the surgeon in order to get my hernia surgery scheduled. When the surgeon entered the exam room he shouted,” I remember you, I couldn’t get that hernia fixed while I was in there! I expected to see you back in September. I told him about the eye and he understood why I waited.  Then he examined me.  First he poked around on my belly button. Then he had me stand up while he pushed, then had me cough while he pushed, then he had me lay back down and he pushed some more.  Finally,  the surgeon said, ...It’s not there. It’s gone, I was in there and saw it and now I can’t find it.  I can’t explain it.”  I immediately started laughing and shouted ....I CAN!!!  And thanked God.

That was like an ah ha moment for me!

I couldn’t believe it.  It took me hearing the doctor say, I can’t explain it” for me to realize that I had received not one but two healings. The hernia was gone and my vision was much, much better!!!

God is good.  He surprises us when we least expect it.  I am so grateful not to have another surgery.  The hernia is gone!!!  And the eye...well, it’s not 100% but it’s much better.  Just the simple fact that I can stand up here and both read my paper and look out and see all of your beautiful faces is proof of that.

Praise God!!!

Sue Michel
Cincinnati, OH

January 2012

From the Cross to Resurrection

By Father Brendan Williams

In May 2001 Ana Garcia came to the Rectory, in her usual upbeat spirit, to do preparatory work on the summer Tent Revival. With a beaming smile she said to me, “Father, today is my tenth anniversary.” I was immediately aware of the awesome miracle that took place ten years earlier that changed her life and opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of the mystery of the Cross.

It was in May 1991 that I was at St. Justin’s in Toms River for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. After Mass we invited those who needed prayer to come forward. Ana, who was suffering from MS, happened to be there and came forward for prayer.  For some time now the Lord had been inviting Ana to embrace her affliction and offer it at the Cross. That night she decided to accept this invitation and willingly walk the way of the Cross, in imitation of her Savior. The following morning she woke up and could not believe what she was experiencing: Her condition of MS has been completely healed.

When she called me later to relate the good news I was stunned. Never before had I been witness to or read of such an amazing healing. I had been in the healing ministry for about six-teen years. people from all walks of life had come to me for prayer for healing. In all cases people were asking to have their crosses re-moved. It never once occurred to me to invite them to embrace their crosses as part of the journey to healing. I would now take a long hard look at my ministry: I would revisit the mystery and wisdom of the Cross.

The lie that moved our First Parents to sin was: “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:4 Emphasis added). It was the blinding power of pride that drove the Devil to rebel in the first place so that he could become a god, independent and power wielding. But his rebellion cost his eternal happiness. He would forever hate God and everything of God. Satan had his day how-ever in the Garden of Eden.

 In succumbing to disobedience, our First Parents lost original justice, Heaven was closed to them and their descendants. Cosmos was re-placed by chaos—order by disorder. Enter death, suffering and evils of every description. Yet God had another plan in mind. He would send His Son who would restore by obedience what was lost by disobedience. St. Paul puts it this way: “For just as through the disobedience of one per-son the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19). The antidote to sin—the rebellious rejection of the authority of God in quest of godhead—would be for Christ the emptying of Himself of the Heavenly estate and the taking on the form of a slave (Phil 2:5-11).

The instrument of restoration that Jesus would choose was the Cross. He made this clear to His disciples time and time again: “Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mk 8:31). He likened the journey of the Cross to the process that takes place in nature: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (Jn12:24-25). The Cross would now become the Tree of Life. The fruit of the tree in the Garden brought death: Death on the Cross would bring life eternal.

As Jesus went in to the Cross He led the way, in humble obedience, to the utter helpless-ness of the crucifixion. It is in this total obedience that Jesus stands out in stark contrast to sin. It is because of this humble obedience that God the Father would raise Jesus up in glory. The Letter to the Hebrews points out: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,” (Heb 5:8-9). And again:  “For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God'" (Heb 10:5-6).

As Jesus entered glory through the Cross, He opened the way for us to share that glory. In Baptism we die and rise with Him, as St. Paul proclaims: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4). Henceforth, the disciples of Jesus will walk the path of the Cross to glory.

St. Paul is undoubtedly a powerful witness to the Risen Christ. He relates how he tried to destroy the Church for he believed it to be an aberration. It was on one of his missions of de-st ruction that he encountered the Risen Lord. When he was baptized his life was transformed. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and aglow with the presence of Christ. Yet he will always connect the reality of the Cross to Resurrection: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:19-20).

When he wrote to the Corinthians Paul would emphasize that his power came not from worldly wisdom or rhetorical savvy. These, he said, would deprive the cross of its power—that is its power to save (1Cor 1:17). Rather, the cross is now to be the standard by which all allegiance will be judged.

The cross will henceforth be at the heart of Paul’s preaching. On the surface this would seem strange. As an evangelist, he would literally be announcing “good news.” Yet to the culture of Paul’s time the cross was horrendously “bad news.”

It was the weak and the powerless, slave or unruly criminal, who was crucified in the Roman Empire. The cross was the most savage instrument of torture and death conceived by man. Cicero called it “the most cruel and disgusting penalty.” Jews in Corinth, familiar with Deuteronomy  (21:22-23), would have identified the crucified one as afflicted by God’s curse: “When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse” (Deut 21:22-23). Thus St. Paul would declare to another community: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"--in order that in Christ Jesus the bless-in of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” Gal 3:13-14).

Little wonder then that the mystery of the Cross was so hard to digest. Today it is no different. When we encounter Jesus’ assertion, “whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mtt 10:38), we are stricken by its apparent harshness. Yet the discovery of the wisdom of the Cross has brought revolutionary breakthroughs.

What is this wisdom? It is the great paradox. If we want to live we must die. If we want to be free we must surrender our wills to Christ and become slaves for the Gospel. If we want to be empowered we must surrender control and embrace helplessness. If we want our burdens eased we must take His yoke upon or shoulders for He says: “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Mtt 11:30).  If we want resurrection and blessing we must embrace our cross. If we want to reach our fullest potential we must become as little children. The image of a child coming to a loving parent, with hands raised in helplessness and in trust, is one of the most powerful examples to me of the wisdom of the Cross. The image of the crucifix will be for Christians the ever-lasting symbol inviting us to recognize our helplessness and to come to God our Abba, Father, so as to enter the embrace of His infinite love.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of the wisdom of the cross has ironically emerged in an association that has no Church affiliation—Alcoholics Anonymous. The Twelve Steps take their inspiration from the Cross. The first step is the embrace of helplessness. The dawn begins to break on the long night of addiction when the addict acknowledges his helplessness in over-coming his habit. The second step is to acknowledge a Higher Power who can lead him to sobriety.

For us the story of the two thieves crucified with Christ illustrates the power of the cross to bless or to curse—depending how we receive it. Both men had identical sentences. Both were equi-close to Christ. Yet one man was lost and the other found salvation. One man cursed his cross and was consumed by it. The other embraced his cross, looked upon the face of Jesus and heard the most wonderful words that could be spoken to any mortal: "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23:43).  What is abundantly clear is this: It is not what happens to us in life that matters, it is what we do with it that matters. In my ministry with people now I make this very clear. By and large people come to get rid of their crosses. I invite them to meditate on the scene at Calvary and follow the example of St. Dismas. Learning to bear the crosses of life, out of love for Jesus, is the certain way to peace and the shortest road to healing, as Ana Garcia discovered.

December 2011

Fr. Rick Dressman, Cincinnati, OH

For sometime I had had a bad back and was seriously thinking of going to the doctor because after several weeks, the pain in my lower back was not getting any better.  It was so tender that I had given up sleeping in my bed for the recliner that was in my room. With no improvement in about six weeks, I went to the Lighthouse Community healing service to help celebrate the Mass. At the time of the anointing, someone prayed over me, and then I went to anoint the people in the congregation. I really had no idea what I was doing nor did I even pray for healing when someone prayed over me. After the service was over, I continued to sleep in my recliner, making plans to see the doctor on the next Monday. On Saturday, I had been with my family, and when I got home, I was so tired, without thinking, I laid down on my bed and fell asleep. The next morning I woke up with a start! Wow! How was I going to get out of bed. Gingerly moving to the edge of the bed I began to raise myself very slowly and deliberately, trying to be alert to the slightest first tinge of pain. As I continued to move, I felt nothing.

As I approached sitting up, I realized that there was no pain! I then just got up and the pain was gone! I laid back down and got up and walked and sat down in my hard chair and laid back down on the bed. The pain was gone.

Some years before that I had severely injured by knee in a racquetball accident.  It left me with a weak knee. I had no control of my leg from the knee down as far as strength and security. At any given moment my knee could go out and cause me to fall. Some months later when I wanted to get back to racquetball I could only do so with a heavy brace on my knee. To walk over uneven ground or gravel or cobblestones invariably led to my knee going out.  And if I had to lift my leg up from my knee down there was simply no muscle strength to do it. I could raise my thigh, but the other end would just dangle.

People had prayed over it and I went to the healing services time and again but the leg never got any better or worse. It was where it was. About six years later, I was planning my first trip to Europe. I was making plans thinking that I would have to be doing lots of walking for four weeks. And European cities and areas would probably require me to wear this big heavy brace in the summertime.

And I thought that that would be really uncomfortable and clumsy to have to have this brace on all the time I travel in Europe. The next week at the Lighthouse prayer meeting, Brother Joe stood up and said, “I believe that God wants to heal someone’s right knee.” I accepted the word and claimed the healing.

However, the healing did not happen immediately. Over the next five days, the knee just kept getting stronger and stronger. By the next Monday, I went and played racquetball without my brace for the first time in six years.

Because of these healings I have been very open to God working that way in my life and others. Sometime later Arthritis began to develop quickly and painfully.

Being at a Lighthouse prayer service, someone mentioned that God wanted to heal someone with arthritis. After I was prayed with the pain disappeared completely. The next day when I got out of bed, the pain returned as painful as before. I rebuked the pain as coming from the devil and claimed the healing I had received the night before.

The pain went away and did not come back.