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Be Healed: A Guide to Encountering the Powerful Love of Jesus in Your Life
Bob Schuchts (Ave Maria Press, 2014, 225 pages.)

Bob Schuchts is the founder of the John Paul II Healing Center in Tallahassee, Florida, which has a  popular program for spiritual, emotional, and physical healing through the power of the Holy Spirit and the sacraments. This partly autobiographical book is focused on a deep spirituality based on the sacraments as the source of all healing. It is enlivened by his own personal journey of conversion and healing, other real life stories and scriptural anecdotes.   “Healing is an essential dimension of Christianity,” as Pope Benedict wrote. It is the “process of being made whole: body soul and spirit.” For Schuchts, this happens through the constant healing presence of Christ in our life through the sacraments.

The author’s own story of healing is striking. His family was shattered when their father abandoned them. Bob was fourteen then. The one most affected by it was his older brother, who left the family. Bob experienced many traumatic moments of abuse and betrayals that took him away from God. But he did not run away from his mother and siblings.

He played football in the university, but remained restless inside. His contact with a prayer group turned him to Jesus. The life-changing moment happened when he participated in a program called, ‘Christ Renews His Parish.’ Inspired by the experience of the Holy Spirit, he was gradually able to shed his vices and mend broken relationships. He witnessed miraculous healings. His own transformation affected others around him. It also eventually led to his elder brother’s death-bed conversion and reunion with the family. He likens it to the parable of the Prodigal son.

The continued growth in the Spirit means an increasing intimacy with Jesus. “Intimacy with Jesus, the Beloved Son, leads us into an ever-growing knowledge of ourselves as the Father’s beloved.” Bob Schuchts found his life mission in the healing ministry and became instrumental in leading others to the same path of healing wrought through the Holy Spirit activated in the Sacraments. He sees God’s healing as true liberation. “But this freedom has a condition: that we love God and follow his calling and purpose for our life.”

Catholic Bioethics and Social Justice: The Praxis of US Health Care in a Globalized World
Therese Lysaught and Michael McCarthy (Editors).(Liturgical Press Academic, 2018)

The Catholic Church is the largest non-government health care provider in the world (26% of the world average). 65% of these services are rendered outside the western world. One of the most vital areas of the mission of the Church, healthcare services are also a crisis ridden area of activity the world over. It involves questions of ethics, spirituality, economics and other related concerns. This book is a collection of articles by experts in various related fields of healthcare and bioethics. Its 24 chapters cover 24 related topics—all significant areas of health care by the Church in the globalised world. It applies Catholic social teaching to current concerns and provides practical recommendations. Though written in an American context, its concerns are truly global and applicable to Catholic health care around the world. The book addresses issues related to economic disparities, race, class gender and the moral realities and challenges of “mission-driven health care” today. The broad framework of the book is to see reality from the point of view of marginalized social groups everywhere. Current ethical issues related to new reproductive technologies, euthanasia, abortion, human trafficking and forced labour, exploitation of vulnerable groups, especially women, issues of gender nonconformity are also dealt with, calling for “presence, empathy, respect and attention” on the part of the medical service providers.

Catholic bioethics and social justice emphasize the following basic principles: (1) Human dignity; (2) Common Good; (3) Preferential option for the Poor; (4) Rights and responsibilities; (5) Subsidiarity; (6) Solidarity: (7) Participation and Association; (8) Right of labour and Dignity of Work; (9) Care for creation; (10) Peacemaking and non-violence; (11) Gratuitousness.

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Dr Gigy Joseph

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”The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” (William Osler)

“The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.” (Arthur Schopenhauer)

“In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to people.” (Cicero, 106-43 B.C.)

“We [doctors] have the opportunity to do more good in one day than most people have in a month.” (Dr Suneel Dhand)

“In an emergency, what treatment is given by ear? Words of Comfort.” (Dr Abraham Verghese, MD)

“When you are a nurse, you know that everyday you will touch a life or a life will touch yours.” (Unknown)

“Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.” (Dag Hammarskjold)

“Nurses dispense comfort, compassion and caring without even a prescription.” (Val Stainsbury)

 

Justified Criticism

The picture of the Indian Education System painted by Bro. Brendan Maccarthaigh (“Urgent Need to Move Beyond the Mess,” MAGNET, June 2019) may be dismal, but it is very close to ground realities. Three suicides among NEET failures among Tamil Nadu students this year is a clear symptom of this. It is abundantly clear that education does not prepare students for life.

Apart from imparting learning, it is imperative that the core values of education should be personal integrity, social integration, a resilient personality, spirituality. Our schools would do well to give up the corporate model with its rat race for prestige and snobbishness. Stop catering solely to intellectual development creating AI humanoids rather than human beings. After all, the brilliant students become only professionals but often world and society leaders emerge from the above average and average students and they shape nations’ destinies.

On an authentic Catholic school campus, the economically poor, the socially backward and the academically average should not feel embarrassed. Of course, the principals of such schools would lose their privileged seats in high society circles.  Excellence should be sought after in such settings too because excellence is not merely bagging the top rank, but developing your full potential, according  to the gospel parable of the talents, as in Matthew, Chapter 25.
Fr Matthew Adukanil SDB, Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu 

Two Types of Leaders

The power to attract people from all walks of life is vividly displayed through the content and design of Magnet. One topic that strikes me most in the July issue is “Tips for Superiors: Are you happy? How is your Mother?” At the end of the day, human touch is all what matters in a relationship. The article highlighted the way the two Superiors function in their respective communities—one who is work-oriented and the other, people-oriented. Reading this article, I conclude that not only Superiors need the quality of being human or giving a personal touch to people we encounter and work with, but is applicable to every one of us. The article aptly pointed out, “The human heart responds better to love than to punishments” and “People give their best when they are treated with respect and care—not when they are pushed around like pieces of furniture”.

Highly recommended for integral formation!
Sr. Euginia Laloo FMA, Shillong, Meghalaya

Superb!

MAGNET, July issue: The Editorial, “I Have A Rich Father,” “Parenting Today,” “Are You Happy?” – all as usual superb!  The whole issue eminently practical and touching the heart.
Bishop Bosco Penha, Mumbai 

Very useful to parents

I read the article, “PARENTING Today: Do’s, Don’ts and Changes.”

It is really very nice and useful to all parents.  I was able to evaluate accurately what is happening in my home.  Now, we are aware of so many important points, which we are doing but had not thought about. Even though all of those points were not followed by us fully, am sure that we will try to follow everything to the fullest, so that we will be good parents.

Being a mother of two kids—one in the college and the other in class five—I was glad to welcome yet another person to my family, namely, my mother-in-law, who joined us in May.  I am sure that this article is of good use even to those who are like me—taking care of the elderly at home, who are actually in their second childhood; and we become a more responsible parent yet again, in another dimension.

Thanks a lot for the article.
Mrs. Roji Antony,  Chennai, Tamil Nadu

A treat!

Each issue of MAGNET is a treat. The July version was so educative to people like us that we kept wondering how on earth did Fr. Joe invade the parental space and write about the joys and agonies of parenting better than a parent would ever have done it. As is the case with each story, it seemed so effortless and authentic. God’s signature sprawls across the whole magazine. Congratulations! God bless the team that toils behind this treasured visual/content treat.

Parents find themselves parents when they get the bundles of joy called children one fine day. It is expected, but anyone who is a parent will agree that it is as much a surprise too! All the pieces on Parenting starting with the Editorial lovingly compelled us to retrace our steps into our childhood and reflect with reverence on what our parents were to us, did for us. They gifted us themselves. It is a powerful exhortation for a critical examination of what we as parents are doing now. It is a quick guide for parents-to-be and it builds the sacrificial story of parenting picturesquely for the sons and daughters who read it taking the words on the pages to heart.

Thank you, Team MAGNET!
Profs. Gigy and Rekha, Changanacherry, Kerala

Captivating

Magnet is a captivating magazine. The various topics are well chosen and well-articulated. Thanks to the expertise of the writers.
“Till death do us part ” is inspiring, but as far as Kasturba is concerned very little is written about her in school level.
Liza’s story is encouraging.
“Mid-life” is what we all face and should try to overcome our disillusions.
Fr. Ravi Sagar’s article is informative.
Liza is the best for me because it is motivating.
Inspiring indeed!
Sonia Gothorp, Teacher, Tezpur, Assam

“The Roman Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world. It has around 18,000 clinics, 16,000 homes for the elderly and those with special needs, and 5,500 hospitals, with 65 percent of them located in developing countries…The Church manages 26% of the world’s health care facilities. The Church’s involvement in health care has ancient origins.” (Wikipedia)

The Church has “117,000 health care facilities, … as well as … “512 centres” for the care of leprosy patients.

In India, too, the Church is the largest provider of medical services after the Central Government, with over 3500 presences. Staffing these institutions are 1,000 Sister Doctors, 25,000 Nursing Sisters and 10,000 Para-medical staff.

The medical centres run by the Church go from large and top-rated institutions to simple dispensaries in remote villages which lack electricity or proper roads.

St. John’s Medical College, run by the Catholic Church in India, was rated the fourth best medical college in India in 2018. At the other end are Sisters managing deliveries, fevers and TB in remote corners of India.

What about the so-called First World? “The Catholic Church is the largest private provider of health care in the United States of America. During the 1990s, the church provided about one in six hospital beds in America, at around 566 hospitals, many established by nuns.”

(More details can be found on the Net.)

The backbone of this ministry has been, without any doubt, our Sisters. This is true worldwide and in India. These women of God, capable and well-qualified, did not flee to the richer countries to make money. Many went to parts of India where medical services were non-existent, and became a life-line for their patients, without any discrimination of religion or language, caste or class.

We dedicate this issue of MAGNET to this heroic band of women, who become true life-savers through their qualified service, loving presence, prayerful support to the patients and, often, a rhythm of work unmatched in most other professions. Long days and sleepless nights are often the norm.

Hats off to our Sister Doctors, then!

We are proud of you, Sisters. We thank God for you.  Your unpaid and generous self-gift is at the heart of the Church’s medical ministry. (In another issue, we shall speak of our nurses.)

This issue carries several features on the contribution of Sister Doctors—and other medical professionals:

• The main findings of a survey among Sister Doctors;
• The personal account of a Sister Doctor’s thirty years of service among the poor;
• True stories of contemporary saints in the medical profession;
• The witness of a medical specialist belonging to a Secular Institute;
• Two books and two movies on the theme of healing;
• Inner healing of hardened prisoners;
• The healing impact of meditation—and more.

Enjoy the reading!

May you and I allow the Lord to heal us—through

May we, in our turn, be healers.

Doctors do it one way—by reducing our pain and increasing our time on this earth.

The rest of us can do it, too—each in our own way.

While we are blessed with health and time, let us reach out and heal!

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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Basing himself on what he has observed and heard, and on seminars for parents, the author looks at what parenting means today, and the things parents should do and avoid.

A Heart of Tenderness
Basil was a middle-aged businessman. Physically strong and used to being successful, he was struggling with a situation he could not manage. He came to meet me during a retreat. His eyes were filling up with tears. Struggling not to burst out crying—since most men feel ashamed of weeping in front of others—he told me his story in between sobs. His teenaged son had been diagnosed with a type of cancer that had killed one of their uncles. His son did not know the seriousness of his illness. “My prayer, Father, is this: ‘O God, send me the cancer, but heal my boy.’ This is all I want.”
This is tenderness—the kind of love that makes a human being place the well-being of another above one’s own, and willing to pay any price for the loved one’s good.
Parents know such love. We have seen it in our parents. Those of us who are parents know it ourselves. In fact, a number of married people have told me that they started understanding their own parents only after they themselves became parents.
A religious sister once shared this experience: “My two brothers and I asked our Mom one day, ‘Mom, do you remember the time when a speeding car was about to hit me, and you dashed in front of that car and pulled me to safety?’ She replied that she did not remember this particular incident, but added that she would be ready to risk her life for any of her children.”
That is what motherly love makes a woman capable of.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

This month, our regular columnists, Crystal and Kevin, ask their daughter Christina to speak about her experience of being a mother—especially its spiritual dimension.

Crystal
As a lay couple whose contributions to this magazine reflect thoughts which come from living out our sacramental vocation of Matrimony, we pondered what to write about parenting that would contribute to an understanding from our unique perspective.  Our days of ‘active’ parenting are over. Of course, as a mother and father, there is never a time when you can say you are “done”.  But the difficult years of day-to-day formation and discipline and loving attention are now behind us. For this reason, we asked our daughter Christina, herself a mother of three young children (7, 5, 2 ½) if she might be willing to share anything from her own experience as a young Catholic mother who is doing her best to raise her children in the faith.

Christina
You’d be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t express some fear, apprehension, or even downright terror about the prospect of taking part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation these days. The idea of baring our souls, showing our weak spots, putting it all before God… this leaves even the holiest souls feeling tremulous at times.  But as I was trying to explain the Sacrament to my four-year-old the other day, I began wondering why it is that so many of us are still apprehensive about receiving this beautiful sacrament, and how I can prepare my children to participate joyfully and without fear when it’s time.

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Crystal & Kevin Sullivan

5. Republic:
The democratic polity may be monarchical or a republic. In a “monarchy,” the rule is hereditary and largely depends on one person, like a king or queen.  In a Republican System, no office of the state is held on the basis of hereditary prescriptive rights.  In India, the government is managed by the elected representatives of the people for a particular period of time.  The head of the state is not a hereditary monarch, but is elected by the people for a fixed term.  Thus, the headship of the state is not hereditary, as in England, nor is it based on military power as in dictatorial regimes. In India every office of the state, from the highest to the lowest, is open to every citizen.  Any citizen may occupy any office on the basis of merit.  Anyone without any discrimination can be elected.  There is no privileged class.  All government offices and positions are open to every citizen without any discrimination.  Thus, the political sovereignty is vested in the hands of people.  At the same time, in India those who are elected to govern and those who are appointed to assist in governance will carry out their sacred duty, not merely following ‘majoritarianism,’ but abiding by the constitutional principles and values.

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Fr Ravi Sagar SJ

Faithful to the practice of her secular institute to remain anonymous, this VDB (Volunteer of Don Bosco), a busy medical specialist heading her department and reaching out to poor patients in several settings, narrates her touching vocation story. It has all the elements of what makes life a vocational journey—falling in love with Jesus, years of search, not finding the right setting, and, finally, finding the answer in a very unexpected way, in a strange place, with unknown people. One’s work then becomes much more than a profession. It becomes an adventure of love.

Falling in Love
Growing up in a very catholic family, I remember always being aware that there was a deeper meaning to life and that the God who made all of us had a specific purpose for me. I kept feeling pulled towards searching for this purpose. Every gift and blessing that He bestowed on me forced me to come back to this question. What does Jesus want from me? His wonderful gifts of a loving family, effortless opportunities in obtaining a world class education, good friends and all that one could wish for—all this brought me back to this same question.

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(Name withheld on request)

It is quite likely that assessment of life, particularly of our dreams, can lead to de-illusioning – a shattering of our unrealistic and idealistic notion of life, our illusions. As we come to midlife, we recognize that long-held assumptions about self, others and the world are not really true. We recognise that many things that were taught to us as truth were actually lies.

At midlife we recognize that life does not move the way we would want it to, that there are things over which we do not have control, that people are not who we thought they would be.

We realise that we are not able to do what we want to, change what we would like to change. We recognise our limitations.

As psychologist C. S. Pearson observes, “We are called to give up the illusion that we can force life to fit our scripts, that we can shape other people to match our expectations, or that we can make ourselves fit our own image of who we want to be (The Hero Within, p. 118)

Reality smashing our dreams
In the first half of life we are driven to pursue idealised dreams, the impossibly high goals and standards we set for ourselves, often as compensation for the powerlessness we experienced in childhood. We are lured by an immature mind to believe in fantasies of limitlessness, that we can achieve anything if only we try hard enough. This is a lie that is told to us often, and by many people around us. By midlife we may have tried very hard indeed, and we only experienced failure, may be again and again.

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Fr Jose Parappully SDB

The true story of a woman who faced incredible odds, and came out tranquil and triumphant.

I knew Mrs Liza (name changed) for a long time, from her days as young mother until her death. I met her many times, listened to her and felt inspired. There are so many striking things about her journey through life, that I do not know where to start.

When this Catholic wife and mother died in her sixties, the pastor of the neighbouring CSI church preached about her: “Neither in her Catholic parish, nor in our church, was there a woman as inspiring as Mrs Liza,” he said.

I have changed her name and hidden other identifying “markers,” to respect the privacy of persons involved in this story.

Liza grew up in comfort, a princess for her doting father, who was a famous lawyer and public figure. Beautiful and intelligent, she was married off at eighteen to the son of a well-known family. Both the families knew each other. What she had never expected, however, happened: the husband turned out to be a severe alcoholic, who never did a bit of work, and would come home dead drunk so many evenings.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB