Spiritual Practices Part 2
September 30, 2026
One of the simplest spiritual practices may also be one of the most powerful: holding another person up to the healing light of God.
It does not require special words, advanced training, or perfect faith. It only requires a willing heart. We bring someone into our awareness and imagine them surrounded by the loving presence of God—the One who knows them completely, sees all their wounds, even those hidden, and loves them beyond anything they can earn or lose.
The person we lift up may be a dear friend, a family member, a neighbor, or someone we have never met. It may be people suffering in an earthquake, war, famine, illness, grief, or fear. It may even be someone who appears to need nothing: a successful person, a leader, a boss, a member of the clergy, someone who always seems strong and composed.
But no one is above need.
Every human being carries something. Some wounds are visible; others are carefully hidden. Some people suffer loudly; others suffer silently behind competence, achievement, humor, or faithfulness. When we hold another person in the healing light, we are saying something sacred without speaking: Your pain matters. Your soul matters. You are not alone.
I sat with a dear friend who was very ill who did not feel fully alive. In that moment, there was little I could fix. But I could be present. I could invite him to rest in love, to feel grounded in his body, and to receive Divine light from above. It was a small act, but it was not nothing. Sometimes love cannot cure, but it can still heal. Why does this practice also change us? Because compassion is deepened in us.
I was once very sick and worried about myself when I was a single graduate student. I had a fever and was not thinking clearly. I could not see that I needed a doctor. A dear person came to my bedside and ministered to me with deep compassion and saw that I received treatment. This brings to mind Henri Nouwen’s concept of The Wounded Healer, the title of his book on healing. I experienced this concept firsthand from several dear people, including Henri who helped me during my years in graduate school away from home. As my advisor and teacher, he came from a place of deep compassion because he too had been far away from home and in need. I learned firsthand what he meant by the words, “wounded healer.”
When we truly hold another person before God, we are no longer standing apart from them. We are no longer spectators of their suffering. Something in us remembers. We remember our own loneliness, fear, desperation, confusion, grief, and need. We remember the times when someone held us, prayed for us, sat with us, believed in us, or simply refused to let us disappear into our pain. We remember that no one heals alone.
This is why holding others in the healing light is an essential spiritual practice. It is an act of spiritual solidarity between us, the person in need, and God. It is one way of bearing one another’s burdens. It is one way to allow our own wounds to become doorways to compassion rather than walls of separation. We do not lift others into the light to feel spiritual, noble, or closer to God. We do it because love moves toward suffering. Compassion does not remain distant. It wants to bless, touch, help, pray, accompany, and heal.
And yet, mysteriously, when we hold another person in God’s light, we often find ourselves standing in that same light. As we bless, we are blessed. As we pray for healing, something in us awakens. As we remember another’s need, our own heart becomes more human, more open, and more alive to God.
Spiritual Practice
Choose one person who needs healing on any level—physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. Sit quietly. Picture this person in the presence of God’s light. Imagine the light surrounding them, entering them, and moving through every place of fear, pain, confusion, illness, or despair.
You may pray:
Dear God, I lift up __________ to your healing light. Surround them with your presence. Drive away fear, confusion, illness, and anything that blocks their peace. Let them feel loved, held, strengthened, and restored.
Amen
Inquiry
How has your own suffering enlarged your capacity to feel compassion for others?
Prayer
Dear God, for all who are in need, sorrow, sickness, fear, or any kind of trouble, awaken them to the healing presence of Your Spirit. And make me willing to hold them in Your light with tenderness, humility, and love.
Amen
