Saints Translation

By Vincent Melli

The Ministry — Healing

The Ministry · A program of formation

Healing

The Ministry · The work done beside people · five modules, at your own pace

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He went about teaching, proclaiming, and healing every disease and every infirmity. Healing is the work done beside people rather than in front of them, and it divides three ways: body, mind and spirit. This program forms a person to stay near affliction, to do what can be done, to know what cannot, and to take no credit.

Please note. This program forms character and understanding. It does not train anyone to diagnose or treat illness, and it never replaces medical or psychological care. Part of a healer’s work is to help people reach those who are trained, and to go with them.

This may be your work if: people tell you what they have told no one; you can stay in a room where someone is suffering; you notice who is missing; you are practical with your hands, or patient with your ears; you do not need to be the one who fixed it.

Take the modules in order and at your own pace. In each: read what is listed, in the Saints Translation; learn the passage by heart; consider the questions in writing; and do the practice before you go on. Keep one notebook for the whole program, and if you can, go through it with a companion or under someone older in the faith.

On this page: 1. The Healer · 2. The body · 3. The mind · 4. The spirit · 5. The limits and the cost · Where it leads

Module 1 · The Healer

Watch how the Lord heals. He sees the person, asks what they want, touches the untouchable, restores them to their people, and often tells them to say nothing.

Read

Learn by heart

This man carries our sins and suffers pain for us; yet we considered him to be in distress, under a blow, and mistreated. But he was wounded because of our lawless acts and has been weakened because of our sins. The discipline of our peace was upon him; by his bruise we were healed.

Isaiah 53:4–5

Consider

  1. What does He do before He heals?
  2. Whom does He touch that others would not?
  3. Why does He ask what the person wants?

Practice

  • Read the four Gospels marking every healing, and note in each who came, what was asked, what He did, and what He said afterward.
  • Visit someone who is ill or alone this week, and only listen.

Module 2 · The body

The Samaritan used what he had: oil, wine, bandages, his own animal, two denarii, and a promise to come back. The Law cared for the body with washing, rest, and separation in sickness. The apostles anointed with oil and prayed.

Read

Learn by heart

Is anyone among you sick? Let him summon the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name. And the prayer of faith will save the weary sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

James 5:14–15

Consider

  1. What do I have at hand, as the Samaritan had oil and wine?
  2. Whom have I passed on the other side?
  3. Do I come back, as he promised to?

Practice

  • Take a recognized first-aid course.
  • Give a regular hour each week to practical care: a meal, a lift to hospital, a house cleaned.

Module 3 · The mind

Job’s friends did one thing well: they came, wept, and sat with him seven days without a word. Then they spoke. The Lord met Elijah under the broom tree with sleep and food before He asked him anything. Learn to accompany.

Read

Learn by heart

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those in every affliction through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4

Consider

  1. Can I hear grief without correcting it?
  2. What comfort have I myself received that I could pass on?
  3. Do I know when a person needs more than I can give, and where to take them?

Practice

  • Spend an hour with someone in trouble and give no advice at all.
  • Find out what counselling and crisis services exist where you live, and keep the list with you.

Module 4 · The spirit

The paralytic was forgiven before he walked. Some sickness is of the spirit: guilt, bitterness, estrangement from God and from people. Its medicine is confession, forgiveness, reconciliation and prayer.

Read

Learn by heart

Bless the Lord, my soul,
and do not forget all His repayments:
who is gracious toward all your lawless deeds,
who heals all your diseases;
who redeems your life from corruption,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion;

Psalm 102 (103):2–4

Consider

  1. Whom have I not forgiven, and what is it doing to me?
  2. Can I hear a confession and keep it?
  3. Do I pray by name for the people I care for?

Practice

  • Be reconciled to one person before you continue.
  • Keep a written list of those you pray for daily, and tell no one what is on it.

Module 5 · The limits and the cost

Not everyone is healed. Paul’s thorn remained, and he left Trophimus sick at Miletus. Jesus wept at a tomb He was about to open. The healer takes no payment for the gift and no credit for the result: Gehazi took both, and went out a leper.

Read

Learn by heart

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is brought to completion in weakness.” Therefore I will most gladly boast rather in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell over me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Consider

  1. How do I speak to someone who prayed and was not healed?
  2. Where am I tempted to take credit, or payment, or a following?
  3. When do I withdraw to pray and to rest?

Practice

  • Sit with someone who is dying, or with their family, if you are permitted.
  • Set a rule of rest and keep it for a month.

Where it leads

When the five modules are done, show your notebook to a pastor, teacher or elder you trust, and ask where they see the gift. A calling is confirmed by others and not only felt. It may lead inside the church or outside it, and neither is the lesser road.

Inside the church

  • Cleric: care of the body, and steadfast presence beside people in suffering.
  • Chaplain: care of the mind, patient listening and accompaniment.
  • Prophet: care of the spirit, speaking clearly toward restoration, the one office that formation can prepare for but never confer.

These are the three roles of this work in The Twelve Roles. Every church has its own requirements for study, examination and ordination. This program does not confer any office. It prepares the person who will ask for one.

Outside the church

Most healing is done outside the church, and the church should be glad of it: the nurse, the doctor, the paramedic and the carer, the counsellor, the social worker and the hospice worker, the mediator, and those who walk with people out of addiction. Luke was the beloved physician, and remained one. Each of these fields needs its own full training. This program is a beginning beside that training and not a substitute for it. Colossians 4:14 · Luke 10:36–37 · Psalm 146 (147):3

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Saints Translation · The Ministry · a program of formation, not a qualification; readings linked to the Saints Translation, passages quoted from it · working draft awaiting specialist review.