A scalpel and a sword have much in common.
Both are cutting tools, designed to slice apart flesh, to lay open the human person.
The difference comes in the intention of the wielder.
The woman who wields a scalpel is a surgeon, one who cuts but only to heal and to eventually bind up. The man who wields the sword is one who cuts so as to kill, to end a threat, or to defend the beautiful which lies behind him.
“For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.” -Job 5:18
I reflected on this mystery during the recent SEEK 22 conference put on by FOCUS. While there I was engaged in prayer ministry.
Throughout 3 hours of Eucharistic Adoration and Reconciliation, I and about 16 or so others, prayed over the college students, hearing the needs and problems which afflicted and weighed upon their hearts.
Then we laid hands upon them and invited Our Triune God, the Blessed Mother, and all the angels and saints to make themselves known to them for protection and to offer healing.
As I heard and experienced vicariously the pain and the wounds of all these souls, I realized something altogether miraculous:
Our God is not merely the King Triumphant nor the Divine Physician, he is both. The Hands of the King are the hands of a healer. And He invites us into a participation with this reality.
We too are called to be soldiers of Christ, called to take up the Sword of prayer and to push back the demons and temptations which threaten the Kingdom of Our God. But when the onslaught has past, when we lean against our sword and the initial battle is done, we may find our sword transfigured.
Our sword of prayer and the Spirit is now transfigured into a scalpel. For the present darkness which afflicts us, our own sins, and the battle against Satan, leaves many wounded in its wake. This is why His Holiness, Pope Francis, is right in calling the Church a field hospital.
For we are sent to a field hospital when coming back from the front lines of war, a war against the powers and principalities of darkness which surrounds us, and it is there in that hospital a few miles from the battle that emergency surgery occurs.
It is not enough to fight against something, it is necessary to heal and to save something else.
And so we are called to enter into the field pick up our scalpel of prayer and to enter into the messy wounds of real people, cutting so as to heal.
The Sacraments too function like this. What is Reconciliation if not a cutting but one which heals? What is Baptism but a cleansing and a cutting away from sin? What is the Eucharist but the ultimate defeat of the Devil and also the ultimate Panacea, a universal remedy?
But it all begins with prayer, the scalpel and the sword of the Spiritual Life.
I had the great privilege to pick up that scalpel with great trembling this weekend, and through God’s grace alone, my hands were steadied. So too can yours be. You too can be a healer through prayer and the Grace, the power and the glory of God.
Keep your sword close, pray for those around you, pray for the defeat of hostile forces and the end of enemy incursions and temptations.
But be ready for that moment of reprieve, that moment when our sword becomes a scalpel. And when that moment comes do not hesitate.
When you encounter someone in need of prayer, in need of healing, do not say “I will pray for you later.” You certainly still should, but we do not wait to staunch the flow of blood when we have a gut wound or when our jugular has been cut. No! We staunch the bleeding at once!
In much the same way, we should pray immediately, wherever we find ourselves, asking for healing and inviting Our Healing God to enter the lives of this dear soul in front of us.
Pick up the sword of prayer, wield it, defend the People of God and the Bride of Christ. Then use the scalpel of prayer, the very same tool, and begin the far more laborious work of healing so that together we might enter into the Father’s House.
“I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord.” -2 Kings 20:5
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