Holy Mysteries
Encountering the Risen Jesus
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Savannah, Georgia 31401
Fourth Week of Easter
“And he [Jacob] was afraid and said,
‘How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God,
and this is the gate of heaven.’
So Jacob rose early in the morning,
and he took the stone that he had put under his head
and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
He called that place Bethel.”
– Genesis 28:17-19aIn his lectures offered in Easter Week, Cyril connected the water of baptism closely with holy oil as he referred to “Holy Baptism and the Mystical Chrism” together. The chrism is olive oil scented with additional essential oils, especially balsam, and blessed by a bishop for use in the sacrament. This special oil is one of the many ways that oil has been entwined with religion in many cultures through all recorded history. And while it was often used for anointing and still is, olive oil was linked to one’s very life in the Ancient Near East. Not only was it used for oil in lamps, but also to moisturize in a desert environment and to clean the hair and the body as well as in healing.
Oil is mentioned 213 times in the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha. Certainly, this included many references to anointing someone with oil as a king was anointed for service and the Messiah is “the Annointed One.”
The religious aspect of oil is prominent as being very much a part of our sacramental rites from baptism through death. Oil can be used in baptism, confirmation, and is used in healing prayers. In the Book of Common Prayer, after a person is baptized, we read:
“Then the Bishop or Priest places a hand on the person’s head, marking on the forehead the sign of the cross [using Chrism if desired] and saying to each one, “N., you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever. Amen.”
Powerful words. Marked as Christ’s own for ever. Until the end of time. Forever. Eternally.
Olive oil was woven into the lives of the people of the Mediterranean and was connected to health and healing and so only natural for it to be used by God in bringing both physical and spiritual health and healing. Our temporal natural lives and the life eternal are connected of course and God is always making the common into something holy.
In the parable we know as The Good Samaritan, Jesus refers to oil used in healing (Luke 10:33-35), “A Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. [italics mine] Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’”
Anointing of the Sick is the sacramental rite called unction, naming it for the oil used in the rite. Even churches that don’t maintain its use in baptism, commonly anoint with olive oil as a part of healing prayers. In an Episcopal Church, when the person is to be anointed, “the Priest dips a thumb in the holy oil [oil that has previously been blessed], and makes the sign of the cross on the sick person’s forehead, saying, “N., I anoint you with oil in the Name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
In the Catechism in the back of our Prayer Book, we read of the sacraments and then the question is asked “Is God’s activity limited to these rites?” The answer being, “God does not limit himself to these rites; they are patterns of countless ways by which God uses material things to reach out to us.”
The Holy Trinity, whom the cosmos can not contain, uses matter, like olive oil, in conveying the power and presence of the living God within space and time. We know through the revelation of scripture that God is both in all things and beyond all things. The “God with us” proclaimed in calling Jesus “Emmanuel,” shows the immanence of God, God is in all things. But unlike in pantheism, where God is identified with the universe, which is a manifestation of the divine, we know that the creator is not contained within the creation. Augustine of Hippo wrote that the divine is both within me and beyond me saying that God, “more inward than my most inward part, higher than the highest element within me.”
God is in everything, but also beyond all matter, and is not bound by space and time. This transcendence of God is captured in scripture that, for example, describes God’s holiness. We also see this aspect of the divine in texts that make it clear that the inner life of the Holy Trinity is beyond our power to comprehend, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8.
The God beyond our comprehension comes to us in ways we can experience in the natural world. In using the natural world, using the stuff of life like oil, to reveal the divine to us, the transcendent God is with us in our lives that are bound by space and time.
• Have you had a priest offer healing prayers for you? If so, what was that experience like for you?
• Do you tend to conceive of God more as with us in a very personal way or beyond us in being entirely other?
“Sacrifice and asceticism are usually indicators of False Self
religion.… Ascetic practices have far too much
social and ego payoff, which is why Jesus advised
against anything pious or generous being done publicly
(Matthew 6:1-4, 16-18): ‘Don’t even let your left hand
know what your right hand is doing,’ he says.
External religion is also dangerous.”
– Richard RohrTo be completely honest, I did not become truly interested in the Sacraments until I was in my early 40s and in the process of becoming a Tertiary in the Third Order, Society of Saint Francis. It’s not that they weren’t important to me—I found meaning in partaking of the Eucharist as well as in Marriage and Baptism and Confirmation—but they just were, just a part of life as an Episcopalian. And because of my husband’s call, I was aware of Holy Orders and Unction.
And, as I continued through the process, I learned more about reconciliation of a penitent as confession is required annually in the Order. But what really stuck with me was what was stated in the Principles of Order on Day Fifteen:
“The First Way of Service, cont’d—The heart of our prayer is the Eucharist, in which we share with other Christians the renewal of our union with our Lord and Savior in his sacrifice, remembering his death and receiving his spiritual food.”
So, as I was encouraged to do, my Rule of Life included receiving the Eucharist at least two times a week. At first this was really easy to accomplish as we were at King of Peace in Kingsland at the time and I attended all the services— Wednesday, Sunday, and Holy Days at first, and later, two to three weekend services instead of just one.
Later, when we moved to Savannah when Frank became Canon to the Ordinary to Bishop Benhase, I attended the weekly service at the Diocesan Chapel, including the new chapel when the Diocesan Office moved to East 34th Street.
This continued after Frank was elected Bishop in 2019 and we moved into 2020 planning his Consecration in May. And then, as we will never forget—COVID. Plans for the Consecration rapidly devolved until we were down to 11 people and a film crew at Christ Church. The Presiding Bishop wasn’t able to make it because of travel/pandemic reasons and we scrambled to get two more of the three required Bishops. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry named Bishop Scott Benhase as the chief consecrator in his stead. Bishop Rob Wright of Atlanta and our current Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe was the third.
By May 30, weekly Eucharists were a thing of the past with filmed Morning Prayer (and sometimes Evening) being the standard. When we did film a Eucharist for the online service, it was knowing that those watching could not take part, which left me feeling guilty knowing that so many people were longing for Communion in both senses of the word. What a change! I had gone from being a Eucharist junkie, in a manner of speaking, to realizing that I could get as much meaning from a virtually shared Morning Prayer each Sunday as Christ is present in each.
By the time we started back to relatively normal worship and in-person Visitations in 2021, I was in a completely different place—finding meaning in our communal worship and sharing of the Eucharist rather than it being all about myself and partaking of Communion.
As Franciscan Saint Bonaventure said:
“[God] is an intelligible space whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. … [God] is within all things, but not enclosed, outside all things but not excluded, above all things but not aloof, below all things but not debased. … [God] is supremely one and all-inclusive, [God] is therefore ‘all in all’.”
Yes, I can commune with God alone and in silence, but without worshiping in Community, you cannot find completeness. Even hermits and anchorites over the years had contact with people—sometimes by attending services, sometimes by serving as spiritual counselors, and in other ways—but even in devoting most of their time to God in silence and prayer they still needed community.
• How important is it to you to take part in a weekly Eucharist?
• What aspects of a weekly service of Communion are most important to you?
“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” (John 20:19-23)
The disciples are afraid that they will be found. Trapped by fear, they wait in confusion not knowing what to do next. Then Jesus appears in their midst, standing among them in the flesh. John tells us that “the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” I suspect that this is a case where words fail to capture the meaning, the excitement that is beyond words. I mean they “rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Rejoiced is putting it mildly. Jesus was so brutally killed on Friday and now he is alive again. To be in the middle of unbearable grief and then have the Lord returned to them must have created indescribable joy. Jesus was back. Jesus was home. They were all together again. Everything would be back to normal.
But, of course, that wasn’t God’s plan. It wasn’t time for the same old, same old. It was time for the next phase of the plan. It was time to move ahead into a new ministry. Jesus had shown the disciples the way. Now it was their turn. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he breathed on them. It was the life-giving breath of God. It was the same breath that blew over the waters at creation. The same breath that God blew into Adam and brought him to life. That same life-giving breath flowed over and in the disciples. It was the Spirit of God. Jesus called on them to receive the Spirit. It was to equip them for the work ahead. Jesus was leaving, but the Spirit was remaining.
What Jesus accomplishes here is to set them free from fear and to inspire them. Jesus greets them saying “Peace be with you;” he breathes on them. This is inspirational in its literal sense. To inspire is to put breath into something. Breathing into his disciples rings in the ears of those immersed in the Biblical story as familiar. For God breathed life into Adam in the same way. This is intentional. What is taking place is new life, new creation. Just as God breathed life into the first man, so too Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, breathes new life into humanity.
The apostle Paul will make this clear when he later writes, “If anyone is in Christ: New Creation.” The breath that Jesus gives is specifically named as the third person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit working in and through us that animates the new life. It is the Holy Spirit that breathes the potential for resurrection into our dying bodies.
What is taking place in John’s Gospel is that Jesus appears soon after his resurrection to commission the first Christians to go out with the Good News and in doing so he inspired them with the gift of the Holy Spirit to give them new life within them. Then he called on them to forgive or retain sins. That was their commission. That was what those with a new life were to do.
But as we see in our look at scripture, forgiving sins has nothing to do with a pronouncement, “You are forgiven,” and everything to do with helping someone come to faith. We are to assist others in seeing Jesus rightly. By the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are to help others to come to know that Jesus is God’s son and that through him we can have a new life. This is why early Christian writers would write of baptism. For those early Christian authors, anyone who understood rightly who Jesus is and believed in him would naturally seek out baptism, that opportunity for a public profession of faith. The way you could be part of forgiving sins is helping someone come to know Jesus. The way you retain sins is by holding still, keeping quiet, and not speaking up when the Holy Spirit gives you an opportunity.
Sins are forgiven or retained when one decides whether to come to faith in Jesus in response to hearing the Gospel. Any Christian is, therefore, not to be the judge of another as to whether they are right and wrong. We are instead to be witnesses to what we have experienced in Jesus.
That’s it. We either share God’s love or not. If we share God’s love, others may find the path to forgiveness. If we withhold God’s love we are working to retain that person’s sins. Jesus offered the first followers new life, new creation, trusting them to offer that new life to others. Jesus has given you new life and he expects you to share that gift as well. It was for this that you, like those first followers, have been inspired.
• Do you feel that your church offers that witness, or signs of new life that only come from God, in such a way that people long for a relationship with God?
• Are there ways that you do this in your own life?
“Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ, ye have been made conformable to the Son of God; for God having foreordained us unto adoption as sons, made us to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory. Having therefore become partakers of Christ, ye are properly called Christs, and of you God said, Touch not My Christs, or anointed. Now ye have been made Christs, by receiving the antitype of the Holy Ghost; and all things have been wrought in you by imitation, because ye are images of Christ….
“For as Christ after His Baptism, and the visitation of the Holy Ghost, went forth and vanquished the adversary, so likewise ye, after Holy Baptism and the Mystical Chrism, having put on the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, are to stand against the power of the adversary, and vanquish it, saying, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’
“Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, you had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians.
“Moreover, you should know that in the old Scripture there lies the symbol of this Chrism. For what time Moses imparted to his brother the command of God, and made him High-priest, after bathing in water, he anointed him; and Aaron was called Christ or Anointed, evidently from the typical Chrism. So also the High-priest, in advancing Solomon to the kingdom, anointed him after he had bathed in Gihon. To them however these things happened in a figure, but to you not in a figure, but in truth; because ye were truly anointed by the Holy Ghost.” (Cyril of Jerusalem’s Lecture 21: On Chrism)
In his lecture on the holy oil of chrism, blessed by the bishop for use in baptisms, Cyril of Jerusalem described how anointing with chrism is an antitype–something we find in the New Testament that is foreshadowed by a symbol or type in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, one would be anointed for roles including those of priest (Aaron in Leviticus 8:12), prophet (Elisha in I Kings 19:16), and king (Saul and David in I Samuel 10:1,16:13 and Solomon in I Kings 1:38 as Cyril notes above). These persons anointed for important roles pointed toward The Anointed One, the Messiah. As baptized Christians, marked with the sign of the cross in baptism, Cyril says we are rightly called “Christs” and “Christian.”
The word “Christ” in Greek is foreshadowed by “Messiah” in Hebrew. Both refer to anointed ones. He makes the case that as we are anointed by oil in our baptisms, we are anointed ones and therefore worthy to be called Christian, which means “A little Christ.” Cyril says, “You properly had no right to this title” as we did not earn or deserve this grace. But we are called to live more and more into being Christlike. Our faith in Jesus is not meant to be static, but ever dynamic, always stretching us as we seek to grow more and more into the image and likeness of God. Each of us who have been justified before God through our faith in Jesus are called to the ongoing work of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of becoming more and more Christ-like over a lifetime and beyond. We won’t ever get this perfect, but we can grow in grace over time to more fully be what we already are, Christian.
In the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the newly baptized, still dripping wet, is marked with the sign of the cross by the bishop or priest who typically uses the oil of chrism for this action as they say, “N., you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”
• Has there been a baptism you witnessed where these words had particular resonance?
Chrism oil is closely connected with the role of a bishop and as I look back on nearly five years as the chief pastor, what comes to mind most are the times when chrism has mingled with tears of joy. By October of 2020, I had been bishop for 130 days, yet had not made any official parish visitations as we were in that early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Victoria and I had been traveling to towns across the Diocese to record worship that we offered online each week. We had created seventeen of these before I was able to gather in person with the clergy of the Diocese for three in-person liturgies.
On October 7, we were outdoors at the Flowing Wells Campus owned by Good Shepherd in Augusta. Canon Loren Lasch preached a beautiful sermon of how the Holy Spirit shows up in the most surprising of ways in worship unlike any we imagined by using the story of having communion with saltines and water with a man who was dying and that was all he could receive. I blessed oil for chrism for the first time under those unusual circumstances, so grateful to be with diocesan clergy. We repeated this again on the lawn at St. Anne’s in Tifton on October 22, and then at Honey Creek on the 29th. One priest from Savannah later said that the fairly brief Eucharist took 3 hours of driving to get there and home and it was completely worth it. I found them so nourishing as we were able to be together in person. The chrism I blessed was used right away as baptisms continued even when large, in-person worship in the church was not yet possible.
Chrism is used in baptisms, and may also be used in confirmation, and the tradition of the church and our Prayer Book and Book of Occasional Services reserve this oil as to be exclusively blessed by a bishop. This blessing can happen in a baptism or confirmation liturgy where the bishop is present, but usually occurs in an annual Chrism Mass in Holy Week. This connects me as chief pastor to all of the baptisms in the Diocese when the oil is used to mark the newly baptized with the sign of the cross.
A confirmation I did in a home was another occasion when tears and chrism were part of the same liturgy. In June of 2021, I pulled up to the curb of Kathy’s home in a gated community. I knew a number of Episcopalians lived on the same street and was surprised that I had to walk some distance to the house for the cars lining the road. Kathy was a home-bound parishioner in Hospice care who wanted to reaffirm her faith and have me lay on hands and pray for her, confirming the promises made in baptism on her behalf many years earlier. Twenty friends were gathered in her living and dining rooms with the hardback Books of Common Prayer from the church balanced on their knees. It was a touching liturgy as was evident that Kathy was far from alone in crying as I marked the sign of the cross on her forehead with the oil. The worship was as beautiful in its own way as any cathedral service for those of us joining with her in the confirmation and Eucharist in her home.
A last link between chrism and tears of joy were the four adult baptisms at Our Savior in Martinez in November 2022. I watched as the Very Rev. Al Crumpton baptized his brother, Brad, and sister-in-law Dori, and I got to confirm them. Both Al and Brad were sure this was something that would never happen, but grace has a way of finding a path into someone’s heart when it seems there is no way. There was a lot of joy to go around that Sunday.
These few examples are just a taste of the joy of this call that is so closely connected to the balsam-scented olive oil that I get to bless as a bishop.
• When have you experienced or seen others with tears of joy in a liturgy?
“But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” (John 20:24-29)
While he is sometimes referred to as Doubting Thomas, this disciple was actually quite sure of one thing. Namely, unless he could see the marks of the nails in Jesus’ hands and put his finger in the mark of Jesus’ hands and in Jesus’ side, he could never believe that his friend and teacher Jesus had been raised from the dead. Thomas was crystal clear about what he needed. For a week straight, Thomas lived with that doubt. Thomas was surrounded by the disciples who hadn’t been out on an errand the previous week. Unlike Thomas, they each seen the risen Jesus heard him speak the words, “Peace be with you.”
Jesus had appeared to the rest on Sunday evening, the same Sunday of the resurrection. All through the week, the disciples would have tried to persuade Thomas. Yes, he had really suffered and really died, but God had raised Jesus from the dead and he was back in the wounded flesh to prove it. Thomas did not waver in his demand, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and in his side, I will not believe.”
The insistence on seeing the visual proof of the resurrection underlines the fact that Jesus is not a spirit or ghost but fully human. Christ being seen and known in the flesh after his resurrection is fundamental for John. So he tells us what happened next when Jesus came back and Thomas is with the group in the upper room. Jesus greets them with the traditional, “Peace be with you,” he turns to Thomas to address him. “Put your finger here and see my hands,” Jesus tells him. “Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Without a word to Thomas about his unfaithfulness, Jesus gives him exactly what he asks for. The doubting disciple has already seen Jesus, but Jesus also offers to allow Thomas to touch his hands and his side.
Thomas no longer needs that confirmation. Seeing and hearing the risen Jesus, he passes from the state of doubt to the state of faith. He is now convinced that the man he sees is the same Jesus that he knew in life. Without hesitation, he responds: “My Lord and my God.” Thomas becomes the first disciple to express his faith in Christ this way. Jesus is now his “Lord and God.”
For Thomas, the change is radical. He goes from the skeptic unbeliever to delivering a declaration of faith that, though short, is the ultimate statement of Christology. This passage shows that doubts are not only acceptable, but to be encouraged as Jesus did not berate Thomas for unbelief, but gave him what he needed to recover his faith. Doubt is a sign of an active faith. Lay your doubts out there. Give all your doubts to God in prayer. Even if you doubt God can hear and answer prayer, pray about that. Consider what you believe and offer any remaining doubts and give it over to God.
The story continues with a question and a blessing as Thomas’ exclamation is followed by Jesus, asking: “Have you believed because you have seen me?” Then he adds, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
This beatitude proposes a different kind of faith, a faith that does not depend on seeing for believing. Who are ‘the Blessed’ in this case? Certainly, the Christians that John wrote his Gospel for were, for the most part, born after the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. Jesus proclaims them blessed because they arrived at the state of believing in the risen Lord without the proof of having seen. Coming to faith after seeing the risen Christ was limited to the disciples and those who Jesus chose to show himself to (think Paul on the road to Damascus, for example). John was aware of this and therefore introduces the way of believing without seeing by coming to believe based on the testimony of the apostolic eyewitnesses.
God revealed God’s own self to us through Jesus the Christ and continues to do so. God remains at work in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. God wants to be present in your life no matter what doubts you have, but naming those doubts and seeking answers is helpful. We (Victoria and Frank) have found that when we are honest about our doubts, that God shows up in ways that strengthen our faith. We have experiences of the Spirit showing up in ways that defy any other explanation. When we, in the words of scripture, “taste and see” we do experience that God is good and faithful.
• Has there ever been a time when you felt you couldn’t believe something without seeing it?
• How easy or difficult is it for you to have faith in a God you cannot see?
“If you will only heed his every commandment
that I am commanding you today—
loving the Lord your God, and serving him
with all your heart and with all your soul—
then he will give the rain for your land in its season,
the early rain and the later rain,
and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil.”
– Deuteronomy 11:13-14Oil was such an essential staple of life in the Ancient Near East, it was one of the blessings promised to those who follow Moses’ Law. As we have seen this week, while most uses were common, olive oil was instrumental in anointing prophets, priests, and kings as well as its use in healing. These marked oil as a staple that God can and does bless and make holy. Making the common into the holy is so very like the Holy Trinity. This is what God does in Jesus in making the common people of God holy. We are called saints, meaning holy ones, not because we deserve that name, but because of God’s love. We are not made just by our actions, but seen as justified because of Jesus’ redemption.
But this action on God’s part is not to set us apart from others any more than prophets were to separate themselves from the lost and hurting world they were anointed to call back to faithfulness to God. In his book Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, Rowan Williams captures this well in writing about baptism:
“To be able to say, ‘I’m baptized’ is not to claim an extra dignity, let alone a sort of privilege that keeps you separate from and superior to the rest of the human race, but to claim a new level of solidarity with other people. It is to accept that to be a Christian is to be affected—you might even say contaminated—by the mess of humanity. This is very paradoxical. Baptism is a ceremony in which we are washed, cleansed and re-created. It is also a ceremony in which we are pushed into the middle of a human situation that may hurt us, and that will not leave us untouched or unsullied. And the gathering of baptized people is therefore not a convocation of those who are privileged, elite and separate, but of those who have accepted what it means to be in the heart of a needy, contaminated, messy world. To put it another way, you don’t go down into the waters of the Jordan without stirring up a great deal of mud!”
As that community that has been pushed into the messiness of life, we are a people blessed to have olive oil in the church (and often in the glove box of the priest’s car) to use in offering healing prayers. This is a sign of the larger ways we are to offer healing, both in the church and well beyond. We are to not only feed those experiencing homelessness, but we are also to work to lessen the likelihood of someone living on the streets. In doing so, we demonstrate that we see the dignity in every human being as someone made in the image and likeness of God.
That work of healing is not, of course, the work of a priest or deacon alone. This is where the old word “Parson,” which meant a representative person, is helpful. A priest is to represent Christ in such a way as to encourage the whole congregation to do the same, visiting someone sick or in prison, as an example of what every member of the Body of Christ is to do.
We are not called away from the mess of life, but called back into it as people blessed with healing oil to offer the sick, and the oil of Chrism with which to mark others as Christ’s own forever as they come out of the waters of baptism. We have something to offer to the chaos of the world, our experience of the living God, that we can use to point others to that same healing and wholeness we have found and that we need again and again.
• Have you experienced something ordinary, whether an object or experience, being much more than it first seemed?