Novena to St. Andrew, revisited

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.


You may remember back at the beginning of Advent that I couldn't decide what to pray for. (How about grammar lessons some of you might be thinking...)

I listed a few things in that post, but what kept popping into my mind was a that I wanted a good outcome from all this skin cancer surgery. Complete healing. Thinking that was kind of selfish, I pushed it away and tried to think of other things...got sidetracked with life and never actually picked anything.

Fast forward to yesterday, the first day I actually SAW the skin grafts. The doctors try to warn you that "it won't look like the final product yet, you still have a lot of healing to do." What they really mean is, "it will look raw and purple and bloody, you'll feel a little grossed out having to care for it, and you'll wonder if it's ever going to 'take' and be like your other skin."

I'm staring in the mirror trying to get the antibiotic gauze back on, wondering if it's OK for me to ask for healing. The Holy Spirit brought to mind several stories. When the blind man told Jesus that he wanted to see, did Jesus say, 'No man, you should be asking for help for your poor brother who can't find work, not your sight!' No! Jesus healed him. When the lepers asked to be healed, did Jesus chastize and say they should be asking for an end to Roman opression instead? No, Jesus healed them. They asked, He healed.

What do I want more than anything in the world right now? I want to be healed.

So with confidence and childlike simplicity, I cry out to Jesus now, "Lord, I want to be healed! Only say the word."

(and please please ignore the fact that I am only saying 4 days of a 25 day novena!)