This Interfaith Devotional program focuses on spiritual and physical health and well-being. These readings have been selected from various religious traditions. Please come and join us on Sundays at 9:30 am at the Beaverton Baha’i Center.
Opening Prayer
Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
First Reading
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
Christianity, 3 John 1:2
Although ill health is one of the unavoidable conditions of man, truly it is hard to bear. The bounty of good health is the greatest of all gifts.
Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Baha
Engage thou in commemorating God at every morn …thy prevailing disease are not on account of sins, but they are to make thee despise this world and know that there is no rest and composure in this temporal life.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Christianity, Psalms 103:2-5
Music
Second Reading
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Christianity, Psalms 147:3
O Lord of the people! Remove the difficulty and bring about healing as You are the Healer. There is no healing but Your Healing…
Islam, Hadith, Bukhari Vol 7
There are two ways of healing sickness, material means and spiritual means. The first is by the use of remedies, of medicines; the second consists in praying to God and in turning to Him. Both means should be used and practiced.
Illness caused by physical accident should be treated with medical remedies; those which are due to spiritual causes disappear through spiritual means. Thus an illness caused by affliction, fear, nervous impressions, will be healed by spiritual rather than by physical treatment. Hence, both kinds of remedies should be considered. Moreover, they are not contradictory, and thou shouldst accept the physical remedies as coming from the mercy and favor of God, who hath revealed and made manifest medical science so that His servants may profit from this kind of treatment also. Thou shouldst give equal attention to spiritual treatments, for they produce marvelous effects.
Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Baha
There is but one power which heals — that is God. The state or condition through which the healing takes place is the confidence of the heart. By some this state is reached through pills, powders, and physicians. By others through hygiene, fasting, and prayer.
Baha’iFaith, ‘Abdu’l-Baha
Resort ye, in times of sickness, to competent physicians; We have not set aside the use of material means, rather have We confirmed it through this Pen, which God hath made to be the Dawning Place of His shining and glorious Cause…Well is it with the physician who cureth the ailments in My hallowed and dearly-cherished Name.
Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah
Music
Third Reading
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Judaism, Proverbs 3:7,8
Beware of using any substance that induceth sluggishness and torpor in the human temple and inflicteth harm upon the body. We, verily, desire for you naught but what shall profit you, and to this bear witness all created things, had ye but ears to hear.
Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah
But, if one deals with objects of the sense
Not loving and not hating, making them
Serve his free soul, which rests serenely lord,
Lo! such a man comes to tranquillity;
And out of that tranquillity shall rise
The end and healing of his earthly pains,
Since the will governed sets the soul at peace.
Hinduism, Bhagavad Gita
Four principal things increase in the man who is respectful and always honours his elders – length of life, good looks, happiness and health.
Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Judaism, Proverbs 17:22
Music
Open Prayers
Music
Fourth Reading
We should all visit the sick. When they are in sorrow and suffering, it is a real help and benefit to have a friend come. Happiness is a great healer to those who are ill…show the utmost kindness and compassion to the sick and suffering. This has greater effect than the remedy itself….
Baha’i Faith, `Abdu’l Bahá
Loose the bands of wickedness… undo the heavy burden… deal thy bread to the hungry… bring the poor that are cast out to thy house… When thou seest the naked cover him… Then… thine health shall spring forth speedily.
Christianity, Isaiah 58:6-8
If thou art desirous of health, wish thou health for serving the Kingdom. I hope thou mayest attain a perfect insight, an inflexible resolution, a complete health and spiritual and physical strength in order that thou mayest drink from the fountain of eternal life and be assisted by the spirit of divine confirmation.
Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Baha
The Prophets of God should be regarded as physicians whose task is to foster the well-being of the world and its peoples, that, through the spirit of oneness, they may heal the sickness of a divided humanity.
Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah
When the material world and the divine world are well correlated, when the hearts become heavenly and the aspirations grow pure and divine, perfect connection shall take place. Then shall this power produce a perfect manifestation. Physical and spiritual diseases will then receive absolute healing.
Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Baha
Closing Prayer
I am but a poor creature, O my Lord; I have clung to the hem of Thy riches. I am sore sick; I have held fast the cord of Thy healing. Deliver me from the ills that have encircled me, and wash me thoroughly with the waters of Thy graciousness and mercy, and attire me with the raiment of wholesomeness, through Thy forgiveness and bounty. Fix, then, mine eyes upon Thee, and rid me of all attachment to aught else except Thyself. Aid me to do what Thou desirest, and to fulfill what Thou pleasest.
Thou art truly the Lord of this life and of the next. Thou art, in truth, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah
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