XPray

 I thought I could tick off this year's Christmas, but last Sunday a new element was added.

The weather was beautiful, clear skies, sun but only to keep the mood up, temperature 24C.
No wonder I went for a walk shortly after returning from Sunday mass.
The shortest of my home-based walking routes, a little over half an hour's walk.

I have walked this route many times and my attention was drawn several times to the singing coming from one of the apartments.
Few weeks ago  I heard a very loud, beautiful singing. A female voice, maybe even two. It sounded somehow natural, not like from the radio or TV. There was no one in front of the door at that time.
Usually an elderly man often sat on a chair in front of the door, sometimes a younger woman brought him something to drink. I came to the conclusion that it was probably the daughter living with her father who needed care.
As is the case here in the neighborhood, we always waved our hands at each other in a friendly manner.

Last Sunday both tenants were at the door, we waved to each other and I deliberately slowed down to have a chance to ask about the songs.
It worked, the lady approached me, I noticed that she was quite handsome, I asked about the songs.
- Oh yes, we must have been singing psalms.
In turn, she asked about my health and of course I mentioned the hospital visit.

She thought for a moment... and can I pray for you?
It somehow suited both the weather and the Sunday mood, I agreed with a smile.
The lady put her hand on my shoulder, opened her eyes wider and so wide and began...
"God, who brought this man into this world, who cared for his existence in the mother's womb, who... ... do not let him lose his strength and health just now..."

I closed my eyes - an extremely strong, clear voice. In addition, a beautiful English accent, and strong words spoken in a very commanding way.
This must be heard by SOMEONE - I thought.

I noticed the hand resting on my shoulder.
I felt that it was a friendly hand, but I did not feel the flow of energy.
I will mention here that in our church there is one parishioner who sometimes touches me on the back in a friendly way and I feel the warmth flowing from his hand to me.
Our youngest granddaughter can do this too.

The lady finished her prayer, took her hand off my shoulder, I noticed that I had big tears in my eyes. I thanked her and went home breathing deeply.

And in the evening a guest came to us for dinner - our parish priest.
Very nice, we talked in a friendly way, he reminded us that the parish can help us in many practical situations.

And so the visit ended and I had a question:
- why didn't the priest offer me a blessing?

This is a very common behavior when meeting a sick person.
The priest knows that my attitude to faith is very skeptical, he knows that I do not receive communion, but this situation was specific.

So -  maybe the priest felt that someone had already prayed for me that day?

And was this lady praying to the same God?

Saint Jose Silva?

There is no such a saint? Maybe should be.

Not so long ago, I heard about Silva Method, a method enabling people to utilise hidden powers of human brain.

Personally, I am a sceptic quite critical about all supernatural powers. But this method can fit into my rational point of view. In a nutshell it works like this...

It is based on assumption, that brain controls all functions of human body including our immune system. That means, brain can defend the body against any sickness. In some cases, it can also accelerate a destruction of the body producing toxins - e.g in a depressed person, who lost any drive to live.

According to Jose Silva, we can program our brain. To do this one should reach alpha state (look also here), state externally similar to meditation. After reaching this state, one can program his brain to perform specific job. Here a couple of examples: a person with blocked arteries imagined a vacuum cleaner sucking all the rubbish from his arteries. Another one, with arthritis, imagined a pneumatic hammer crushing rocks on his joints. Both were healed within few weeks.

So far, I do not see anything illogical or supernatural.

Why am I writing this under a banner of sainthood? Because the church monopolised the domain of miraculous cures. It even requests minimum two miracles to award the title of a Saint. Our Australian Mary Mac Killop had to wait 101 years to jump over this hurdle.

What is interesting to me, is the fact that two sides most interested in this area, do not even want to hear about this method. These sides are the Church and "official" medicine. About the church I already wrote, it would undermine the whole idea of sainthood. As of medicine - it would be a blow for omnipotent surgery and pharmacology.

Just lately, I heard a story of a doctor, who could not convince a patient to agree for some surgery. Then, one morning, the patient said:

- I saw Jesus in my dream, he told me the surgery will go OK. Now I give my consent to it.

The doctor joked with his colleague, that there was another candidate to psychiatric department.

Quite inappropriate joke. Why the doctor was unable to convince the patient? Maybe it was he, who needed help from a psychologist?

Looking closer on miracles recognised by the church, I see lots of similarity to Silva method. Firstly, sick person prays, repeating over and over simple prayers. This is a way to achieve an alpha status. In their prayers, sick people call a Saint to heal their body. The signal goes to brain. For the brain it is immaterial whether it was St Francis of Assisi or a tradesman with pneumatic hammer. The brain does the job.