Spirituality and Healing

Angels visit the children's cancer ward in Hannah Grace's Heavenly Hugs (published by AuthorHouse), a new children's book written as a resource offering hope and comfort for families coping with terminal illness.

Grace was inspired to write the book when she became the nanny for children whose mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. "It was hard to write without tears, because of the truth that we are all in need of love and hope in difficult times," says Grace.

Archbishop of Baltimore Edwin O'Brien writes that It is not sinful to miss Mass if you are sick and unable to attend; it is an act of charity. He makes 5 suggestions to his clergy about steps that can be taken this Sunday during Mass as a precaution against swine flu.

He writes in a letter released yesterday.

1. In light of the ways in which the influenza virus is transmitted, consider offering Communion only under the form of the consecrated host and only in the hand.

A study published in the March 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at how the religious faith of a patient with advanced cancer might affect the end-of-life care they receive.

It is well known that patients with strong religious faith use their beliefs to help them cope with their disease and struggles. The study found that their strong faith also made them more likely to more likely to receive intensive and aggressive treatment during their last week of life.

Religious patients dying from cancer are more accepting of intensive interventions that prolong life, according to the results of a new study. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that highly religious cancer patients receive more aggressive medical treatment at end-of-life than those who do not practice prayer, meditation and engage in religious study.

President Obama has given the ok to destroy human life with embryonic stem cell research in the name of science.

Embryonic stem cell research is immoral and ineffective. It is immoral because it destroys human life at its earliest stage of development by harvesting the stem cells for body parts. It is ineffective because it has yet to be used a single time in any therapeutic application.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a time when millions of Christians around the world begin a season of repentance and introspection. In honor of the season, many will fast or give up foods like meat, alcohol and sweets for part or all of the next forty days.

There was a fatal plane crash last night. Forty nine souls were lost. Many family, friends, and co-workers are grieving today.

How do we reach out and help them? There are no hard rules, but there are some guidelines.

Reach out to the grieving without expectations about what should happen or what they should be feeling. Be a companion. Be a friend.

The Companioning Model of Bereavement care giving developed by Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt is a helpful model. Using this model of bereavement caregiving, the helper:

When a child is born the lives of parents are changed forever. Their lives become centered around the safety, happiness and success of this new person. Plans are made for their future, and days are spent thinking about soccer practice carpools, piano recitals and college tuition payments.

New study suggests spirituality, not religious practices, determine the level of child happiness.

All spiritual experiences are based in the brain. That statement is truer than ever before, according to a University of Missouri neuropsychologist. An MU study has data to support a neuropsychological model that proposes spiritual experiences associated with selflessness are related to decreased activity in the right parietal lobe of the brain. The study is one of the first to use individuals with traumatic brain injury to determine this connection.