November Newsletter

A Healing Prayer Affirmation, by Paramhansa Yogananda

Focus deeply at the spiritual eye, and repeat three times:

“I will with my own will, which flows from the divine will, to be healthy to be well, to be prosperous and spiritual, to be well, to be well.”

Please teach this affirmation to your older children or teens. It is helpful to them in general, because, as Swami Kriyananda wrote in Education for Life, Preparing Children to meet the Challenges, the teen years are the “will years.” If they learn this affirmation early in life, it will help them, and maybe even help their friends, to direct their will in a positive way. This will help them if they are ever discouraged or depressed.

Tragically, a young teen, Austin, took his life yesterday. He was age 14. His mother, Stacia of Clarksville, Maryland, is a member of this healing prayer group. I spoke with her at length yesterday, when he was “missing” — and again today once I heard the news. I told her that these truly are The Saddest Prayers (for Suicide Victims). 

Many people at Ananda Village, and the Healing Prayer Ministry, prayed for Austin, and I believe these prayers are helping his soul now; that is what I felt this morning.

Please keep Stacia, and her daughter, Amanda, age 16, in your prayers to help them get through this most difficult time. We will also have their names on our regular healing prayer list.

Here is an excerpt of the email from Stacia:

Dear Mary,

I am in tears right now, to read your e-mail. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Austin was such a good and loving child. I don’t know why he did this. I am utterly devastated beyond words, and I grieve for his soul. Please keep praying for him. I know your prayers make a difference…

Thank you so much for your support and prayers.  It has been devastating and we did not see this coming at all…. Thank you again so much for getting prayers out for Austin throughout Ananda Village, and the Healing Prayer Ministry — his soul really needs prayers for healing.

Blessings,
Stacia

Thanksgiving

In the face of loss or tragedy,  either recently or in the deep past, it is often very difficult to face the holidays. In the beginning this is due to raw pain, but as the years go by, that feeling lingers and forever coats the holidays, if we don’t also make it a point to count our blessings, every year and every day.

If you have lost loved ones, spend some extra time sending them love during the holidays. Ask God to bless and guide their soul journeys. This life is a school — and we all leave it someday. It is sad to be separated from those we cherish, but God is always with us.

Take life as it comes and death as it comes. Death is really beautiful; if it were a bad thing, God would not let it happen to us. It is really freedom, an entry into another, higher life. We must utilize this life in order to realize the life beyond this one. Beyond this earth garden is the infinite land wherein we meet those whom we have thought lost. Although we must not seek death, when it comes we should know that it is the final examination for a great reward.

—Paramhansa Yogananda

As Thanksgiving approaches, keep a daily journal. of any blessings or touches of God’s grace that you feel in the day, or in your meditations and healing prayers. This will keep you uplifted and will help ward off holiday depression that affects some people at this time of year. When you see the journal, recall that it is full of blessings. Let your heart say, “I am deeply blessed.”

Blessing to you all,
Mary Kretzmann

Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry