An Ash Wednesday story

One Ash Wednesday a few years ago, I went straight from Mass to a doctor’s appointment, without being conscious of the fact that the ashes were still on my forehead.

During the appointment the doctor started starting at my face and I wondered what was wrong, so I asked him.  He then asked me if I had washed my face today!  I was so embarrassed!  A hasty explanation about Ash Wednesday followed.  The doctor is Vietnamese and I think that he is a Buddhist.

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The healing of Anorexia Nervosa (Blessed Mary MacKillop)

Rose was suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. Theresa a friend of Rose’s mother heard about this and commenced a novena in honour of Blessed Mary MacKillop to obtain a healing for Rose. Theresa travelled the one hour trip to Sydney on the train each Monday of the novena, to attend an early morning Mass at the shrine of Blessed Mary MacKillop. Half way through the novena, it became more difficult for Theresa, because of a train strike. She could still catch a train to the city, but from there on she had to deal with unfamiliar bus routes, however she still managed to get to the Masses on time.

Another event also happened half way though the novena. Rose was rushed to hospital because she was dying. A doctor at the hospital helped Rose face up to what she was doing to herself by excessive dieting. The doctor asked her to have a good look at herself in a full length mirror and then asked her this question: “What do you see?”  Rose’s answer was “Skin and bones.” This was the break through that was needed. Rose was out of her denial about her dieting and what it had done to her.  By the end of the nine week novena, Rose was eating normally. She was healed. Since then she has completed her schooling and has obtained employment and is doing well.

This is one of the stories in my book: Help from Heaven (Answers to Prayer), which can be viewed free on-line here.

Pain relief for everyday aches and pains (the kind that is not caused by serious illnesses)

When you have pain it is important to seek medical advice as to what is causing that pain and follow the doctor’s advice. It might be stemming from a serious cause.

Even if it is not, you may still experience occasional everyday sort of pain in your lower back, hip, leg, arm etc.

My neighbour advices the following which helps to relieve pain.  If you have pain in your arm or leg or lower back, rub the area with firm downward strokes with some skin cream. (I would then wipe off the skin cream with tissue or paper towel), then apply a heat producing product such as Dencorub. This is a brand name for a common pain relieving cream.  I do not have shares in this or in any other company.  Any similar product will do. It is worth a try!

When you have pain it is important to seek medical advice as to what is causing that pain and to follow the doctor’s advice. It might be stemming from a serious cause.

Even if it is not, you may still experience occasional everyday sort of pain in your lower back, hip, leg, arm etc.

My neighbour advices the following which helps to relieve pain.  If you have pain in your arm or leg or lower back, rub the area with firm downward strokes with some skin cream. (I would then wipe off the skin cream with tissue or paper towel), then apply a heat producing product such as Dencorub. This is a brand name for a common pain relieving cream.  I do not have shares in this or in any other company.  Any similar product will do. It is worth a try!

Help for a heel spur (a home remedy)

If you have a heel spur, it is important to see a doctor. There are various ways to treat heel spurs depending on their severity.

 

Home Remedy

One of these is the following: you fill up a glass soft drink bottle with hot water and screw the lid on tightly. You daily roll the foot which is affected by the heel spur, back and froth over the bottle with the hot water in it. About ten minutes, twice a day would be good. The more the better. If you cannot cope with the heat of the water, you can leave it out or use a rolling pin.  This can have a beneficial healing effect and reduce the pain. 

 

Update 

 

I received the following useful comment on this topic from a doctor whose method is a bit different from the one that my doctor recommended. I think that it is worth reading. 

1.      Before you start the home remedy, please see a podiatrist or foot doctor specialist. I have never heard of using a hot water bottle; I usually suggest cold water. The effect of using a hot water bottle would stretch the plantar fascia (heel spur) certainly, but it would take a long time to properly heal the plantar fascia, depending on the extent of the injury. I have a great interview with Dr. Robert Schleip for the blog that discusses plantar fasciitis (heel spur)

My comment:

Thank you for this comment. I saw a reference to using cold water on some websites and in these the water in the bottle was frozen.  There is one other thing that I would like to mention.  The link to the doctor’s blog has a useful article on treating foot troubles, but it mentions yoga and I have read to be careful of using anything that has connections with pagan religons and unfortunately Yoga has.  As far as I know Pilates (exercises) doesn’t have this connection.  I take the point though that stretching is a useful tool in healing.

The reason that it is not good to use Yoga which has its roots in a pagan religion is because it can be a pathway to the occult.

St Philomena and the doctor’s Bill

A lady told me this story which happened over eighty years ago in Ireland.  One of her relatives was very ill.  The family did not telephone the doctor to come to the house because they knew that if they did not have the money to pay him that he would refuse to come. They prayed to St. Philomena for help for the sick family member.  Later on in the day the doctor came to the house to see the sick girl.  They were stunned and asked him who had asked him to come.  He said that a tall girl with long black hair had come into his office and had paid the fee and asked him to come down to their home to visit the sick girl. The family had not talked about the matter to anyone except to St. Philomena in prayer. 

 Novena to St Philomena the Wonder Worker for the healing of autism 

Please visit the autism novena webpage for the details of how to enrol a person who has autism in the novena.