Cure versus Healing

Cure alters what is; Healing offers what might be.
Cure is an act; Healing is a process.
Cure acts upon another; Healing shares with another.
Cure manages; Healing touches.
Cure seeks ultimately to conquer pain; Healing seeks to transcend pain.
Cure ignores grief; Healing assumes grief.
Cure encounters mystery as a challenge for understanding;
Healing encounters mystery as a ready channel for meaning.
Cure rejects death and views it as defeat;
Healing includes death among the blessed outcomes of caring.
Cure may occur without healing; Healing may occur without cure.
Cure separates body from soul; Healing embraces the soul.
Cure tends to isolate; Healing tends to incorporate.
Cure combats illness; Healing fosters wellness.
Cure fosters function; Healing fosters purpose.


by Fred Recklau


As parish nurses, we want to fix things. Often we can facilitate communication, or connect or direct individuals or families to that place where they can find assistance. However, our role, more often than not, is to stand with someone in their process and to be the sustaining presence, not the problem solver. We cannot cure anyone, but we can help people heal themselves through God's love and grace.

originally posted 12 September 08 by Lynn Hackman