Reflections on life, meaning and purpose

Prayer is a scalpel and a sword — the great tool of divine healing and the great weapon of spiritual combat…

A scalpel and a sword have much in common. Both are cutting tools, designed to slice apart flesh, to lay open the human person. The difference comes in the intention of the wielder. The woman who wields a scalpel is a surgeon, one who cuts but only to heal and to eventually bind up. The man who wields the sword is one who cuts so as to kill…