A Healing Vocation

“The Cunning Man” by Robertson Davies

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, 

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:18 (NIV)

It’s not easy to describe the characteristics of a “healing vocation” in general or with specific events in your own life.  A stimulus for this recent effort began with our trip to Canada.  While in Toronto, I was reminded of a book by the Canadian author,  Robertson Davies, “The Cunning Man”.  This well known Canadian author wrote his last book describing the life of an atypical fictional physician, Jonathan Hullah, M.D., F.R.C.P.  I had first read it while practicing and teaching at Duke University.  I reread it now with a new appreciation and perspective.

A theme of this novel is the intersections of religion, science and the arts of a “healing vocation”.  The  protagonist, Dr. Hullah, embodies the influences of these powerful cultural forces to bring healing to those around him.  He describes a “high touch”, narrative medical care founded in both ancient and contemporary practice.  He sees the importance of ritual in its various forms.

The future of the “healing vocations” is being challenged in multiple ways that can be addressed by some ancient ideas and disciplines.  The good news is that these powerful cultural forces are still being explored today by authors like Imber, Sacks, Nussbaum and Verghese.

Marvin

References

Davies, R. (1995). The Cunning Man. New York : Viking.

Hage, M. L. (2023). Can AI be a Healing Agent?

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/08/can-ai-be-healing-agent.html

Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’  

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/bill-gates-on-ai-humans-wont-be-needed-for-most-things.html

Imber, J. B. (2008). Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine 

(1 ed.). Princeton University Press.

Sacks, J. (2014). The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning (Reprint ed.). Schocken.

Nussbaum, A. M. (2016). The Finest Traditions of My Calling: One Physician’s Search for the Renewal of Medicine (1 ed.). Yale University Press.

Hage, M. L. (2023). Healiing Visions.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/06/healing-visions.html

Then & Now

“Three Augustinian Nuns called from Dieppe”

to establish the L’Hotel-Dieu de Quebec -1639

Basilque Notre-Dame De Montreal

Matthew 25:40

Sainte-Anne-de-Beauprie Shrine, Quebec

It was a return summer trip Canada where we again were welcomed and learned more about our own healing history.   What we saw told a story of the beginnings of healing care in North America.  It is not a story I knew in any detail except the nominal connection of healthcare to religious organizations.  The missing information was the centrality of nursing in the story!

Near the end of the trip, an article from the University of Michigan was published that emphasized the continued relevance of the story we just learned in Canada.  According to the authors, the “sacred moment experiences” are still common in the care of others.  What was surprising is the reluctance in sharing these sacred moments.  

The recent experiences in Canada reinforced that “Bienvenue”/“Welcome” is the path to where we experience these shared and sacred moments.   Our shared professional history is deeply connected with our northern neighbors.  

Thanks to all the “Sisters", past and present, that have and continue to treat body and soul.

Marvin

References

L’Hotel-Dieu de Quebec

https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=683

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal

https://www.basiliquenotredame.ca/en

Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Shrine

https://www.quebec-cite.com/en/businesses/sainte-anne-de-beaupre-shrine

Hage, M. L. (2024). Healing the Spaces between Us.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/07/healing-spaces-between-us.html

Ties that bind: the evolution of education for professional nursing in Canada from the 17th to the 21st Century

https://www.casn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Ties-That-Bind-The-evolution-of-nursing-education-in-Canada.pdf

Sacred Moment Experiences Among Internal Medicine Physicians

Jessica Ameling, MPH¹; Nathan Houchens, MD^1,2; M. Todd Greene, PhD, MPH^1,3; et al

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2834653?utm_campaign=articlePDF&utm_medium=articlePDFlink&utm_source=articlePDF&utm_content=jamanetworkopen.2025.13159#google_vignette

Hage, M. L. (2016). Invited.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/01/invited.html

Paths and Ways

 Path’s and Way’s

Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.

Psalms 25:4 (NIV)

We just finished graduation celebrations where many speakers shared their advice.  One particular speaker, Abraham Verghese, gave a notable address to Harvard University graduates.  During this same time, I had the opportunity to read two wonderful books that describe in detail the “paths and ways” of living.  

All three address  the “paths and ways” of our lives as we make spaces for finding meaning.  For Douglas  Brouwer in “The Traveler’s Path”, the spiritual dimension is found in the German word, “Sehnsucht”.  

“In short, I’ve never lost my Sehnsucht..a yearning for something that might somehow complete us. Yearning. Longing…”

For Travis West In “The Sabbath’s Way” meaning is found in living “Sabbath”.

“So, too, the Sabbath is a way of gently breaking cycles of isolation and exclusion… to learn to see the world through a lens of wholeness and interdependence …”

Whether by “Seinsuchtl” or “Sabbath” we can find a place of belonging.  It is an intimacy that  brings healing and meaning to our lives.

Thanks for the words and lives of Abraham Verghese, Douglas Brouwer and Travis West,  The relationships we have with each other and the larger dimensions of our lives are stories we need to live and tell.

Marvin

p.s. Go get the books and watch the Harvard Commencement.

References

Abraham Verghese Delivers the Commencement Harvard Commencement 2025 

A Time of Challenge and Resilience

https://singjupost.com/transcript-of-abraham-vergheses-harvard-commencement-speech-2025/

Brouwer, Douglas J.. The Traveler's Path: Finding Spiritual Growth and Inspiration Through Travel (p. 214).  Kindle Edition.

West, Travis. The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight (p. 142).. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2015). Healing Missions.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/05/healing-missions.html

Hage, M. L. (2017). Sabbath Healing

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2017/02/sabbath-healing.html

Hage, M. L. (2025). Belonging

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2025/03/belonging.html

Finding, Telling and Living Your Story

Come and hear, all you who fear God;

    let me tell you what he has done for me.

Psalm 66:16 (NIV)

I just finished a challenging book, Humbler Faith, Bigger God, by Sam Wells.  One of the  structural components of the book is found in the subtitle, Finding a Story to Live By.  This focus allows the author to begin a series of conversations about the lived realities of our lives together

Sam Wells addresses the hard questions of faith, truth, suffering and the church offering “rival” narratives.  He skillfully tells the stories and the experiences of searching, faith and doubt that have been part of our faith journeys,  His challenge to the reader is to find, tell and live a better story.  This book is a kind of story pilgrimage where your story can meet a larger story.

I was most interested in his understanding of suffering.  He draws attention to the difference between and the implications of a God who is “for”us and one who is “with” us. This idea resonated with my understanding of our medical responses to suffering.  We certainly want to mitigate suffering but most important is that we “stand with” the patient in the face of suffering.

I would recommend this book to any who are confronted with faith questions and are searching for a  story to live by.

Marvin

References 

Wells, S. (2022). Humbler Faith, Bigger God. Canterbury Press.

Elie, P. (2004). The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (First Edition ed.). Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Hage, M. L. (2010). Pray with Africa

http://mhage1943.blogspot.com/2010/12/pray-with-africa.html

Hage, M. L. (2015). Telling the Story.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/01/telling-story.html

Hage, M. L. (2019). Suffering Revisited.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2019/10/suffering-revisited.html

"Latin Yankee"

Pope Leo XIV

Announcement - 5/8/2025

There is an important part of medical history that was driven by religious organizations.. My early professional career began in Catholic hospitals. Their goals of care resonated with medical professional mission statements.  The announcement of the first American-Latin Pope, Leo XIV got my attention, specifically in relationship to health care.  More generally, I wanted to understand his Augustinian perspective.

I was reminded of my introduction to the culture of caring at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.(1974-1984).  I joined an educational residency that was being asked many hard questions as reported by Paul Starr in his book, The Social Transformation of American Medicine.(1982)   Later in my career(2010), I had the opportunity to again provide medical care in Catholic hospital systems.  These experiences were part of my understanding of the intimate relationship between religious and healthcare institutions.  

What I found was that St. Augustine had a profound religious effect both in the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant religious traditions. The order that took his name and ethics has a worldwide presence and impact. The Augustinians and Pope Leo XiV will promote public health and outreach to the marginalized.

There is more to learn about the impact of the leadership of this “Latin Yankee” as a healing agent in the world.  There are and will be many “hard questions” that will shape healthcare at the intersection faith and the healing professions.

Marvin

References

Long Drives and Short Homilies: How Father Bob Became Pope Leo

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/world/europe/robert-prevost-pope-leo-xiv.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H08.dOHJ.a9cy3CB0XfNT&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Providing care in the New World: the Augustinian sisters of Canada, women of heart and commitment

https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/providing-care-new-world-augustinian-sisters-canada-women-heart-and-commitment

Category:Catholic hospital networks in the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Catholic_hospital_networks_in_the_United_States

Catholic Health Care in the United States

https://www.chausa.org/news-and-publications/facts-and-statistics

Saint Joseph Mercy Health System

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph_Mercy_Health_System#:~:text=4 References-,Foundation,when the Sisters opened St.

Starr, P. (1982). The Social Transformation of American Medicine. Basic Books

Epstein S; Timmermans S  From Medicine to Health: The Proliferation and Diversification of Cultural Authority.  Journal of Health & Social Behavior. 62(3):240-254, 2021 09. VI 1