Reviews
"In this beautifully written and marvelously conceived book, Amy Ekeh provides us with a series of rich reflections on the healing ministry of Jesus. Grounding her reflections on a close reading of the text, she shows us how the healing miracles of Jesus speak to us and offer healing for our lives today. Clearly written and accessible to a wide audience, this volume provides a rich resource for those seeking to pray with the Scriptures. Take this book on retreat with you or read it daily for spiritual nourishment."
Frank J. Matera, Professor Emeritus, The Catholic University of America
"When reading Amy Ekeh, you're befriending a listening heart. This is what I love most: her attention to exquisite details I've long missed that open new vistas of meaning in familiar stories. Accompanying Amy's vision, I'm touched. Enchanted. Delighted. Comforted. Challenged. These reflections will serve homilists, caregivers, and anyone who's ever longed, deeply and personally, for the healing touch of Jesus."
Alice Camille, author of For Everything There Is a Season and A Little Book of Light
"Our world so obviously has great need of healing and healers—those who have serious medical and psychological illnesses, but also the challenged ten-year-old, the insecure teen, young adults trying to make good life choices, adults navigating a world dominated by greed and violence, and the often lonely and suffering elderly. Each of us is called to be a healer and to be healed. Amy Ekeh’s reflections, as usual, enrich our reading of the Gospel stories in such wonderful and often surprising ways. Praying with this beautiful book will help us become ever better healers and allow ourselves to be healed. A wonderful resource for all of us—including chaplains, caregivers, medical professionals, and all who extend the healing ministry of Jesus."
Carol Keehan, DC, Retired President/CEO, Catholic Health Association
Jesus’ mission was that of a prophet, which is to say, a teacher and healer. To know this Jesus, to receive and share his grace, we engage the living word of Scripture, especially the Gospels, of which a large portion are healing narratives. Drawing on the best scholarship for the full range of those Gospel stories, Amy Ekeh has mined profound insights from each that will surely guide healing encounters with the Lord in personal prayer, pastoral care, homiletics, and faith formation.
Bruce T. Morrill, SJ, author of Divine Worship and Human Healing
This beautiful work will bring hope to so many in our broken world who seek the healing touch of Christ. Amy Ekeh has given us a treasure: an insightful, thought-provoking, soul-stirring look at the stories of healing in the Gospels that ends up being a kind of ongoing, heartfelt prayer. I was moved, uplifted and consoled—and I know many others will be, too. Thank you, Amy Ekeh!
Deacon Greg Kandra, journalist and author of A Deacon Prays
"Stretch Out Your Hand is a delightful book reflecting on the healing ministry of Jesus. If you or your loved ones are in need of healing, this book is definitely for you! Amy Ekeh, director of the Little Rock Scripture Study, creatively brings her biblical expertise and skill to a topic of perennial interest. The book is remarkably practical and highly accessible, filled with fresh spiritual and biblical insights and consolation."
vănThanh Nguyễn, SVD, Professor of New Testament Studies, Catholic Theological Union
Amy Ekeh has succeeded in packing into one short book an astonishing amount of colloquial, meaty, thought-provoking reflection on the healing stories of the Gospels. In each reflection, she calls on our own experience as an imaginative lens through which to reread the familiar tales as more than mere glimpses into a world long ago and far away from our own. She then offers a brief meditation that weaves past and present together and seals each reflection with a concluding prayer.
Genevieve Glen, OSB, author of Sauntering through Scripture and By Lamplight