"I was just diagnosed with cancer," a young mother of three small children confided to me. "I don't know how I am going to cope with all this. They can do surgery, chemo and radiation to work with the cancer. But I'm so unsettled now I need healing."

This desperate plea is not unusual. During the past nine years as a chaplain for St. Francis Healthcare System, I have heard the heart's cry of many for something beyond physical healing.

This woman already knew what many also discover: There is something much more profound in a serious sickness. Certainly, there are the physical health challenges resulting from a stroke, cancer, heart problems, dialysis, diabetes and a host of other health conditions. Yet, no matter how disruptive the health condition may be, it makes us realize the need to be touched at a level deeper than the physical.

Blessed Marianne Cope and the Sisters of St. Francis came to Hawai'i to care for those with Hansen's Disease. They met medical needs as well as spiritual, social and psychological ones. They simply wanted to go where they were needed and could make a difference, and they did.

Being available to help people work through their challenges is one of the most rewarding parts of being a hospital chaplain. Many find the strength they need through their faith as they face these life-changing crises.

We know from reading the Gospels that Jesus healed many people, sometimes "all that were brought to him." Yet he did much more than cure physical ailments. He helped people restore relationships with their family, repair their lives in society and rebuild their relationship with God. Hanson's Disease victims were reunited with their families and communities. Those with disabilities who had to rely on the generosity of the townsfolk were also made whole, functioning independently once again.

Jesus healed the entire person in an integrated manner by caring not only for the physical but also meeting psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs. This kind of healing is available for everyone — patients, doctors and hospital staff — regardless of religious affiliation.

Every day as a hospital chaplain I am called to witness and facilitate this healing process. The other day one of the doctors told me, "I just admitted a patient in that room over there, and she is very upset with her chronic health situation. Could you visit her please?" After talking about her illness and reflecting on her faith, she told me that her faith gives her strength in dealing with the problems she experiences, and thanked me for helping her see her sickness in the perspective of her faith. She became much calmer and more able to cooperate.

God also heals the hurts of nurses and other hospital staff, which helps them to provide better patient care. Through trying times, God will draw us, insofar as we let him, ever closer.

The Rev. Joseph Specht, a Jesuit and chaplain for St. Francis, recently celebrated his 50th anniversary of religious life.