Patrick Sanfrancesco

Today I had the great and wonderful opportunity to attend an afternoon program at La Casa de Maria, a beautiful retreat center nestled in Montecito, California.

The mission of the beautiful La Casa de Maria is:

to provide, through its programs and environment, a nourishing place of peace where persons of all faiths can search for truth, engage in dialogue, experience personal growth, realize their self worth, embrace the sacred, then refreshed and renewed, participate more responsible in the creation of a just and peaceful world, and a whole and healthful earth.

Yes, it is this wonderful!

Today’s program featured Patrick Sanfrancesco, a man who has led many lives full of angst and despair towards hope. In other words, he is a healer.

I’ve never met a bona fide healer until today. Not that I haven’t wanted to. I just haven’t had the opportunity until now, which is NOT to say that I haven’t had the need – DUH.

When I first met him, I was struck by the happiness he radiated, his kindness, and the way he was so very present.

Patrick is no ordinary healer. He has degrees in law, accounting and medicine and has extensively studied alternative therapies. Patrick sports long hair (because he’s “too lazy to cut it”), a beard and was wearing a black sweatsuit. It would be easy to mistake him for a bohemian rock star, had it not been for his serene eyes and the positive energy radiating from him. At 53, he looks at least 10 years younger (one person thought he was 18 years younger!) and has the most uplifting smile imaginable. Oh, and he has a fabulous, “mischievous” sense of humor. He believes that “life is one cosmic joke and that the world is my playground.”

As a child, Patrick was incapacitated by paralysis after falling down a flight of steps. He says that he recovered from this  because of his unwavering faith.

He believes that everyone has the capacity to heal themselves, but that people are conditioned away from self-healing. The the road block to healing ourselves, he said, is our over analytical brains. Patrick followed up by stating, “I don’t have a brain” and then giggled.

Patrick takes no credit for his his healing. Rather, he said, “I accomplish nothing. I simply make promises that G-d keeps.” In other words, he believes that divine energy does the healing.

Patrick believes that spiritualism is about seeing G-d in every person and in every living thing. It is not, he said, about a specific religion.

Patrick also does not believe in right and wrong. There is only what is meant to be. If things don’t go our way, there’s nothing wrong. It just means that what we planned for was just not meant to be. If we could realize this simple fact of life, we‘d be much happier.

The message he shares with people is, “The mantra of life should be simplicity, clarity, peace, kindness, happiness and love. The way to live your life is to look at your past with understanding, your future with faith and your present with love, lots of it.” How Silver Lined is this?

After his talk, he did private healings.  Some people had specific ailments. Other people simply showed Patrick images of people in need of healing (yes, he does “distant healing” through photographs, email and even texts!). When I went in to see him, I told him my issues. He closed his eyes, put one hand up to me and one hand on his heart. After about 30 seconds, he opened his eyes, smiled and said, “thank you.”  I just smiled and left…because that was what felt right.

Whether or not my issues are remedied, I have yet to know.  What I do know for sure is that I have had a newfound spring in my step that was not there before (Silver Lining). What I also know for sure is that there are all kinds of routes for physical, emotional and spiritual healing….and I’m open and welcoming to them all!