Christian Pure

Catholic Prayers for Strength and Healing: The Anima Christi and Short Prayers

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • The Anima Christi, with its line “Passion of Christ, strengthen me,” dates from the first half of the fourteenth century, although it is often credited to St Ignatius Loyola.
  • “Lord, I am not worthy,” said before Communion, adapts the centurion’s words in Matthew 8:8, with “my soul” in place of “my servant.”
  • The 1888 Manual of Prayers gives “A Prayer in Suffering,” a one-line prayer in pain and a collect “In any Tribulation”; Lasance’s Catholic Girl’s Guide gives a prayer to St Raphael, “physician of God.”
  • Short prayers cover strength for one day, healing of the body, pain, surgery, the heart and mind, courage, a sick loved one, confession and slow recovery.
  • The Catechism says the first grace of the Anointing of the Sick is “strengthening, peace and courage” (paragraph 1520).
  • St Peregrine’s patronage of cancer patients is popular devotion; the World Day of the Sick falls on 11 February, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

For strength, Catholics have prayed the Anima Christi since the fourteenth century. Its fifth line asks, “Passion of Christ, strengthen me.” For healing, Catholics pray the centurion’s words from Matthew 8, said before Communion: “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.” Prayer goes alongside medical care and never replaces it. If you are in despair or thinking of ending your life, call or text…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 27:14; 147:3; Matthew 8:8; 9:21; 2 Corinthians 12:9; James 5:14–15). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
  • The Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), Project Gutenberg eBook no. 1581 (Tobias 3:25; 12:15). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1581
  • A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Ordinary of the Mass, pp. 102–103; Occasional Prayers, “In any Tribulation,” p. 166; Devotions for the Sick, “A Prayer in Suffering” and Ejaculation, pp. 466–467. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
  • Lasance, F. X. The Catholic Girl’s Guide. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1906. “Prayer to St. Raphael, Archangel,” p. 601. https://archive.org/details/catholicgirlsgui00lasa
  • Frisbee, Samuel. “Anima Christi.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01515a.htm
  • “Order of Servites” (St Peregrine Laziosi). The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13736a.htm
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraphs 1514–1516, https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_two/article_5/ii_who_receives_and_who_administers_this_sacrament.html; paragraphs 1520–1521, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P4N.HTM
  • John Paul II. Message for the First World Day of the Sick, 1993. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/sick/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_21101992_world-day-of-the-sick-1993.html

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