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Summary
- These twelve prayers are for a long or serious illness: chronic pain, healing of the body, peace of mind, faith, a terminal diagnosis, the doctors, the family, strained relationships and medical bills.
- The prayers written with “I” are for the sick person, and those written with “we” are for family, friends or a church praying together.
- Each prayer asks God for healing and leaves the answer with him; none of them promises a cure.
- Paul prayed three times for his “thorn in the flesh” to be taken away and was told, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
- An illness is no verdict on someone’s faith: of a man born blind, Jesus said, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents” (John 9:3).
- James 5:14 tells the sick to call the elders of the church to pray over them, and Sirach 38, in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, tells them to honour the physician.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture in the King James Version (public domain), from BibleGateway: Jeremiah 17:14; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; 2 Timothy 4:20; John 9:3; James 5:14. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 38:1 and 38:12 in the Douay-Rheims Bible, 1899 American Edition (public domain), from BibleGateway.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Holy Unction”, The Orthodox Faith, Volume II: Worship.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1500-1513, the Anointing of the Sick, 2nd edition, 1997.
- The Church of England, Common Worship: Pastoral Services, Ministry to the Sick.
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