A Prayer Today For Healing of Self and Others

June 25, 2005

Miracles Mt 8:5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,' and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." And Jesus said to the centurion, "You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you." And at that very hour his servant was healed.

Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.

When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:

He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.
He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases. Jesus the healer the great physician. All healing comes from God. We are only instruments of God's healing. The centurion had great faith in Jesus. The words of the centurion are echoed in the ceremony of the mass: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be healed."

My dear friend Sr A. told of a service when a small child heard these words and answered aloud to the priest during the service, "What's the word?" The miracles of healing that God performs are all signs of the love of God. It is a mystery and an affirmation of a power beyond our simple existence. This morning I pray for personal healing and a renewal of inner strength.