Prayer and Healing

[Faith1960]

I’m wondering what it is we’re supposed to pray for, when a friend, loved one or we are facing a crisis. The daughter of a friend of mine recently gave birth to a baby with a chromosomal abnormality. During her pregnancy, the illness was suspected but the new mom didn’t want to find out for certain by having an amniocentesis (sp).
Instead, she found a priest whom she and her husband prayed with, went to a charismatic masses and was prayed over. Prayer requests were sent out that she’d give birth to a healthy baby boy. Her mom (the grandmother) was also joined in prayer with her Bible Study and people all over were praying feverishly for the baby to be born healthy.
After his birth, it didn’t look good but we were waiting on test results to confirm or not confirm this illness. The test results came in today that confirmed he has Trisomy 18.
My question is this…what exactly are/were we praying FOR?
I don’t think prayer was going to change his diagnosis and all the prayers in the world didn’t help this poor baby.
Does God really answer prayer anymore or does he only SEEM to answer prayers where the outcome could go either way?

 

[MarcoPolo]

We pray for mercy and healing and if God determines that suffering occur then we do our best to offer that as a cross. On faith we believe God hears and answers prayers. When they are not answered in accord with our wish sometimes it’s hard to see that He’s listening. It takes heroic faith to stand by His side in such circumstances. But we remember that God first showed the way, condescending to human form and allowing Himself to be tortured and killed by His own creatures. He even prayed in the garden for “this cup to pass from Me.” But He concluded: “Thy will be done, not Mine.” Jesus’ prayer to avoid the cross was not “answered” in the way He stated it, yet ultimate glory came paradoxically through the tragedy. Only in such glimpses can we even begin to accept the mystery of suffering. And only in Catholicism does suffering make sense. We suffer in this corrupted world, but we believe it is not the last word.

 

[Faith1960]

We pray for mercy and healing and if God determines that suffering occur then we do our best to offer that as a cross. On faith we believe God hears and answers prayers. When they are not answered in accord with our wish sometimes it’s hard to see that He’s listening. It takes heroic faith to stand by His side in such circumstances. But we remember that God first showed the way, condescending to human form and allowing Himself to be tortured and killed by His own creatures. He even prayed in the garden for “this cup to pass from Me.” But He concluded: “Thy will be done, not Mine.” Jesus’ prayer to avoid the cross was not “answered” in the way He stated it, yet ultimate glory came paradoxically through the tragedy. Only in such glimpses can we even begin to accept the mystery of suffering. And only in Catholicism does suffering make sense. We suffer in this corrupted world, but we believe it is not the last word.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[poetryforjesus]

None of these prayers were wasted. What a special child this is! He must have received a lot of tender grace from God because of thes prayers offered on his behalf. Your headline of this thread has it exactly right: prayer has to do with healing; we pray in order to be healed. The healing we need sometimes is not physical. Only God knows why this child is born this way, and His reason, when revealed finally, will prove to be perfect. While we don’t understand, we can pray, and by praying we are interiorly healed.