Why aren't people being healed today?

[rom422]

People aren’t being miraculously healed? How about this one that just came out of Yahoo!News: gma.yahoo.com/readied-donate-organs-21-old-emerges-coma-204904805.html

No one limits the power of the Divine Healer - even in our contemporary world.

 

[Biblepoe]

God can heal whomever He likes. Sometimes he does heal people, other times He doesn’t.

The bottom line is we need to trust in Him that He will do what is best for us in the end.

 

[rom422]

Soon it will be Christmas. (MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!) Christmas makes me reflect on the principal reason why Christ came to this world. He came not to perform miracles, or to heal the sick, or to feed the hungry, or to eliminate poverty. Of course, He did all that. He did perform miracles, healed the sick, fed the hungry, etc. But primarily He came to save us from our sins. The problem that I have sometimes with many websites (and some preachers, too) when they speak of miraculous healings is that they seem to focus on these “signs and wonders”, and they speak little or none at all about the need for repentance. Their preaching is very different from that of John the Baptist, who cried out loud: “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

All healing - both physical and spiritual healing - is tied to the forgiveness of sin, because sickness and death entered into our world through sin (Genesis 2: 16-17; 3:17-18). Therefore, every true healing begins with the grace of repentance and forgiveness. Read 2 Kings 20:1-7, and see how Hezekiah was healed. You will see that reconciliation with God preceded the healing. This may not always be clear in all healing narratives in the Bible, but we can be sure that reconciliation with the Father and the abandonment of wrongdoing are necessary first steps toward healing.

I am in favor of praying for healing, and we must believe that our Lord, the Divine Healer, will grant our prayers. But if we want to distinguish ourselves from the many “faith healers” out there (who are better termed “fake healers”), then we must pray first and foremost for the gift of interior healing for that person, the gift of repentance and forgiveness, the gift of reconciliation with the Father, and then… if it be God’s Will,… the physical healing will follow. Also, let us remember that God’s power is not in our command, and that physical healing will not automatically happen just because we prayed for it, if the healing itself does not fulfill His will. Of Lazarus’ sickness, for example, our Lord said: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it” (John 11:4). Our Lord did not cure Lazarus, and instead allowed him to die. But now we know why He allowed that, so that He might later raise him up and thus demonstrate to all that He was truly the resurrection and the life. So, you see, our Lord had His reasons why He permitted the sickness, and even death itself to occur. It was for His greater glory. Therefore, let us humbly accept His will.

Finally, I want to mention again that when a sick person is not healed by our prayers, it does not always mean that we are lacking in faith. In earlier posts I gave several examples of men of faith whose answers were not granted. Of course, I agree that pain, sickness and suffering are evils that are opposed to God’s will, but God sometimes permits them for His own reasons. Because there is also a Christian dimension to human suffering. Sometimes sickness has a place in a man’s life. For God sometimes allows sickness to test a person (Remember Job?) Sometimes God permits the sickness to correct a sick person, for we know that God chastises even those whom He loves (Proverbs 3:11-12). Also, God sometimes allows people, especially the saints, “to suffer with Christ”. Thus, St. Peter says, “And if the just man shall scarecely be saved, where shall the wicked and the sinner appear? Therefore, let them who suffer according to the will of God, also commend their souls in good deeds to the faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:18-19). This is called the redemptive function of human suffering, where a patient suffers extreme pain and sickness to beg God’s mercy for the sins of other people. In all of these cases our prayers for the sick person might not be answered by healing, for the simple reason that the healing in those instances do not accord with God’s purposes. Therefore, let us always pray with faith and with a spirit of submission to God’s holy will.

May the good Lord be praised forever!

 

[raaucoin]

Except for the prayers of my mother and our priest when I was a child, there’s no reason that I am here today. Doctor’s said they didnt do it!

 

[Julia_Mae]

I still struggle with this journey - my DW has not been healed, but I mostly accept that as God’s will for us. His miracle in many ways has been to bring us back into the Church just before DW lost her capacity to understand sin. She was able to make confession, and to receive the Holy Eucharist.
Peace
James

Wow, what a great story. You prayed for healing and then this happened? The greatest healing ever! I know it was not exactly what you had in mind, but I was thinking of the answer to why the man was born blind: to glorify God. I think your lives together are a great testament to faith and do exactly that.

God bless you and your dear wife, abundantly, James.

 

[Julia_Mae]

My Dear Julia Mae,

I think that you and I have been following very similar journeys and have received very similar insights. We are, I believe, comrades on this journey…

Mostly I want to thank you for being here on CAF, and being a support to me in my own journey. Your posts speak so strongly to me.

Peace
James

Back atcha, James, most seriously. I especially was spoken to when you said:

As for myself, I still struggle for I am a poor and inconstant servant of my God. I take too much for granted in my own abilities. I am easily angered and short tempered. I am slothful, and I struggle with other vices as well.

You didn’t mention whining, though, my specialty. Somehow we’ll get all the way through to the end, and somehow He’ll be waiting, in spite of our failings.

 

[Faith1960]

There are mountains of recent evidence. As for “someone knows someone” well, you know me. I was healed. I don’t go into gory medical details on forums but… I had a defect in need of surgery and was healed instantaneously during Eucharistic adoration. My RCIA director was scheduled for back surgery for a ruptured disc that healed during the night before her surgery during an extended prayer session.

You don’t know about evidence because you haven’t bothered to look and ITT you haven’t bothered to ask. There are whole books written by people who have all sorts of medical evidence of their healing. You will believe whatever you wish. But the statement that there are no healings or proofs is simply factually incorrect.

Your opinions based on your thoughts without research are noted. Thanks for sharing.

I’m reading this thread with great interest. I so much want to believe in miracle healings but at the moment, I’m having some difficulty with my faith after reading numerous articles on scientific studies done on the power of intercessory prayer.

Prior to 2006, when results of a very long, comprehensive study done on cardiac patients (the most comprehensive to date) were released, there had been a few studies showing that intercessory prayer had benefit to the recipient of the prayers, but the study released in 2006 showed that prayer had no effect on the patients outcome, and in some cases, the prayed for group did worse.

Many people insist that the earlier studies were flawed and that the one released in 2006 didn’t have those problems.

I’ve been trying to find solid, scientific, documented proof that intercessory prayer helps people heal but am having a rough time of it.

 

[Faith1960]

I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to share a bit of my own journey in these matters…I’ll be brief.

In so far as “healing” and “miracles” is concerned, it really all began when my dear wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This was not altogether unexpected as her father had died from it and indeed my own father was on that journey as well at that time.

I had not yet formally returned to the Church (I still needed and annulment) but that did not prevent me from hoping, praying and beginning to look into the matter of healing. I read some on the subject, I tried to increase my prayer, I made promises, blessed her with holy water and even acquired an “oil” from Little Audrey Santo and anointed her with that. I tried not to place this before God as a selfish request, but one through which we could and would bring souls to Him.

Anyway - as time went on and no healing occurred, I had to wonder why and ask many questions. I looked in the Gospels and found no limits placed on requests…Jesus says “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Mt 21:22) and this is repeated in similar ways in Mk 11:24, John 11:22, John 14:13, John 15:7, John 15:16.
Then of course there is the statement that we can move mountains with faith the size of mustard seed, as well as the promise that those who trust and believe will do the works of Christ and even greater works.
Yet - Try as I might in prayer, in desire, in hope, God did not grant my petition that my Dear Wife be healed - At least not yet…

So - What was I to do with this disappointment? What am I to draw from it? Where was the problem? Where lies the fault?
Do I place the fault on Faith, on Christ, on Scripture??? Do I lose my faith and deny Christ? - No I could not do that…I simply could not…
What then?
If I accept that Scripture does not lie, and if I accept that miracles and healings DO still, occur then the answer must lie somewhere else…
What did Scripture say?? Faith - the size of a mustard seed…Trust…Do not doubt…Faith…But the faith must be the “right kind”… More than mere belief…these issues of trust and confidence and acceptance etc all began to spin around in my mind.
That Was the answer…I cannot accuse God in this matter therefore I must accuse myself. It is me who is at fault. It is my lack of faith - a proper, full and trusting faith. It is my lack of conformity to God’s will, and desire to see my will completely in union with His. It is my lack of allowing, as St Paul expresses it, Christ to live in and through me.

With this new perspective I began to study more on faith and spirituality. I began to try to let go more, to trust God, to praise God, to Love God and worry less about whether DW was cured or not. That would be up to Him, though certainly I still asked…
Through this, the Holy Spirit was able to teach me many things. Mostly just how patient God had been with me, and how little I can be trusted with gifts, since I had so often abused them in the past.
I still struggle with this journey - my DW has not been healed, but I mostly accept that as God’s will for us. His miracle in many ways has been to bring us back into the Church just before DW lost her capacity to understand sin. She was able to make confession, and to receive the Holy Eucharist. She still does take communion when we are able to go…but thank God she is unable to sin.
As for myself, I still struggle for I am a poor and inconstant servant of my God. I take too much for granted in my own abilities. I am easily angered and short tempered. I am slothful, and I struggle with other vices as well.

Ah - well I find that I am getting “wordy” here…
In summary…my study on this matter has shown me that, far from being incapable of such healing, we - as a group and tending not to want to question our own faith - instead look outside ourselves for some explanation. Scripture does not support such a view.
When we fail to manifest the gifts of the spirit, we need to accuse ourselves. We need to look inside and find out where the fault lies in us. We may never manifest great spiritual gifts. We may never heal, or prophecy or levitate or “move a mountain”, but I DO guarantee one thing. We will learn a tremendous amount about what is holding us back from being all that we can be.

Peace
James

James, I’m so sorry for your wife. May God bless the both of you.

 

[JRKH]

Back atcha, James, most seriously. I especially was spoken to when you said:

As for myself, I still struggle for I am a poor and inconstant servant of my God. I take too much for granted in my own abilities. I am easily angered and short tempered. I am slothful, and I struggle with other vices as well.

heehee…I must admit that whining is something I don’t think I do much…At least no one has accused me of it…
That said… I know I have plenty of imperfections to keep me busy…

Merry Christmas…

Peace
James

 

[JRKH]

James, I’m so sorry for your wife. May God bless the both of you.

Thank you for your kind words. God has indeed blessed us both very much.

I’m reading this thread with great interest. I so much want to believe in miracle healings but at the moment, I’m having some difficulty with my faith after reading numerous articles on scientific studies done on the power of intercessory prayer.

…Snip…

I’ve been trying to find solid, scientific, documented proof that intercessory prayer helps people heal but am having a rough time of it.

I hope that in some small way I might be to convey to you encouragement in your concerns over this matter. If I may suggest, perhaps you need to stop reading scientific journals and instead read through and study the Gospels on the matter. You may find some good answers there…For instance…

In the Scientific study, I am sure that they had “people of faith” “pray” for the patients. But - did the “people of faith” truly have faith?? Likewise, do we know the true health of the faith of those prayed for?? These are both things that Jesus addresses in the Gospels. How were they addressed in the studies??
And consider - if these people of faith included, as they should, a willingness to accept God’s will in each patients outcome, why should we expect any statistical difference??

I think that as you study what Christ teaches about these things in the Gospels, the easier you will feel in your own mind about the matter.

Peace
James

 

[Heuchler]

There are many healings. I just heard today of a miracle in which a young man miraculously came from being practically brain-dead to talking just hours before he was to be taken off of Life-support. I just think that most of the charisms that were within the church ended with the Apostalic age. So, while there aren’t usually specific healers, there are definitely miracles.

 

[Faith1960]

There are many healings. I just heard today of a miracle in which a young man miraculously came from being practically brain-dead to talking just hours before he was to be taken off of Life-support. I just think that most of the charisms that were within the church ended with the Apostalic age. So, while there aren’t usually specific healers, there are definitely miracles.

I don’t mean to sound like a Debbie Downer but being “practically brain dead” to being truly brain dead, with absolute certainty are two different things. People do occasionally come out of those states, even if the subject and or his loved ones had no faith.

 

[Holly3278]

I believe healing miracles do still occur today. For example, there have been some miracles to sick people who went to Lourdes that dates to within the past 50-60 years. I also hear of people being miraculously cured of cancer and such from time to time. I truly do believe that God can and does work healing miracles to this very day.

 

[JackQ]

The gospels tells how Jesus healed many people who were paralized, sick, blind etc and even gave the power to the 12 disciples to teach and heal the people. I wonder with the church having healing masses and the congration praying over sick people, why is nobody healed like in NT times? Then you also have tv avangelists lke benny hinn who on tv “supposedly” heals many people and your miracle water cure which i think those are scams for money.

I was healed of a cancer. I don’t know why me. Also, I know someone who had a demon cast out.

 

[Heuchler]

I don’t mean to sound like a Debbie Downer but being “practically brain dead” to being truly brain dead, with absolute certainty are two different things. People do occasionally come out of those states, even if the subject and or his loved ones had no faith.

I’m technically not sure which it was. I briefly read the article this morning and I just hastily wrote that example.The boy came out of it with pretty good timing, and it has led the mother back to the church. The doctor has also said that it was miraculous. You can read it here.

 

[rom422]

I’m reading this thread with great interest. I so much want to believe in miracle healings but at the moment, I’m having some difficulty with my faith after reading numerous articles on scientific studies done on the power of intercessory prayer

Actually, I wonder how anyone could make a “scientific” study on the power of intercessory prayer. Scientific studies can only be performed regarding matters and procedures that have definite outcomes. Miraculous healings, however, cannot be predicted with certainty, and they often involve processes that depart from the ordinary laws or workings of nature. So, how can you make a scientific study regarding that?

Also, healing does not automatically happen just because people prayed, nor even when they prayed with great faith. It is really up to God whether to answer their prayers or not. And even if He answers a prayer for a sick person, the healing may not come in the form of a miraculous, but simply ordinary healing. Therefore, the power of intercessory prayer cannot be established by observing the outcome of prayer in several cases of sick people who are being prayed for by others. It is rather established after a miraculous cure had already happened in cases where documents prior to and after the cure had been performed. I suggest that, if you really want documented cases of miraculous healing, then you need to go to the appropriate Church authorities who have investigated cases of healings and miracles performed by God through the intercession of saints that have recently been beatified or canonized.

 

[Julia_Mae]

I’m reading this thread with great interest. I so much want to believe in miracle healings but at the moment, I’m having some difficulty with my faith after reading numerous articles on scientific studies done on the power of intercessory prayer.

My advice is stop reading the articles about studies. The media report very poorly about science. Having had a career in science, I know whereof I speak. And I can tell you that prayer studies actually can’t be done scientifically because there is no possible way to institute controls. You can’t do lab science without controls, even if your lab is a big hospital or set of them. That is: you can get people to pray, but you can’t stop people from praying. Prayer cannot be quantified, measured or even defined by science. And, because this prayer involves something science does not acknowledge exists, God, the results may have nothing whatsover to do with the intentions of the pray-ers. You may be praying for someone to live, but God is bringing them Home for His Own reasons.

It’s impossible to do a prayer study in terms of whether or not it has “benefits.” I saw one where they were shocked to find the patients were dying faster than expected, as if that proved prayer was a “failure.” Really? So, these folks were going to pass and now they get to do it with less suffering? Sounds like success to me.* Your thoughts are my not my thoughts*, says the Lord.

But if you are seriously interested, find a book called The Miracle Detective. The bulk of the book ends up being about Medjugorje, a topic we don’t bring up around here, but the beginning is just such an excellent look at how the Vatican affirms miracles in the causes of Saints. It’s really worth the trouble to find and read.

And then there are cases like mine. I wasn’t asking for healing at all, I wasn’t asking for a thing, I was just having a kind of contemplative in the spirit time in front of the Eucharist when I actually felt my own healing. Wait… no … couldn’t be. But it was. However, putting a 100 people who need surgery in front of a Monstrance on their knees for a half hour isn’t going to prove a thing.

People who do healing like Padre Pio or some others who are not as well known, are so oned with the Spirit at all times, they know exactly who they can heal because they are so in tune with God’s Will. The rest of us just act on faith.

 

[Faith1960]

And then there are cases like mine. I wasn’t asking for healing at all, I wasn’t asking for a thing, I was just having a kind of contemplative in the spirit time in front of the Eucharist when I actually felt my own healing. Wait… no … couldn’t be. But it was. However, putting a 100 people who need surgery in front of a Monstrance on their knees for a half hour isn’t going to prove a thing.

People who do healing like Padre Pio or some others who are not as well known, are so oned with the Spirit at all times, they know exactly who they can heal because they are so in tune with God’s Will. The rest of us just act on faith.

Not to be nosey, but what were you suffering from and what happened to heal you?

 

[BB2]

The gospels tells how Jesus healed many people who were paralized, sick, blind etc and even gave the power to the 12 disciples to teach and heal the people. I wonder with the church having healing masses and the congration praying over sick people, why is nobody healed like in NT times? Then you also have tv avangelists lke benny hinn who on tv “supposedly” heals many people and your miracle water cure which i think those are scams for money.

I’m a non-believer (former Catholic), but I’ll give you a perfectly religious answer that I would agree with as well.

What you need to acknowledge is what is called in philosophy as the “problem of religious language”. In the New Testament, it speaks about people being healed. What it doesn’t speak about are those that are not healed - which is the great majority. Mortality would have been very high during Jesus’ time. Therefore, because the New Testament only speaks about those being healed (i.e. what is out of the ordinary), it seems as if healing miracles occurred with great frequency during biblical times.

This same principle is evident in psychology. Plane crashes rarely happen, but when the media reports it, it seems as if plane crashes happen all the time. In psychology, it’s called the “availability heuristic”: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristic

I can give you an experiment. Write down a miracle you think you’ve experienced from God. After you finish writing it, hide it somewhere and read it the following week. You should get the sense that God’s providence was really evident in your life during the time you experienced that miracle. The same applies to the Bible.

 

[Julia_Mae]

Not to be nosey, but what were you suffering from and what happened to heal you?

Well, as I have said previously, I’m not going into gory medical details, somethings are just personal. I had an internal defect that I was to have repaired surgically. This was something that had occasioned a previous emergency room visit, so there were tests and so forth.

At any rate, I was at my first Adoration. In fact, I had not yet actually been received into the Church because it was Maundy Thursday. (Medical issues had to wait until after Easter.) I never had any religious experiences or anything, I wasn’t a churchgoer before my conversion, was a complete spiritual novice, so you can imagine first time Adoration is pretty - well - overwhelming.

So I’m on the floor, on my knees, not really aware of the other folks, it seems very bright and I’m not praying, just filled with this great upliftingness (Sorry, no words. I imagine you know what I mean) and I wasn’t thinking, you see, it was like I could just have stayed in that position in joy forever. But then something did get my attention. Inside my body, in a specific place where I could feel this defect ordinarily, there was what I can only describe as p(name removed by moderator)oints of warm energy, like as if every little droplet of some fog was a spark, sort of. It was not a wave that came in and out, it was just in there and seemed to expand for a couple seconds in this area and then be gone.

So, skipping over reactions and whatever, it was gone, no surgery needed. Obviously I’m not putting “proof” in this thread if anyone is looking for that, but if people want pictures and xrays and all of that, read Rita Klaus’ book on her healing which has plenty of those. (The basic story is here bolstablog.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/rita-klaus/ ) Her healing was so medically astounding when she walked up to her doctor having been completely cured in 24 hours, he didn’t believe it was her. He thought she had a twin sister visiting and they were playing a trick. Understandable as her kneecap had been surgically severed from her leg and it’s impossible to stand or walk or climb stairs or jump up and down, without one, along with the fact that her legs were completely twisted around and useless, the bones deformed. I believe she jumped up and down a lot at first! That was all made normal in a day.

You can also read Blest Atheist, which I think has the story of Elizabeth Mahlou’s healing, she had before and after xrays.

Anyway, that was my deal.