Why doesn't God heal people anymore?

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This is becoming a serious problem regarding my faith; It seems that after Padre Pio and the other mystics died out, God completely stopped miraculously healing all people. For reference, some people on here have probably seen my prior posts–but I have been afflicted with a non-fatal (this is important) condition that has been with me for almost the entire year. My suffering is becoming overwhelming, and no matter what I’ve tried, God hasn’t healed me. Literally, I’ve done everything; Praying to each member of the Trinity, asking (all) of the Saints to pray for me (as well as a few specific ones), asking Jesus himself to pray for me, fasting, begging, crying, quoting scripture… I even tried putting Holy Water on the affected area, all to no avail. I’ve also asked the others on here to pray for me, and pray they did–all to no avail.

The worst part is that, unlike serious ailments like Cancer, I don’t get to die and have peace. I may have this for the rest of my life. Additionally, this isn’t anything spectacular like the stigmata… I don’t feel any intimacy with God through this affliction, only sadness, which matured and solidified into sheer anger.

Sometimes I feel like God is mocking me; It’s like He’d sooner grant my Birthday requests and give me Money of all things (both of which He’s done) before healing me. God would put a few extra dollars in my pocket before Healing me? In my youth, my Parents used to tell me that I claimed God “spared” my life, and that I used to talk to something as a toddler, but it seems that after these two events, God suddenly disappeared from my life… And then began cursing me (current ailment, among others). Jesus said that anything we asked in His name [to glorify the Father], He’d do it John 14:13-14 - And I will do whatever you ask in my - Bible Gateway, and I told Jesus that I’d give a testimony of my Healing if He healed me (in addition to asking in His name), and yet here I am, still afflicted. A promise broken. Now the only Bible verses I can think of are Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.

What’s even worse, is that The Devil sooner heals people than God for some reason. Lucifer. Both Magdelena de la Cruz and John Ramirez, two former Satanists–were “granted” immense spiritual powers. The former could completely heal others (including herself), and the other was granted other spiritual powers, such as Astral Projection, Curse Distributing, Death Distributing (unless God expressly forbade it, which was touched on). How come Lucifer heals people but Christ doesn’t? Also note that these healings weren’t illusions, as even after She rejected Satan and converted to Christianity, Magdelena’s wounds didn’t reopen, nor did She suffer any repercussions from Her practices. John lost his AP, CP, and DD, but gained, in an instant–a closer relationship than God (particularly Christ Jesus) as a non-Catholic than most Catholics will ever have in their lifetimes.

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Further chronicling these absurdities is how Atheists (that is: God acknowledging, God rejecting, God hating, Self-Proclaimed “wicked” Atheists) have been personally spoken to and transformed by Christ, yet it seems that besides from one instance in my youth which I can’t even remember, let alone confirm as real–God has never done so much as speak to me. The most God did for me was spare my from dying at birth, but as heretical as this thought may sound–I wonder if He made the right choice; I’m inclined against supporting it.

This is honestly really bad and concerning for not just me, but other potential Christians out there; “Why follow God if He doesn’t love Me?” Is a question that I commonly find, and, while I used to try and correct them, I myself and starting to empathize with them. “If God doesn’t care, Why should I care” is that thought that occasionally crosses my mind. Knowledgeable Catholics have said that God may have done (or at least allowed) this to bring me closer to Him, but honestly, it hasn’t worked, and now more than ever, I can say with an almost unnerving confidence that if I died I might go to one of the hotter places on the map ;’)

Sometimes I feel like God is withholding healing from me until I fulfill some type of requirement, but even this is probably just a false hope that I planted in my head to make it seem that God cared that much. Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m asking; This is more of a rant than a question, and people are likely getting tired of hearing from me, but the Church (or at least its Answer Forums) is the only place I can confide with.

I really want to just give up and accept my hellbound fate, but fear is now the only thing keeping me afloat. I just want to throw it all away leave this behind me, yet I can’t convince myself to go. I know Jesus Christ is real, and I know that He’s God. I believe everything, but without love, His love, what’s the point. I’m not sure if “Tether Catholicism” can save me, however that’s where I stand right now. I’ll continue walking in the faith, but I no longer believe God loves me, and if I die and go to Hell anyways, it’ll be whatever.

My hope is that eventually, God will speak through one of the people here. Until then, I may stick around for a little bit longer. At least, until the flame completely flickers out.

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Just a few thoughts that came to mind reading your posts. I do not feel that Our Lord has abandoned you or lacks love for You. Remember in Galatians, God allowed Paul to be almost blind and did not heal him. Instead, because of Pauls illness he was able to preach the Gospel. Our Lord, allowed Apostle Paul to get sick and suffer and that just the same for us.
“The Apostle Paul shares his own discovery and rejoices in it because of all those whom it can help – just as it helped him – to understand the salvific meaning of suffering”
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(Salvifici Doloris, 1).

For you @TheNeutral and like many others participating in the cross, through suffering - is one way of obtaining grace and through the power of God to participate in salvation.
 
I am very concerned for you. Your sentiments sound depressed and border on the suicidal. Please realize that the loss of a sense of value and purpose for your life, to the point that you don’t want to live any more or don’t care if you live or die, is a red flag saying you have suffered a dangerous shift to a false perspective.

Unrelenting pain tempts toward despair but despair even in that situation is a false conclusion. The truth calls for perseverance and hope in the Christian. The lives of the sick, the suffering, the disabled and the dying are valuable. Those whose sufferings are joined to those of Christ are redeeming their suffering and are trampling and evil under the power of the Cross.

This is no question, however, to be combatted on phlosophical grounds. Seek help, a person with skin on! We are not the Body of Christ each alone, but rather in the unity and grace of our love for each other in the Holy Spirit. You need companions, a Simon of Cyrene to help you bear your unrelenting suffering. Reach out for that! The Evil One seeks to isolate us, to cut us off from the flock and from the Shepherd, because that is where we are most vulnerable to his lies. Don’t submit! Find help!
 
Ok I’ll attempt to answer these concerns. This is despite the fact of me knowing probably 1/10000000th of what you know about Catholicism and the highest degree of suffering I’ve ever had being 1*10^-1000000000000th what you have suffered. This is because I have a feeling many more qualified than me will be afraid to answer this question. Even as I’m writing there’s a fear that what I’ll say will sound arroant or that it will lead you further from God and not closer.
  1. God’s love
    God does love you. Ok I don’t have 50 billion Bible verses to prove it just a heart and the image of Christ on the cross. If you were the only person on this Earth that has sinned Christ would’ve still sacrified Himself. Imagine how dreadful the pain of crucifixion is. I mean really it must’ve been unbelievably painful. And Christ would’ve done it all willingly ( the key word is willingly) for you so that you’ll see how much he loves you and so that you’d be free from sin, the effect of it and become fully human. Need more proof of this? Have you ever looked at something beautiful? The sea? It speaks of God’s love for us. All of this beauty was created for us and if you were the only person to ever exist it would have still been created just for you, for you to enjoy. God also seems to have done things for you which you are aware of (like the money thing). That is more than most people can say. These can be taken as little “hold on tight” notes. Besides Hope is a virtue, maybe he will heal you one day.
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God does heal people, but not all ailments are healed in such a manner.

Perhaps that requirement is coming to terms that you need to listen to God’s Will, and not your own.

Those prayers which are beneficial to one’s salvation are those that are answered.

Præternatural healing (or what the devil can offer) is different from supernatural healing. I suspect he does this to make people try to go away from God. He offers experience, and we love God not for experience.

I suggest that, if healing doesn’t seem to be God’s Will for you, you instead pray that God may help you come to terms with your suffering, and offer it to be joined with the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, and rejoice in the chance to look beyond momentary sorrow for that which is eternal. Ask Him to help you bear this, instead of healing it.

And do find others in the Body of Christ in person. We are a community. If you need help and need to talk with other parishioners, do.
 
TheNeutral said:
This is becoming a serious problem regarding my faith; It seems that after Padre Pio and the other mystics died out, God completely stopped miraculously healing all people. For reference, some people on here have probably seen my prior posts–but I have been afflicted with a non-fatal (this is important) condition that has been with me for almost the entire year. My suffering is becoming overwhelming, and no matter what I’ve tried, God hasn’t healed me.
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First of all, miraculous healings are still taking place. Saints generally need one or two of these miracles to become a saint; new miracles, verified by the Church for sainthood causes, are happening all the time. They are generally not publicized too much to preserve the privacy of the people involved. That does NOT mean that God is going to heal every sick person. In some cases, there may be a reason or part of God’s plan why someone is going to be sick, and all of us do eventually die of something.

Second of all, it sounds like you have this expectation that God is just going to do what you want him to. That’s the wrong way to approach God. I’ll leave it at that because to be very honest your post sounds a bit disturbed and I think it would be good if you got some help and discussed this with a priest in person.

Third, the Devil does not heal people and if you believe that sort of garbage then you need to stop immediately before you end up with worse problems than just being physically sick.

I urge you to get spiritual counseling and possibly some mental health counseling as well.
 
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  1. Suffering
I find it beautiful. Ok two things. First take a piece of paper and a pen. Draw a tiny dark dot. That’s how big human suffering is in the grand scheme of things. No story (the grand human story) is beautiful without a bit of tragedy. Maybe one day those in Heaven will watch reruns of the history of humanity and laugh and cry along with the “actors”. Also I recommend the book of Job highly. Again, all due respect and compassion to you there is no intention of sounding patronizing. Also, it is what you make it be. You can hold on to it and unmake at night what you sowed during the day waiting for Jesus (Odyssey reference attempted) and that will get very terribly hard at times or you can give up. Giving up never helped anybody. That’s the human story since the Fall, a giant bloody battle. Some soldiers get by unwounded in the fight with the enemy, some desert, others get captured and tortured but all of those who keep on fighting (with as much hardship as they’ve been assigned) are not meaningless and their suffering may have no meaning to them but it is honorable and useful in the eyes of their commander (God). Also I’ll tell you a little story. My grandpa died recently which hurt grandma a ton. She’s still hurt over it and she has nobody there to comfort her. Yet, she still hopes, she moves on. My father had somebody try to kill him (long story). He phoned my uncle and made him promise he’d take care of me and Mom and then fled and escaped (thank God for that). You aren’t going to take plane to New York and run for dear life but I can imagine that the drama is similar yet more prelonged and thus more hurtful in your case. Suffering can be taken as a fight. It is indeed a sort of spirtual fight and it is also a fight for you own ability to live and that of those around you. Dad was very sad in those couple of years he’s had under pressure but I’ve seen him joke, seen him laugh, seen him live. It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not but suffering does draw you closer to our Lord and/or makes life fuller after it but there is a constant fight to reap the benefits it brings, a fight it seems you must keep fighting. One can say 50 rosaries in hopes of being healed, or escaping a risky situation or what not but living through that trouble and keeping faith is THE most powerful prayer (think Crucifixtion) and one I don’t think the Lord ignores.
 
In addition to the great advice already offered I strongly urge you to find an adoration chapel and quietly keep Christ company there. He is there you know body, blood, soul and divinity. Do this daily or as often as you can and not as a one time thing.
I will be praying for you too.
 
Part 3/3 (it was meant to be 4 but meh)
  1. Logical argument
You said you know God exists and you know Jesus is God. That ends the matter right there. Padre Pio was one man in a generation of billions. Miracles aren’t common (except for stuff like the miracle of the Eucharist). You believe in the grace of the sacrements. Go get it! Go to Confession, go receive the Eucharist, repeat.
  1. Dance
Please excuse me, but I’ll get cliche. First off serious psychological problems=in need of help ( from a qualified person). The previous remark cannot be emphasized enough. The thing is, we tend to pep talk ourselves a lot in Catholicism. Maybe I’m reading it wrong but the Cathecism and Bible feel a ton like a giant pep talk. The point is a ton of stuff is just there to keep you swimming. You need to find little joys and stick to them. There’s a movie I like very much (Zorba the Greek). That’s partially because it speaks straight to my Southern European soul and in part because the ending is great. Movie summary: the two men in the movie (especially Zorba) loose everything they built up by the end and their response is to do this:

In summary don’t take yourself too seriously. Find something you enjoy, watch a comedy. Feel good.

Also this might mean very little I felt a bit (just a tiny bit) of you and your struggle reading your post (and I’m sure we all did). Us, more naive soldiers who’ve suffered less are feeling for you and adding you to our prayers. Our hope is less affected by hits than yours so we’ll still pray. If it does “nothing” visible at least it unites us all a bit more. Merry Christmas and may God bless you (I mean it)
 
I am sorry for your pain. But please accept the fact that God’s ways are not our ways. His seeming lack of response may seem cruel or indifferent, but you know and I know how much He loves you. If you are a parent, then perhaps it would help to think in those terms. There are times when a parent absolutely cannot give in to his child’s begging and pleading. The child doesn’t understand, can’t understand. He may even feel genuine hate for his parent. But the parent knows he’s doing what’s best for his child in the long run. He loves this child with his whole heart and wants only what is best for his child. So he denies his child’s request even though it pains him to have to refuse and to see his child so upset and angry at him. And just think, if we can experience this as parents, we who are sinful and so imperfect, think how much greater the chasm between our childish wants and God’s perfect love. Acceptance is the first step to peace. Stop fighting God’s will for you. Embrace it. He loves you even if you can’t feel that right now and can’t understand his decision. And don’t compare yourself to anyone else. And just because your suffering is hidden, doesn’t make it any less valuable. It can still be joined to Christ’s suffering, perhaps even more efficaciously, since you can’t gain attention for it like you could with stigmata. Perhaps stigmata would make you too prideful.
 
Don’t give up on God! He hasn’t given up on you! Sometimes we forget that God knows what’s best for us. If He isn’t healing you, He most likely knows that through your suffering, you can do much for souls and wishes to use your suffering for that purpose. Think of St. Gemma. She had major back issues her whole life which caused much pain, and she somehow managed to soldier on. Her reliance on God is how she was able to suffer patiently. When she was afflicted with turboculosis (which led to her death), she knew that her suffering would not only help others, but would help her progression to perfection and help her gain merit. http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/09/holy-death-of-st-gemma-galgani.html?m=1

I know it must be very hard. But suffering is only bearable if we have God. If we forget our own will, if we say to Jesus, “I can’t do it alone Sweet Jesus; without You, I am nothing. So please be with me in my afflictions and do not let me grow tired of doing Your will.” That will be pure delight to His ears!

I also recommend He and I by Gabrielle Bossis. I recommend it to everyone and I will continue to because it is a wonderful book. Jesus speaks so sweetly to Gabrielle, but really it is to all souls who read it. It really helps you understand Jesus’s presence in our lives and His love for us.
 
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TheNeutral said:
I have been afflicted with a non-fatal (this is important) condition that has been with me for almost the entire year
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Be thankful you’re not dying. My cousin is wasting away from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She’s in her 30’s with two kids. Her family has spent over a million dollars on experimental therapies and she’s never gonna recover. Not to belittle your plight, but being faced with an inevitable slow death is far worse. Now, dwelling on your affliction and cursing God will get you nowhere. You’re slowly working yourself into a lethal depression. You should be seeing a psychologist, your primary care physician, and a priest. With time, you’ll come to accept your problem. Do you ever consider the people who’ve returned from war maimed and broken? Those who succeeded had to adapt and change “their” way of thinking.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.”
 
First off, I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this. I learned at the young age of 11 that doctors aren’t miracle workers and there are medical things that happen which will stick with you for the rest of your life. I was diagnosed with arthritis at 11, though my symptoms had started when I was 10. I can still remember waking up in the morning screaming from my joints locked up and in pain and having my father carry me as gently as he could to a bath of hot water to try and get me moving again. I remember sitting in a restaurant after learning what I had and sobbing at my mother asking her to have the doctor fix me and demanding to know why she wouldn’t be able to find someone to do it. Being older, I can’t imagine the sorrow that must have caused my mother as she herself was still processing the news. At 11 the mere thought of “this isn’t going away” didn’t really settle in, so it was a long road of me learning what that meant and I did not go about it the right way. I was mad at God, I even hated Him for a while, I would yell and then feel bad because I didn’t think I should be yelling at God. I kept everything bottled up inside and hidden from everyone around me. I smiled through it all even though inside I was becoming numb. My tipping point ended with me in a sobbing mess in the middle of my bedroom floor during high school after I had found myself trying to find a place to hang myself to just make it all go away; the pain, the limitations, the side effects from my medicine, the doctors, everything. The only things that stopped me were 1) I didn’t want to make my family sad and 2) I heard a voice say “Hang on just bit longer. Let me carry you a little bit further.” After that I didn’t care if I was supposed to be yelling at God or not. I pretty much thought “He’s a big boy, He can take it.” I just let everything out.

Please, I’m begging you to make sure you find someone to talk to (not just a forum, but a person you can really lean on even just professional help) before you get to the point I did. Coming to terms with the knowledge that what you’re experiencing is the “new normal” is different for everyone. I’m stubborn, the Lord knows I’m stubborn, so normally I have to struggle for a while before I let Him pick me up. Most recently wasn’t too gentle though, it was more like getting hit across the face with a 2x4.

Continue to pray, as I still do 18 years later, for healing. I pray, not expecting healing just because I’m praying for it, but for healing if it should be the Lord’s will in my life. He is the one who knows what I can and cannot handle. Every time I think I’ve reached my limit and when I feel weak I just remember “Hold on just a little bit longer. Let me carry you a little bit further.” You know what? God hasn’t given me anything I can’t handle yet. I might need to really consciously lean on Him when things get rough, but I have never regretted it.

As for whether or not God still heals people, yes He does. There are two people that have crossed my path in my life that have had healing miracles.

I’ll be praying for you, even when you don’t feel like praying for yourself anymore.
 
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There are many people who can offer solutions. Just watching
Sid Roth on its supernatural.
Will provide faith building and solutions
 
There are two ways by which God reveals His glory. He can and does heal. When He does not heal, he freely gives grace to the suffering to bear their cross. What you are realizing, as difficult as it is to accept, is your cross. Rather than try to slough it or lighten it - face it, embrace it and God will gladly give you the grace needed to bear it.

Really.

I know whereof I speak. You know where cancer treatment centers are. Here, you must step outside of your problems and yourself. Go visit one and ponder the children with cancer. See their determination as they struggle through treatment. See the weight of the world on their parents’ shoulders. Know that not all of them are going to survive.

As a Christian, you are guaranteed suffering. You might consider the fact that, no matter how much you suffer, there is far worse suffering which others are bearing. If you think that life is not fair, be thankful that it is unfair. If life was fair, everyone you know and love would be suffering intently.

Father Benedict Groeschel†, Franciscan friar and clinical psychologist, frequently counseled those who were suffering or were depressed to go outside of themselves and volunteer, working with the disabled or homeless.

As a Catholic, you also have the great opportunity to not feel sorry for yourself, but to use your suffering for eternal good. As a member of Christ’s Body, you may join your suffering to that of Christ, offering it for a charitable reason of your choosing: the holy souls in purgatory, a sick friend or relative, peace during Advent - you name it.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen stated that one of the world’s greatest tragedies was wasted suffering.
 
Hi TheNeutral, I signed up just to respond to you.

I, too, suffer from a health condition. Mine, like yours, is not necessarily fatal or particularly serious but it is worrisome and causes me a great deal of stress and concern. Like you, I have asked for the intercession of many Saints, Angels, Mary, and God Himself (and still do). Like you, I still deal with this health concern and am not sure it will ever go away.

I have a few questions for you: if you didn’t have this condition, would you still have prayed for the intercession of Saints? Would you still have prayed to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Would you have begged? Would you have fasted?

I didn’t do any of this before my health condition started, yet I have done all of the things you mentioned and more since these problems arose for me. I started going to Church on my own for the first time in pretty much ever, and I am nearly 30 years old. I have made humiliating confession after humiliating confession, desperately trying to right my past (and present). I try to pray a rosary every day, and I pray to the Saints constantly for their intercession. I don’t know that I would have done any of this without my ailment.

My point is that I have come to realize that this affliction that I hate so much and has given me so much grief may be what ends up saving my soul if I am to be saved. All of this praying, confessing, and Church-going has given me a level of introspection I never had before. In the past, I was steeped in sin. Steeped. And while I have a LONG way to go in eliminating sin from my life, I can look back and see a dramatic change in how I am now and how I used to be. I used to commit mortal sins nonchalantly, yet now even venial sins terrify me (though I’m far from perfect and still find myself unfortunately committing both).

We don’t really like hearing this, but suffering is purifying. I know that while I don’t like my suffering, it has brought me closer to God, and rest assured yours has, too. In this sense, suffering and struggle can sometimes be one of the greatest graces we can receive. Keep praying. Keep fasting. Keep quoting scriptures. God is working through you right now.
 
And one final note I wanted to add:

I hope my post didn’t sound too preachy or too sure of myself, I just wanted you to know that I’ve really been where you are and still am, and I know what it can do to a person.

In fact, just yesterday before I went to bed, I was in tremendous despair. I prayed a rosary, and during the part where I usually make my intentions, I bawled my eyes out because I still find myself messing up and making the same sins, I still deal with the health problems I face, plus all my other usual baggage.

One of the promises of faithful recitation of the rosary is signal graces. I was really in a bad state and asked God for some kind of guidance, some kind of sign to let me know what’s going on and why every day seems like a monumental struggle. I closed my eyes, in my dark room, and asked God to lead me to a relevant passage (I don’t know if this is a good practice to do in general, but I really needed something, anything). So I slowly opened the Bible, felt a slight tug of the weight of the pages, and stopped. I put a light on it to see what I landed on and it was the last page of Job. The part where God forgives Job, accepts his submission, and restores him.

What made this particularly interesting is that a couple of times in the past month, I have used Job 42:2-6 (second page from the last page of Job in my Bible) as a sort of contrition prayer to God. When I landed on the last page of Job, I ignored the restoration part and flipped a page back to where Job asks for forgiveness. I figured that’s what I was supposed to read.As soon as I was about to read the first word, I felt what could only be described as a massive shock to my neck/shoulder of the side I used to flip the page. This was not a “I think that happened” or “maybe that happened” kind of deal, this was a massive definite shock/spasm. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt anything like it, yet I felt completely fine and didn’t hurt after.

I honestly believe this was God’s way of telling me that sometimes I focus too much on beating myself up and not enough on trusting in His Mercy. Have faith in God. Put your trust in him, as Job did. And when you don’t get your way, humbly submit to God, as Job did. God is not cruel. He will reward you for suffering for Him.
 
Lord God Almighty Father, through the intercession of your son our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Holy Spirit, please touch TheNeutral with your divine healing hand, heal all afflictions in this soul, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Send TheNeutral many graces for courage, joy, peace, faith, hope, love and wisdom. Minister to TheNeutral through every suffering and joy in life with Holy Angels. May they deliver to TheNeutral rays of your heavenly light, as a foretaste of the fertile dwelling in Heaven, that TheNeutral might always find refreshment throughout life.

Lead TheNeutral through this healing process and all events to your eternal garden with all dear ones, where there shall never be an affliction, tear or wound. Have mercy, Lord, and hear these intentions in accord with the Father’s Holy Will. Our Lady, Mother of Jesus, all Holy Angels, Saints and Holy Souls in Heaven, pray with us.

Amen.
 
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