Why go to a healing service for "spiritual opression" when we have the sacraments?

[doubting_farmer]

recently my confessor asked if i would be willing to go to a healing service with him and another priest to relieve my “spiritual opression” of depression from ongoing problems with my wife. I feel that by continuing to recieve the sacraments that Jesus will heal me. It seems to take away from the sacraments to say you need to go to a healing service to be healed. How can i respectfully decline?

 

[Fergal]

Why would you respectfully decline? If the service is held in an orthodox manner and does not involve any liberal way out there nonsense then I would grab the opportunity.

Prayer groups do not offer the sacraments, yet they are vehicles through which healing comes.

The blessing from a Priest is not a sacrament yet we take it when it is offered and ask for it when it is needed.

There are numerous events in the New Testament where Christ was not present physically yet a healing was effected through the faith of the distant one or on a distant one through the faith of the ones present to him.

I would never look a gift horse in the mouth! Do what St Paul tells us “Test Everything!”

God Bless,

 

[InLight247]

We human beings often limit God with our own perception.
Why limit God? It is not that God can only heal us with Sacrament. Our God is a big, infinite God, we should not put Him in a box.

We can do nothing without the Holy Spirit. In a healing service where more than two or three people gathered together in Jesus’ name, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is usually very strong. That is how the healing power flows through.

Why do you give up a chance God provides?

 

[Joysong]

. . . by continuing to receive the sacraments that Jesus will heal me,

The purpose of the sacraments is for sanctification and spiritual strengthening. I don’t recall the scriptures or common sense telling us to avoid physicians, so that Jesus alone will heal us.
The doctor is always to be consulted when we have a problem with our health, and it would be an imprudent, possibly life-threatening mistake to bypass this care in order to rely on the sacraments.

God has been pleased to bestow special charisms on certain of his servants spiritual doctors], specifically for healing of body, mind and/or spirit. The exercise of these charisms does not bestow sanctifying grace, but are very often the means God grants for our wholeness and well-being.

Your confessor feels this may help you, or he would not have recommended it to you. In the sacrament of penance, the priest/confessor has the special grace of his ministry, and God works in his thoughts in order to help penitents. You may trust that it could very well be a word from God sent through the priest for you personally.

Certainly, there is no guarantee that you will be freed from your oppression entirely by going one time to this healing service, because each of us has to work with God and his grace as much as we are able, by keeping guard over our thoughts. This is usually the very place that we are vulnerable, and the only avenue the devil can bring temptations to despair, depression, etc. You may need to fast from every thought that tends to bring you down and learn to replace these with positive thinking as a counter-measure.

Why not ask your confessor to recommend some self-help books written by those who have overcome these trials and know how to help you? I am thinking of one at this moment, but the author is not Catholic, and some may pooh-pooh the very suggestion.

How can i respectfully decline?

Do you hear yourself? A closed fist is not able to receive anything. It is vitally important to have faith and be open to receiving God’s help, because He is gracious and will never force a person’s freedom. Go in peace, and confident trust!

 

[Eilish_Maura]

Healing services have done wonders in my life and my mother’s.

If your confessor suggested it it is worth trying.

 

[beckycmarie]

Dear Doubting Farmer,

People can experience levels of demonization that are not a full-blown possession and can be helped by a deliverance ministry.

An Solemn Exorcism is not a sacrament, yet the Church still does them today. Deliverance ministries help with situations of oppression that may not be eligible for a Solemn Exorcism.

You might want to read up on what these types of ministries do; one that I recommend is the St. Pio Center for Deliverance Counseling. Even if you don’t get help from them, you can learn about what a deliverance ministry does.

May God bless and heal you.