In 1 Corinthians 12 verse 9, St. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of healing. We have heard numerous accounts of Jesus healing people, and even of the disciples healing people, but do we still believe that healings occur? Is this gift still present to us today? Do we have to be a Saint in order to have this gift? I personally believe that this gift is still very present among all of God’s people. I have seen several miraculous healings with my own eyes. I would like to take a few moments to look at this precious gift of healing that God has given his people.
First of all, it used to be assumed that illness and sin go hand in hand. You just have to read the bible to see how often the two are put together. I think that we have to be careful to avoid thinking that sin causes sickness. Sickness seems to just happen to people, some good people, and some sinners. It doesn’t discriminate between the two. There is no doubt that some sins might bring about sickness. For instance, promiscuity and sex outside of marriage may very well bring about sexually transmitted diseases. Not properly taking care of our body, can also bring about illness. These things are pretty obvious, but most illnesses are caused by various factors that don’t include sin. We are called to live as holy people, outside of sin, but many who do still get sick. It just happens.
We are very fortunate to live in a time when medical science can deal with many illnesses and bring about healing. God created our body to be able to heal itself in many ways (minor cuts, etc.) but there are so many illnesses that need the help of medical science. I really believe that God has given to our doctors and nurses and other medical personnel the gift of healing. He has given them the ability to go for intense schooling to help treat our illnesses. He heals through the very work that they do and we should recognize that. Probably the best way to receive any healing is through the combination of medical help and prayer. A good friend of mine who is undergoing medical treatment just told me that he can feel the power of prayer at work through the treatments. I think this is so true. All healings are really miraculous, even those through “normal” medical means.
Sometimes there seems to be times when the gift of healing is made manifest in very remarkable ways. I remember one time attending a Priest’s and Deacon’s conference at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. On one evening of the conference they opened it up to the public to attend a “healing mass”. There were several priests at that conference who were known for having a healing ministry within the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and they were going to pray for healings. I was sitting in a huge tent with fellow priests and deacons and members of the public, when I noticed a man coming in who was blind. He had two family members with him to help him. He sat about four chairs away from me. I remember thinking that he must really be hoping to be healed. The mass started and after we all received the Eucharist, the priests began leading us in a healing service. One of the priests went down among the people sprinkling them with Holy Water. When he came to us I remember feeling the water hit me and I heard a loud crying out sigh from the blind man. I looked over and he was praising God and dancing in place. He took off his dark glasses and was looking all over. The people who brought him were crying. I kept looking over to him and he began to look through his wife’s purse, picking up individual items and staring at them incredulously. He had been healed. It was a remarkable sight to see.
Another time my wife and I were on retreat at the St. Augustine retreat center on Staten Island. We were attending a healing retreat given by Father Francis MacNutt. Fr. Francis was known for having the gift of healing. There were several healings at that retreat, but one that I really remember was of a young college age girl who walked with difficulty and wore one shoe that had a platform on it making it about six inches higher than the other shoe. She explained to us all that she had been in a very bad car accident and that they had to operate and take out about six inches of her leg bone that had been crushed. The raised shoe platform was to make up for that six inches of missing bone. Even with the platform shoe on, she walked with great difficulty due to other damages to her hip. Father MacNutt prayed over her for an extended period of time. I remember hearing someone near her during the prayers saying that they saw the leg growing. I had to really doubt this and it was getting late so my wife and I went to bed. The next day we saw this woman walking perfectly normal with no shoes on. I still remember her playfully, or should I say joyfully, running up and down the stairs. She had to go around for the rest of that day with no shoes on because now both legs were the same length and the raised shoe was a problem. I know, this is hard to believe, but I saw it. I also remember her mother coming to pick her up from the retreat and seeing her back to normal. She was in shock. Yes, God does do miraculous and remarkable healings. I have seen others and heard of others and have no doubt that miraculous healings occur.
The problem that I have is that I don’t understand why some people are healed and some are not. Right after that Staten Island retreat, I came home filled with expectant hope of healings for some people that I knew. One of them was a young teen age boy with cancer. His parents attended the prayer meeting in our parish and I knew them to be faith filled people. I remember going over to their house to pray with their son fully confident that he would be healed. Unfortunately he wasn’t, and died shortly after. I do believe that in death we receive the greatest healing possible. Still it is hard to lose a young person like that. Unfortunately, this has been repeated several times. I know that God heals, and I also know that death is the door to great healing, fullness of life in Him.
We cannot know why some people are healed, and some don’t seem to be. But we must know that prayers and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick do work. We also must trust that in any of our sicknesses and our pains, God can use them to bring about the good. It is all about a God who showers us with miracles every day because of His great love for us. No matter what, He is at work in our life and leads us to the fullness of life in Him.