Are you sick? What to do next?

Introduction

Most of the people are deeply troubled and worried when they are afflicted by deadly and incurable diseases because they think that there is no remedy for it. As Jesus says there is no incurable sickness in the New Testament, God can heal it – “Behold, I am the Lord, of all flesh: is anything impossible for me (Jer. 32:27)” and this sickness is not unto death (Jn.11:4). This God who heals, is present in our time in the word and in the Blessed Sacrament. When we celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus is our contemporary (St. John Paul II in Church and Eucharist Art 8). And the word of God and Blessed Sacrament heal your diseases. It has the power to heal the people who sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament after the celebration of the Eucharist (CCC 1509). In order to have an encounter with Jesus, while you are sick, You have to apply only four methods: listen to the word of God and be a doer of the word of God, call upon the name of the Lord, ask for prayers of the people who have the gift of healing and have recourse to medical remedy (only scientific remedies). But three categories of people never will be healed. There is a chance to be healed if you do not belong to one of these categories. 

I. Listening to the word of God  

There are ten major sources of healings. You may apply these sources one after another or simultaneously until you are healed either instantly or progressively. Following are the ten sources. Among these sources word of God and Eucharist are the most important ones.

1. God – Ex. 15:26 – I am the God who heals you. Medicine might fail but God never fails – One woman who had been suffering for 12 years of bleeding, though she spent all her money, did not receive any healing but Jesus healed her (Lk. 8:43-44).
2. The Word of God heals all diseases – Ps. 107:20. God sent the word and healed them. And also, God has decided to save the present world through the proclamation of the word of God (1 Cor. 1: 21). Therefore, please attend one retreat before you begin any complicated or serious treatments. Quite often, I have seen, you may not need that surgery or treatment, after the retreat. Or the surgery or treatment, which is needed will be very successful.
3. Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament heals the sick (CCC. 1509).“Heal the sick … the Church has received this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out by taking care of the sick as well as by accompanying them with her prayer of intercession. She believes in the life-giving presence of Christ, the physician of souls and bodies. This presence is particularly active through the sacraments, and in an altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives eternal life and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health”.
4. Some persons function as Healers (CCC 1508). “The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing, so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord. But even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses. Thus St. Paul must have learnt from the Lord that “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” and that the sufferings endured could mean that “in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church.”
5. Saints, Relics and blessed objects have the power to heal the sick (LG. 11). Novena prayers and intercession to saints also have the power to heal the sick.
6. The intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary especially in Velankanni, Lourdes and other Marian centers around the world are sources of healing. The Marian Rosary also heals many.
7. Pilgrim centers and certain other selective places also share the healing power of God (e.g. Jn. 5- Pool at Bethesda etc).
8. Medicine, Doctors, surgery etc too heal (Sir. 38: 1-14). Bible says: when you are sick take consult a physian and take medicine.
9. Our prayers and acts of faith have the power to heal our diseases. “Jesus prayed over him and applied saliva, water and mud to heal the sick and asked him to go and wash.” The blind man was healed after doing all these acts (Mk. 8:22-24).
10. All 7 Sacraments especially the Confession and Eucharist have the power to heal almost all diseases. CCCc. 295 says that confession and last sacraments are sacraments of healings.

II. Call up on the name of the Lord (Prayer to God in your sickness)

King Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. Isaiah the prophet came to him and said to him “Thus says the Lord, set your house in order for you shall die, you shall not recover”. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to God and said “Remember me, O’ Lord I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight”. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of God came to Isaiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add 15 years to your life” (Is 38:1-5). So when you are in sickness pray and cry in the presence of God and you will be healed. Therefore, please do your personal prayers and common prayers with any failure (Logos prayer book- Infilling of the Holy Spirit - pp 97 and 101).

III. Ask for the prayers

When King Abimelech and his family were sick, he cried and prayed to God but nothing happened. Then God said to him in the dream, “Call Abraham and he will pray for you, and you shall live”. So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants, and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his household (Gen 20:7, 8, 17). That means when you are in sickness your personal prayer alone is not enough. After your personal prayer, as King Abimelech did, seek the intercession of others who have the gift of healing because God has given to some gift of healing to manifest the power of resurrection (CCC 1508). A certain man called Prof. Schmidt was suffering from the 4th stage of cancer and was suggested surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and so on. He would be impotent and life-long in diapers, the doctors remarked. He was so depressed. He came to the Logos Retreat Centre, attended the 5 days retreat and went home. He consulted his doctor. The doctor diagnosed that he was cancer free and said that he needed no more treatment. Later he came to Logos and gave a detailed testimony with all the medical proof.

IV Take Medicine

You are in need of medicine and doctors when you are in sickness. The book of Sirach 38: 1 – 14, says you are in need of medicine and doctors. God created medicinal plants and gave knowledge to man as to the use of it for healing sicknesses. Sirach 38:9 says that when you are in sickness pray to God and take medicine, He will heal you. Sometimes our life directly depends upon medicine and doctors (Sir 38:13).

Three categories never will be healed immediately

1. For those people whose time of death has come; which is predestined by God even before birth or before doing something good or bad (Ps. 139:16). Such people might not be healed. For them the sickness is only a preparation for their death and eternal life.
2. Holy Souls who have wonderful charisms, revelations and great joy in it and are called to challenge the devil and defeat the evil (2 Cor. 12:9) may not be healed. For ex. St. Little Theresa of Child Jesus, St. Alphonsa of Kerala, etc.
3. Those who are in need of increasing of their faith and who have a special call to receive powerful charisms in order to have a special ministry in the Church (1Pt. 4: 12–14). For example, the man with the epileptic son prayed, “Lord increase my faith. And help my poor faith” (Mk. 9:24). Just after that prayer, his son was healed because Jesus increased his faith as he asked for. ​People, who are in danger of their eternal life also may not be healed immediately (Mt.16:24).

These people have already received supernatural healings, therefore, natural healings may not take place in their lives. But the number of these three categories may be less than 1% of the total population.

Testimony

A certain person named Tessy who is a professor in a college came to Assumption Church in Bangalore when I was preaching the word of God. For the past 14 years she had been suffering from urinary incontinency and she was in adult diapers for 14 years. She prayed to God for 14 years and took sufficient medicine but nothing healed her sickness. Then she came to me for prayer. I prayed over her, but instantly nothing happened. When she was sleeping, that night she woke up with a cough and sneezing. But not even a drop of urine dripped. Then she realized that she was completely healed. Two years went by and she came to the Logos Retreat Centre to glorify God through her testimony.

Conclusion

Therefore, whenever you are suffering with incurable diseases apply the above mentioned four methods. That is the pray to God with all sincerity through the beads of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and seek the prayers of the people who have the gift of healing.