Healing is nothing more than an answer to prayer. This was taught to me by a professor in seminary. Healing, specifically physical healing, is simply an answer to prayer. You ask, and God answers. That’s it. That’s all it is. This means that praying for someone to be healed is an ordinary part of our Christian life. These healings exist—and happen—with regularity.
Healing itself is a charism in the Church. There are many different charisms, and not everyone necessarily has the charism of healing. That is, not everyone has a stable disposition where, when they pray for someone to be physically healed, the healing always occurs. However, I have a brother priest here in the Diocese of Wichita who does have the charism of healing. I do not necessarily have this charism, and yet I have prayed over people in this parish—people with physical illnesses. They came to me and said, “The doctor diagnosed this illness. Can you pray over me?” I prayed for them, and when they returned to the doctor, the illness was gone. It’s real.
Yet a person does not have to possess the charism of healing to be an instrument of God’s work in another’s life. Why? Because healing is nothing more than an answer to prayer. As Christians, we often become uneasy about healing, as if it implies we are some kind of wizard or mystical figure. But healing is nothing more than an answer to prayer. God is our Father, and He cares for us. Healing, when we ask, is simply our Heavenly Father’s answer.
Another reason people hesitate to consider healing is that they worry about how they will be perceived. They fear that if they pray for healing and it happens, people will see them differently. I find it interesting that in today’s Gospel, Jesus Himself was ridiculed: “And they ridiculed him” (Mark 5:40, NABRE). Similarly, we often don’t pray for healing because we worry about what others might think. But it’s not about us—healing is nothing more than an answer to prayer.
Some people believe that only exceptionally holy persons—like saints—can heal. That is simply not true. There have only been two people without sin: the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. No one is so holy that they are without sin. God does not wait for someone to achieve a certain level of holiness before working through them. Whether it is preaching the Gospel, serving the poor, teaching in the name of Christ, or healing in His name, God calls all of us to participate in His work. What is required is faith—the faith that, when we ask, our Father hears and answers. My point is this: healing is not about the person praying or the person being prayed for; it is about God’s fatherhood and His love for us. Healing is simply saying, “God, You love me, I have this problem, and I need Your help.”
I think another reason people hesitate to pray for healing is that they expect it to be like a scene from Harry Potter, where someone waves a wand and, suddenly, a miraculous transformation occurs. But healing is very simple, even subtle. We shouldn’t be worried that it will “make a scene.”
Healing is nothing more than an answer to prayer. We need to realize that healing is a statement that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 10:7, NABRE). God allows healing so that we may recognize His divine power at work in the world and in our lives. So, pray for one another when healing is needed.
Now, let’s be real: asking for healing or praying for a friend may, at first, feel awkward. But we must trust God and have the courage to ask for the sake of the one who is hurting. Inside, you may be thinking, This is weird, this is weird, this is weird. That’s OK because healing requires faith and takes time to feel normal. Remember, after every healing, Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50, NABRE). He wants us to have faith—to trust God as our Father.
Remember, healing is not about you, your holiness, or your worthiness—it’s about God’s fatherhood, His divine power, and the reality that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15, NABRE). Trust the Gospel. When someone is sick, pray for them—right there, on the spot. Recognize that when you ask for healing, you are simply asking for God’s fatherhood to be at work. Healing is nothing more than an answer to prayer. Period.
Father Jarrod Lies, Pastor