This is a prayer service of blessing that you can pray as a family around someone in your home who is sick. In the room where the patient is present, it would be very appropriate to light a candle to create a prayerful atmosphere.
Introductory Rites
(It is very appropriate to begin with a song that speaks of healing, like those below. You can click on the link to play the song from a YouTube video. You could use any of these songs throughout the prayer service, as reflection or even to close the service.)
Be Still
(David Kauffman)
Hands of Healing
(Marty Haugen)
Healer of My Soul
(John Michael Talbot)
Healer of Our Every Ill
(Marty Haugen)
O Healing Light of Christ
(Carey Landry)
There is a Balm in Gilead
(Spiritual)
(Following the song, all make the sign of the cross to begin)
Leader: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.
Leader: Brothers and sisters, let us bless the Lord Jesus, who went about doing good and healing the sick. Blessed be God now and forever.
All: Amen.
Leader: The Lord Jesus, who went about doing good works and healing sickness and infirmity of every kind, commanded his disciples to care for the sick, to pray for them, and to lay hands on them.
In our prayer today, we shall entrust our sick brother/sister _________________ to the care of the Lord, asking that he will enable them to bear their pain and suffering in the knowledge that, if they accept their share in the pain of Christ’s own passion, they will also share in its power to give comfort and strength.
Let us listen now to the Word of God.
Reading of the Word of God
(A reader, ideally another person present, or the leader then reads one of these texts of sacred scripture)
Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.
For as Christ's sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow. If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement.
Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the holy gospel according to Matthew:
Jesus said to the crowds: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the holy gospel according to Mark:
After making the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
Responsoral Psalm
(Another person can lead one of these Psalms, or you can click on the Psalm number to listen to a recording of the Psalm)
R/. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
in verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name sake.
R/. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R/. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R/. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
for years to come.
R/. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
R/. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
Blessed the one who has regard for the lowly and the poor;
in the day of misfortune, the lord will deliver him.
The lord will keep and preserves him,
and make him blessed on earth,
And not give him over to the will of his enemies.
R/. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
The Lord will help him on his sickbed,
he will take away all his ailment when he is ill.
Once I said, “O Lord, have pity on me;
heal me, though I have sinned against you.
R/. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
But because of my integrity you sustain me
and let me stand before you forever.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from all eternity. Amen.
R/. Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
Intercessions
(We ask prayers in the name of the person who is sick.)
Leader: The Lord Jesus loves our brothers and sisters who are ill. With trust, let us pray to Him that He will comfort them with His grace.
All: “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Leader: Lord Jesus, you came as healer of body and of spirit, in order to cure all our ills. Give those who are sick the comfort of your presence, we pray:
All: “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Leader: You were a man of suffering; it was our infirmities that you bore, our sufferings that you endured. Give those who are sick the comfort of your presence, we pray:
All: “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Leader: You experienced the weakness of the flesh in order to deliver us from evil. Give those who are sick the comfort of your presence, we pray:
All: “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Leader: At the foot of the cross your Mother stood as companion in your sufferings, and in your tender care you gave her to us as our Mother. Give those who are sick the comfort of your presence, we pray:
All: “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Leader: It is your wish that in our own flesh we should fill up what is wanting in your sufferings for the sake of your Body, the Church. Give those who are sick the comfort of your presence, we pray:
All: “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Lord’s Prayer
Leader: Trusting in God, let us collect all these intentions together and pray the prayer that His Son, Jesus, left us.
All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now and forever.
Amen.
Prayer of Blessing
(Invite all to lay their hands on the person who is sick, or to extend their hands over them)
Leader: Lord, our God,
You sent your Son into the world
To bear our infirmities and to endure our sufferings.
We pray for ___________________, your servant who is sick,
We ask that your blessing will give him/her strength
To overcome his/her weakness
Through the power of patience and the comfort of hope
And that with your aid he/she will soon be restored to health.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
(If you have olive oil available, you can use a small amount to trace the sign of the cross on their forehead, and invite all to do so as well.)
Leader: Lord, our God,
By your blessing you give us strength and support in our frailty:
Turn with kindness toward this your servant _____________
Free him/her from all illness and restore him/her to health,
So that in the sure knowledge of your goodness
He/she will gratefully bless your holy name.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Final Blessing
(The leader invokes the Lord's blessing on the sick and all present)
Leader: May the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who went about doing good and healing the sick,
Grant that we may have good health
And be enriched by his blessings.
(And finally signing himself or herself with the sign of the cross while saying:)
And may almighty God bless us, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.