Why does Jesus Heal People now ?

My wife and I were at a market stall buying dried fish from a vendor in her 80’s, when she asked us if we remembered her. She had attended a talk my wife gave on healing prayer the night before in the church in the remote mountain town we visited. We had given out small bottles of blessed oil (a sacramental) and then Eppie gave her talk instructing the participants on how to approach the Lord for their healing. 

The conditions being , purity of heart and purity of intention. So firstly repentance of our sins and being reconciled with God and others; then purity of intention, or the ‘why’ you want to be healed, because you are needed, by family or others who rely on you. The lady from the market had been troubled by shoulder pain for some time, often being unable to sleep properly, and having placed blessed oil on herself, and prayed for her healing had made an instant recovery. We later learned of another group of friends who had gone to the hospital the next morning to pray for a sister who had dreadful skin problem (possibly leprosy) for some time and she too was healed  within a few days all the sores and puss dried up and her skin returned to normal. 

In the Gospels and Acts of the apostles healing is seen to be a very common and normal thing for Jesus and his followers to do; to restore His children to health; but something much deeper is taking place too. 

There is a turning to God in repentance, the restoration of health follows, an awareness of His living presence within us and in the world, and finally intimacy and union with Him in our prayer. This is the objective, a much closer, more vital dynamic and intimate walk with the living God.

Repentance is the Precursor of Healing

The Miracle at the Tomb of Sister Faustina

Before the age of 15, Maureen Digan enjoyed a normal healthy life. Then she was struck down with a very serious, slowly progressive but terminal disease called Lymphedima. This is a disease that does not respond to medication and does not go into remission. Within the next ten years Maureen had fifty operations and had lengthy confinements in Hospital of up to a year at a time.

Friends and relations suggested she should pray and put her trust in God. But Maureen could not understand why God had allowed her to get this disease in the first place, and had lost her faith completely. 

Eventually her deteriorating condition necessitated the amputation of one leg. One evening while Maureen was in hospital her husband Bob went to a film called Divine Mercy, No Escape, and there he became convinced of the healing powers of intercession by Sr. Faustina. Bob persuaded Maureen and the Doctors that she should go to the tomb of Sr. Faustina in Poland. 

They arrived in Poland on March 23rd 1981 and Maureen went to confession for the first time since she was a young girl. At the tomb (now the Shrine of Blessed Faustina) Maureen remembers saying in her own inimitable style "O.k. Faustina I came a long way, now do something". 

Innerly she heard Sister Faustina say: "If you ask for my help, I will give it to you." Suddenly she thought she was having a nervous breakdown. All the pain seemed to drain out of her body and her swollen leg which was due to be amputated shortly, went back to its normal size. 

When she returned to the U.S.A. she was examined by five independent doctors who came to the conclusion that she was completely healed. They had no medical explanation for the sudden healing of this incurable disease. The accumulated evidence of this miracle was examined in consultation by five doctors appointed by the Sacred congregation for the causes of saints, having passed this test it was examined by a team of theologians, and finally by a team of cardinals and bishops. The cure was accepted by all as a miracle caused by Sr. Faustina's intercession to the Divine Mercy.