hi everybody. I don't often make religious posts since I've experienced a lot of toxicity when I've tried to in the past, but I really feel the need to do so now. Forgive the use of a burner account. My grandfather, Marty, has been experiencing kidney failure for several years now and has been on dialysis daily to stay alive. He is deeply in need of a kidney donation, but has been unable to find a donor and has been waiting. Recently, he fell and fractured a vertebra in his back, which has caused further complications.
Marty is a deeply intelligent man. He was an aeronautical engineer before his retirement and is also incredibly knowledgeable about the natural world around him. He is loving and kind and a very very important figure in my life and the lives of my family. When I've been at my lowest, I've always been able to find peace and tranquility by his side. I'm asking, please, if every religious person who sees this could pray for him and his health. I can't lose him now. Regardless of your denomination or even of your faith, if you could please pray for him, I would be eternally grateful.
I apologize for the spam in the tags, but I want this post to be seen by as many people as possible.
Of course, I will keep him in my prayers. And I will share with you some prayers that you may find comforting to pray.
Here is a general prayer for someone who is ill:
Almighty Lord, Physician of souls and bodies, You humble and lift up, You reprimand and heal, visit Marty with your mercy for he is suffering. Stretch forth Your arm which is so full of healing and health, and cure him, raising him from his bed and pain. Reprove the spirit of weakness which is in him, and drive far from him pain, wounds, chills, fever and weakness. If he has sins or transgressions, loosen, remit and forgive them in Your love for mankind. O Lord, have compassion on Your creation, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
And here is a prayer for time of need, for yourself and your grandfather, but you can certainly include other names or people:
O God, our help in time of need, Who are just and merciful, and Who inclines to the supplications of His people. Look down upon Marty and I and have mercy on us and deliver us from the trouble that now besets us. Deal with us not according to their iniquities, but according to Your manifold mercies, for we are the works of Your hands, and You know our weaknesses. I pray to you to grant us Your divine helping grace, and endow us with patience and strength to endure our hardships with complete submission to Your Will. Only You know our misery and sufferings, and to You, our only hope and refuge, we flee for relief and comfort, trusting in Your infinite love and compassion, that in due time, when You know best, You will deliver us from this trouble, and turn our distress into comfort. We then shall rejoice in Your mercy, and exalt and praise Your Holy Name, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit, both now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
In Orthodox Christianity, there is a Saint Luke of Simferopol, who was a surgeon. You are more than welcome to ask his intercession even as a non-Orthodox Christian. The prayer mentions his relics, but do not worry, you do not need to literally be at his relics to ask for his prayers:
O Holy Hierarch, Confessor, Teacher of truth, and Unmercenary Physician Luke, we bend the knees of our hearts and bodies, falling before your precious and healing relics. We entreat you, as children to their father. Hear us, O treasured father, in our sinfulness, and present our petitions to the merciful God Who loves mankind, for you stand before Him alongside all the saints. In life, you used the art of medicine to heal various illnesses with the aid of divine grace. After your blessed repose, the Master of all revealed your grace-abounding relics as a fount of healing. Many are healed by them, and strength is granted to those who approach with piety and seek your divine intercession. Thus, we beseech you, O one graced with the gift of healing: visit and heal our ailing and desperately afflicted brother Marty from his persistent ailments. Most precious and holy Father Luke, the unwavering hope of the sick and distressed, bestow upon our brother Marty healing and every good thing. With you, may we glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the singular Godhead and Kingdom, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
There is also Saints Cosmas and Damian, who are pre-Schism Saints that you can request their prayers:
O Saints Cosmas and Damian, we honor and venerate you with humility and affection. We invoke you, glorious martyrs of Our Lord, who exercised the art of healing with charity and sacrifice, curing the incurable and ministering with the aid of medicine through Christ. Now that you are more powerful in heaven, at the sight of the many ills which oppress us, the spiritual and corporal diseases that surround us, hasten your help. We do not ask for ourselves only, but for our relatives, families, friends, and enemies, so that, restored to health of soul and body, we can give glory to God, and honor to you, our saintly protectors. Amen.
Thank you so so much! These are very helpful and moving. I really appreciate your sharing these prayers and information with me. May God remain with you and yours🫂🫂🫂
